Just Finished Reading: The Indian Mutiny 1857 by Saul David (FP: 2002) [382pp]

It had been simmering for some time if anyone had being paying attention enough to notice. The conditions of the local troops hadn’t really improved for years and it showed. But most of the British Army officers and those of the East India Company throughout central India had other concerns than the native forces under their control. The spark, when it happened, could have been foreseen. In part at least simply a case of a process not thought through and in part the result of poor or absent communication what could have been a smooth transition to an updated rifle cartridge was enough to cause dismay, confusion and, with the help of agitators, ultimately mutiny. As rumours quickly spread through Indian units that the new cartridges had been tainted with pig or cow fat – thereby offending both Hindu and Muslim soldiers – British officers struggled to contain the growing disquiet. When ‘suspect’ units were disarmed and returned to barracks – often at gunpoint – the mere rumour of this happening to others finally brought things into the open. Whole units rose up and killed their British officers as well as anyone suspected of supporting them. Then they turned on the local population, killing foreigners and Christian converts – men, women and children. As the revolt grew so did the panic in the European communities across central India. Some senior officers tried to take control and talk their men back to barracks. Most tried and died. Some fled to higher command or barricaded themselves and local Europeans in any structure considered secure enough to hold out until relieved. Some, as at Lucknow, managed to hold out. Others, as at Cawnpore, ended in surrender and, ultimately, massacre. When the British response came it was crushing and brutal. Stories of massacre and the ‘dishonouring’ of women circulated within the army units as they marched north to relieve garrisons and extract revenge. The stories of widespread rape turned out to be unfounded but the wholesale killing by rebel forces was anything but. The British were by this time in no mood to engage in gentlemanly warfare and executed any local official suspected of helping or aiding the mutiny and, once battle was given, took very few prisoners. It was a very bloody affair indeed with no quarter asked and very little given. Of course when it was all over – months later – the subsequent enquiry revealed that the whole sorry incident could have been avoided if more attention had been given to native soldiers and reforms both in the army and government at all levels been undertaken. Much of this did indeed follow the end of the Mutiny but could have been instituted without the resultant bloodshed. But one important thing, at least from the British perspective, did follow the Mutiny: the East India Company lost its mandate to administer large parts of India and the British government took over. The Raj, the jewel in the Imperial crown, was about to be born.

Yet again the Indian Mutiny was something I knew of but precious little about. No longer! This was quite simply a brilliant and detailed look at the causes of the Mutiny, the fight for control (which honestly could have gone either way) and the subsequent British victory. The two sieges – at Cawnpore and Lucknow – were covered in some detail (using personal accounts) and were honestly fascinating. Naturally this was an important incident in both Indian and British Imperial history and deserves to be remembered. It was most definitely not the Empire’s finest hour for a whole host of reasons. Even so it was a time full of heroism, fortitude and sheer grit in the face of sometimes impossible odds. Both gripping and appalling in equal measure this is a work deserving of attention if you have the stomach for it as the author pulls few punches and is not afraid to show atrocities (by both sides) in their historical context. Highly recommended.