Soldier Sahibs: The Daring Adventurers Who Tamed India's Northwest Frontier

Rating:
Summary: Hero-Making as History
Review: In his prologue, Charles Allen lays out the approach he will take Soldier Sahibs. This is not to be read so much as a comprehensive history examining the social issues or complexities of the expansion of British rule out of India and into the North-West Frontier (now partially in Afghanistan and partially in Pakistan), but as a true-to-life "boy's adventure" story. The tale is of John Nicholson (one of Allen's forbearers) and the other Young Men who, under the guidance of Henry Lawrence, help spread the reach of the East India Company.

And what a tale it is: culture clashes, petty bureaucrats, noble savages. Allen draws heavily upon the letters, diaries and reports of the principle heroes of the tale, leading to a history that is drenched in Victorian stereotypes and ideals. With this caveat in mind, however, Allen does a great job of bringing the modern reader into the world walked by Nicholson and his compatriots. The writing draws in the reader with fantastic tale after fantastic tale, starting with a brief biography of Nicholson and of the East India Company and ending with the lifting of the siege of Delhi during the Sepoy Rebellion. There are lots of vignettes highlighting life in the service of "John Company" and the British Empire and the inevitable culture clashes that occurred across the subcontinent.

Oh, and for those keeping track at home, the subtitle "The Daring Adventurers Who Tamed India's Northwest Frontier" appears to be the work of a copywriter at the U.S. publisher, Carroll & Graf. The original U.K. subtitle is "The Men Who Made the North-West Frontier," which doesn't have as much flash, but doesn't seem as harsh as "tamed."

(Reviewed copy was the 2001 paperback version, printed in the U.K. by Abacus.)

Rating:
Summary: history, flashman style
Review: Soldier Sahibs is an old-fashioned and unapologetically imperialist book. And writer Charles Allen makes sure you know what you are getting into by giving it the flagrantly politically incorrect subtitle: The Daring Adventurers Who Tamed India's Northwest Frontier. But imperialist does not necessarily mean inaccurate and Allen has taken a good deal of trouble to get his facts right. The book claims to tell "The astonishing story of a brotherhood of young men who together laid claim to the most notorious frontier in the world, India's North-West Frontier,
which today forms the volatile boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan."
The men in question include John Nicholson, Harry Lumsden (founder of the Guides), Herbert Edwardes, William Hodson, James Abbot and Neville Chamberlain. Protégés of Sir Henry Lawrence, these men were responsible for laying the foundations of British rule in the Punjab and the Northwest Frontier. The author's intent is to tell the story of these young men and through their adventures, give the reader an idea of how the British conquered - or, as he would prefer, "pacified" - the 'wild' Northwest Frontier of India.
But while Soldier Sahibs gives a very readable account of the adventures of these (surprisingly) young men, it is not possible to piece together the broader history of those times from his book. Why the British were here in the first place and what were the factors that made a small island in Europe more powerful than any kingdom in India do not form any part of Allen's concerns. Nor does he waste much time explaining the situation in the Punjab or of the East India Company at that time. In fact, the author does not even provide a map of the vast area over which his protagonists established their rule. If you are totally at sea about those times, then you may have to read a few other books to fully appreciate the goings-on in this one. But if you are one of those enthusiasts who cannot get enough of the Raj, the mutiny and all that jazz, then you will definitely enjoy this book. Its written in authentic 'Flashman' style, with wit and verve and loads of 'local color'.
The English heroes may appear larger than life but by all accounts some of them indeed were larger than life. And being Englishmen, they left us a veritable storehouse of laconic and understated wisecracks. These include Nicholson walking into the mess to tell his fellow officers: "I am sorry gentlemen, to have kept you waiting for your dinner, but I have been hanging your cooks." (The cooks had apparently poisoned the food but were detected and hanged, and dinner was served half an hour late).
Though Nicholson gets the most lines in the book, the stories of Edwardes of Peshawar and Bannu and Abbot of Abbotabad are also told in some detail. William Hodson, the villain who executed Bahadur Shah Zafar's sons, also gets a sympathetic hearing. We are told surprisingly little about Sir Henry Lawrence, who is supposedly the godfather of this fraternity. And it is not always clear why certain officer's lives are described in detail and others get only cursory mention. Lack or availability of sources may be the explanation for that .
In these times, it is impossible to read such a book and not look for parallels with the current efforts at "pacifying" Afghanistan. But these British adventurers and their peculiar code of life are poles apart from the westerners who are now coming to bring us into the civilised world. Occasionally, Madison Avenue will try to create a suitable heroic image for some American colonel or diplomat but the substance of this new empire is very different from the last one and so are its agents.
Nicholson and company may have been bigoted, male chauvinist psychopaths, yet they also had undoubted personal courage and their own peculiar brand of love of justice. In the Pakhtuns and the Punjabis, they found not just enemies, but also friends and fellow adventurers. It is fashionable these days to describe their local supporters as 'traitors' who took the side of a 'foreign power'. But to the Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims and Pakhtuns who fought under Nicholson to reconquer Delhi, the capital was was as much a foreign power as the British. And these British officers had always respected their honour and treated them fairly. They provided an administration that was in many ways a big improvement over the 'locals' they had replaced. In fact, it would not be remiss to say that the Punjabis and Pakhtuns who fought for the British were men of higher character and personal courage than almost any of their current detractors. Many things have improved since Nicholson rode across the plains of the Punjab blowing mutineers from canons but it is hard to avoid the suspicion that some things have also deteriorated.

