Just Finished Reading: 1946 – The Making of the Modern World by Victor Sebestyen (FP: 2014) [382pp] 

The celebrations were short-lived. The war was over but the dying, the hunger, the desperation continued. Across Europe, especially so in Germany, much had been destroyed. Many houses had fallen, power where it existed at all was intermittent at best, sewers had been smashed, hospitals lay in ruins and roads were only slowly becoming passable. As if the populations of central Europe needed any additional suffering, they realised all too well that winter was coming. Meanwhile, in vast areas of the devastated Soviet Union, millions had died and millions more did not know if they would survive to see years end. In the Far East, fighting continued in China in a resurgent Civil War whilst the survivors of defeated Japan struggled with food shortages and the shame of defeat. The global war was over but things, if anything, had gotten worse for many. 

A world war may have ended in 1945 but a new world, the world we live in today, began for many in 1946. With the battered but triumphant Soviet Union taking control of its occupied territories the conditions we now know as the Cold War began to take shape. US President Truman was becoming aware that America falling back into glorious isolation was not an option as the Soviets pushed forward at every opportunity and the Europeans had little power to resist. The US also saw that it could not, and would not, simply abandon Japan to its fate especially with the Soviets and now the Chinese becoming threats to US power projection.  

In the Middle East the Jewish settlements in Palestine were advocating for more say in their future and for unrestricted Jewish immigration especially with the growing realisation of the enormity of the Holocaust. Some groups advocated for independence and were both able and willing to use violence to achieve it. The British, meanwhile, had neither the resources nor the stomach for a fight. Likewise, in India, the British were determined to leave with almost unseemly haste to save money and its shrinking Imperial reputation. Many would die in the process of creating the three nations of Israel, India and Pakistan and the consequences of those fights would still be with us more that 70 years later. 

I had a fair idea that the end of the Second World War was bad and that the recovery was both long and hard. I had little appreciation of the levels of suffering – globally – of SO many people as the political and geographical tectonic plates shifted into a world more recognisably modern. The fact that MILLIONS of people in Europe alone (mostly German) were forced from their homes at gunpoint and at very short notice, pointed towards the border and told to leave or die is enough to give anyone pause. The fact that many thousands of people were housed in the concentration camps they had so far survived in because the Allies had nowhere else to put them again gives you pause. The best thing that could be said is that at least they got better food if not always better conditions and that it was ‘temporary’. The word GRIM just doesn’t do it justice. 

World War Two may have officially ended in 1945 but the suffering continued LONG after the guns finally stopped. The results in Europe, the East, the Middle East and the Far East still live with us today in the memories of those who lived through it and the headlines we see every day. This was an awesome work of modern history. Not only did I learn a great deal (I’ve hardly touched on much of the book) but it reset some of my thinking about the aftermath of the war. I’ll definitely be reading more about the post-1945 period and more by this excellent author. I already own his work on 1956 Hungary and will be collecting his other works too. Very Highly recommended and a highlight of the year. 

I was going to be jumping ahead to the 1960's next but plans change! so, on to the 1970's....

[Highest page count of the year so far: 382pp][+9pp]

Just Finished Reading: Prisoners of Geography – Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall (FP: 2015/2019) [300pp] 

I’m sure that I’m not alone in wondering what exactly is going on with the world right now. It seems, at least if you watch the news or spend any time on-line (and especially if you spend any time swimming in the increasingly toxic depths of ‘Social Media’) that things are definitely ‘off’ to say the least. I’d even go so far as to say that it seems, on a good day, that a significant percentage of the humans on this planet have gone (or maybe just have gone public about being) crazy. So, what’s up? I thought reading up on Geopolitics might help – and it did! 

Personally, I’m one of ‘those people’ who just enjoy looking at maps, hunting out strange place names, and wondering what a place is actually like. Studying Geography at school (MANY years ago) I was completely intrigued by the idea that you could understand much about a place by looking at things like navigable rivers (or otherwise), locations and heights of mountains, placement of natural resources, the type of border (natural of the ominous straight-line) and so on. Looking closely the location of major cities, battles, migration paths, agricultural land and much more become ‘obvious’ once you take the physical geography into account. Things like cities are not scattered randomly on a landscape. They exist where they do for practical reasons. So, you can tell, almost at a glance, why some countries are prosperous and others poor. You can see why some countries are often invaded by their neighbours and others seems ‘designed’ for defence. 

Looking across the world, from Russia to the Artic, the author takes 10 locations and shows how their geography shaped their individual histories and how their geography shapes both their present and their futures. But as biology is not destiny neither is geography. A mountain range or a river will often constrain options for any country, but we are rather inventive beings who can literally move mountains, or at least blast holes through them. We can also redirect rivers, build bridges over them, or dam them – sometimes annoying or frightening the governments of countries downstream which could, under the wrong circumstances lead to conflict. 

