Tag: India

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Reveal: My Book About the Maratha War.

One of the reasons Historyland has had much less article content and has fallen dramatically back onto book reviews is because I’ve had no time to research or write blog content.

For the last year I’ve been occupied in a the completion of fond and long held dream; writing my own book. Last week I finally revealed the proposed cover art. There is still work to be done to get it ready for you but I’m very pleased with it.

‘Bullocks, Grain and Good Madeira,’ will be published by Helion and Co during the second half of 2020 , at the moment it is tentatively slated for November.

In the early part of the 19th century British Army’s in India operated on three main resources, Bullocks, Grain and large quantities of alcohol, often Madeira for Staff. The book tells the story of the 2nd Maratha War and the campaign against the Jat kingdom of Bharatpur.

Driven by first hand accounts, the book will present the Maratha army as it was, not a walkover but a formidably organised and equipped foe, equal but no longer as effective to the Native infantry of the East India Company.

A great motive for starting was the common perception that the armies opposing the EIC were poor things in comparison to European armies. In writing the book, I discovered great swathes of information, regarding the war in it’s entirety and it’s aftermath, that have not been made widely available.

A host of personal stories came to light as well, some familiar and others less so, but all offering the opportunity to see this conflict as an example of Indian warfare at it’s toughest.

As it stands of this moment, BGGM (AKA Project Begum as I codename it) will be available by the end of 2020. It will be illustrated by the wonderful brush of Christa Hook, an artist whose work I have loved since I first saw it in the Osprey Campaign book about Corunna.

I hope you like the cover, and I hope you’ll buy the book when it comes out. There will be more on this in the future, plus perhaps some content on how I went about writing it.

See you soon for another Adventure in Historyland, Josh.

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Veterans of Aliwal 1846-1896

I’ve just found this web page, I suppose that’s the right word? And it’s got photo’s from 1896 the jubilee, so it says with wonderful Victorianity, of the Waterloo of India, Aliwal, were one of Wellington’s most successful Peninsular officers, Sir Harry Smith, showed he at least had learned something about fighting during those years in Spain. Voted 5th Greatest Battle in the 2013 National Army Museum poll.
To be specific they are soldiers of the 16th Lancers who broke the Sikh squares, or rather triangles as the case may be, at the decisive battle during the first Anglo Sikh War. A little know commander, a little known battle and a little known war, -and photo’s of the men who were there, what more could you want?

http://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page12-BattleofAliwalVeterans1896.html

Josh.

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Wellington in India.

The rise of the Duke of Wellington is a fascinating story. Despite his dogged reputation as a disciplinarian and a defensive fighter, his early campaigns can stand easily beside those of his great adversary Napoleon. Many admire the rise of the future Emperor for its daring and audacious accomplishments such as the crossing the Alps, Marengo and Egypt. There in Napoleon’s customary melodramatic flair appears to be the all the dash and action of a heroic novel, but then that is how he wanted it to look, and the French People soaked it in. Not as many people realise just how different Wellington was as a general and a man when he was in India. It is a glimpse into the general he might have been if he had not been so tightly curtailed by the government, what he might have been like if he had Napoleon’s freedom. So here it is, the first part of my series of Wellington in India, no doubt it will grip you, no doubt it will shock you, no doubt it will change your whole outlook on history, no doubt it will cure your insomnia and leave you sleeping like a kitten. Hope you enjoy it, please forgive spelling errors and grammer, and I’ll see you at the end. Continue reading “Wellington in India.”