Imperial Warriors: Britain and the Gurkhas - Hardcover

Gould, Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1862072841 ISBN 13: 9781862072848

Publisher: Granta Books, 1999

Synopsis

Gurkhas have been recruited into the British and Indian armies since 1814-15 the year the East India Company went to war with Nepal and this study examines the many legends that have grown up around them. It puts the story of the expansion and contraction of Britain's Gurkha force into the context of Nepalese history, as well as that of the Indian and British Armies.

About this title

Product Description:

Imperial Warriors: Britain and the Gurkhas

Review:

What do most of us know about the Gurkhas? That they have a curved knife called a kukri and that once drawn it cannot be sheathed until it has drawn blood. And that's about it. Which only goes to show how little we know because even the kukri story turns out to be an urban myth. Or rather rural myth, as the Gurkhas come from the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Tony Gould is the ideal man to dispel the Gurkha myths as he served with the regiment in the late 1950s and has maintained his links. Moreover, with the Gurkhas spearheading the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, his book could not be more timely. Read most British military histories of the Gurkhas and you would get the rather patronising idea that Britain and Nepal had been best buddies with the Gurkhas happily laying down their lives for a country few of them had seen since the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814-16. Needless to say, the truth is a little different. For most of the 19th century the Nepalese fiercely resisted British recruitment of the Gurkhas. The two countries almost went to war during the first Afghan War of 1839-42 and any rapprochements were the result of hard-nosed realpolitik than sentiment. Nepal gave us Gurkhas; we guaranteed them independence. End of story.

The Gurkhas are renowned for their fighting spirit and regimental histories are full of derring-do exploits in both the Second World War and the Malayan conflict. Yet the Gurkhas have rarely been allowed their own voice. Gould is not afraid to do so, but neither does he lapse into a demolition job on the British establishment. Instead, we get a well-written objective account of an often misrepresented regiment. This may not be the definitive take on the Gurkhas but it's the closest we've got so far. --John Crace

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1862072841
• ISBN 13: 9781862072848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512