Rating:
Summary: Sikh collapse after Ranjit Singh
Review: This book is a good description of Indian history from about 1830 to 1857 culminating in the Indian Mutiny.

It is about the men who commanded the NW Indian territories on behalf of the East India Company and principally about one hero called John Nicholson. Despite the subtitle, this book is a great deal more than short biographic narratives about the men. It is the seam of their environment that provides half the interest consisting of geographical descriptions, the attitudes of Indians and how the British and "Indians" conducted their business.

There are some gripping accounts of bloody battles on horseback, with bits being chopped off and we can see that films like Gladiator are the tip of the iceberg when it came to hand to hand horseback combat before the 20th century. The men and horses were brave and some of them knew what they wanted and how to get it. This is particularly true in how the violent Pakhtun tribes in Pakistan were bought to heel. As aliens, the British succeeded in creating order (as they were neutral) between parties like Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who could easily foment religious rivalry between themselves. The British had an art to how they brought about law and order and we can see it was no small accomplishment.

There is a certain amount of bigotry and imperialism in operation which is quite clear, but these were the days before the British became complacent and divorced themselves from Indian culture at the beginnings of the 20th century, which eventually created the independence movement that lead to partition.

Sikhs today feel left out of a homeland that was owed to them by the British. This is a book that shows how loyal Sikhs were to the British and the background to their territorial claims.

Charles Allen is a fine author and this book deserves praise. The war in it and many quotations make the book quite gripping and one hopes some people today are made of the same stuff as certain aspects of the men described - though not all of those aspects.

Rating:
Summary: How would it be to get Your nose cut off
Review: This book is a good description of Indian history from about 1830 to 1857 culminating in the Indian Mutiny.

It is about the men who commanded the NW Indian territories on behalf of the East India Company and principally about one hero called John Nicholson. Despite the subtitle, this book is a great deal more than short biographic narratives about the men. It is the seam of their environment that provides half the interest consisting of geographical descriptions, the attitudes of Indians and how the British and "Indians" conducted their business.

There are some gripping accounts of bloody battles on horseback, with bits being chopped off and we can see that films like Gladiator are the tip of the iceberg when it came to hand to hand horseback combat before the 20th century. The men and horses were brave and some of them knew what they wanted and how to get it. This is particularly true in how the violent Pakhtun tribes in Pakistan were bought to heel. As aliens, the British succeeded in creating order (as they were neutral) between parties like Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who could easily foment religious rivalry between themselves. The British had an art to how they brought about law and order and we can see it was no small accomplishment.

There is a certain amount of bigotry and imperialism in operation which is quite clear, but these were the days before the British became complacent and divorced themselves from Indian culture at the beginnings of the 20th century, which eventually created the independence movement that lead to partition.

Sikhs today feel left out of a homeland that was owed to them by the British. This is a book that shows how loyal Sikhs were to the British and the background to their territorial claims.

Charles Allen is a fine author and this book deserves praise. The war in it and many quotations make the book quite gripping and one hopes some people today are made of the same stuff as certain aspects of the men described - though not all of those aspects.