I did think throughout this very interesting book that there was more than a slight hint of Jared Diamond (not that such is a bad thing), with nods to the direction of river flow and, more importantly, their navigability which gave Europe a head start in development (along with abundant natural resources in the shape of coal. Other zones, notably South America and Africa struggled in this regard coupled with the problems of transporting anything long distances through inhospitable regions (deserts, mountains, jungles etc). The chapter on India/Pakistan was most illuminating especially how India broke apart after the British left and how different ethnic groups ended up where they did – complete (of course) with much suffering and death in the process. I think the chapter I learned most from was that on the Middle East. Despite remembering watching many of the conflicts in that region as well as reading an excellent book on Palestine just recently, I did enjoy discovering much of the background to the wars, displacements and massacres over the decades – caused, in no small part, by the fact that the countries boundaries and indeed the countries themselves are the highly artificial constructs of European Powers after WW1 (I’m looking at YOU Britain and France). We REALLY screwed that region LONG before the present messes play out on our TVs and phones. It’s pretty much a given that wherever you see a straight line on a map you KNOW there’s trouble there!  

As my first dip into Geopolitics for a while I was both impressed and educated by this understandably bestselling book. If, like me, you wonder why conflicts start and persist over time, often in the same place's generation after generation, or have wondered why some countries are rich why others remain poor (often despite being resource rich) this is definitely a source for some answers. Definitely recommended and more to come both on the subject and from the author.  

Just Finished Reading: For All the Tea in China – Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World’s Favourite Drink by Sarah Rose (FP: 2009) [275pp] 

In all my years of drinking the stuff (as I am right now) I’ve never really thought about where tea comes from or how it became THE drink of the English and much of the rest of the world. I knew of its association with China and, especially, India but had assumed that it simply grew in different areas – like other plants – and that was it. I had no idea that it was actively STOLEN from China in order to break China’s monopoly on the trade and, not incidentally, make the East India Company a great deal of money. At the centre of things was botanist Robert Fortune who was tasked to gain access to China’s interior (at that time out of bounds to Europeans), accumulate tea plants and seeds, discover the secrets of making tea – from plant to pot – and make it out alive to tell the tale. Needless to say, the attempt was not without considerable risk as China was largely terra incognita before its borders were forcibly opened, but the potential profit was likewise considerable. Nothing like it had been attempted before. It was going to be quite the adventure! 

Tea is so ubiquitous that its almost invisible here. A ‘cup of tea’ is, as often parodied (with a lot of truth) as the ‘answer to everything’. That’s not far wrong. I’m not exactly sure at what age I started drinking it (5 maybe?) but growing up it was a regular ritual throughout the day. I think we drank it at least 3 or 4 times (maybe more) each day at home. But, until very recently, I never even thought to ask what TYPE of tea it was – mostly ‘blended’ standard tea (AKA the cheap stuff) - or where it came from. On going to university in the early 80’s I ‘fell in with’ a group of HEAVY tea drinkers – probably 6-10 cups a day or more! – which was cool. Tea kept us up, focused and fun to be with. I’m sure that it helped with our studies too. 

After Uni and my move to London, I kept up the tea habit for a while, but it slowly seemed more of a drag making it for myself and I slowly lost the habit. Only after a break of years – if not decades – I started drinking it again (presently green tea with lemon & honey) and found that I really missed it. My daily cuppa – just the one – is something I look forward to with some anticipation. After reading this book I’ve decided to expand my range into other teas (I picked up a box of Assam today) and intend to try out as many as I can find. I think it’ll be fun experimenting with ‘real’ tea rather than the standard blends I’ve been used to my whole life. It might take me a while to move away from teabags though – but I DO have an unused pot that could be dusted off... and I’ve seen some really nice/cute diffusers...  

If you have any interest or curiosity about the world's favourite drink this will definitely fill in the gaps in your knowledge. A fascinating read of global industrial espionage that got me wondering about other food and drink we’ve stolen and transplanted around the world. More to come. Recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: Divided – Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls by Tim Marshall (FP: 2018) [288pp] 

Walls, be they metaphorical, electronic or physical, seem to be THE topic presently. From the ‘Great Firewall of China’ to the ‘southern Border’ in the US, from the wall separating Israel from the Palestinians to the barriers between India and Pakistan, from the walls being erected on the borders of the European Union and calls for stricter interior controls and the rejection of the free movement of people by the UK in the Brexit vote, talk of walls – the need for more, bigger, wider, deeper – and protests against them has rarely been louder. But why? And why now? 

Walls have a LONG and chequered history. Normally they are built to keep people out, to restrict access to an area or country, to control who comes in. Sometimes they are the opposite – the Berlin Wall being the poster child for this sort of thing – and are designed to keep a population IN. All have failed to one degree or another – although the Berlin Wall was amongst the most successful certainly in modern times. Despite the catalogue of failure, the wall builders rarely give up and instead look for better walls full of gadgets, drones, cameras, and if you’re really serious of keeping people out, men with guns, mines and dogs trained to kill. Yet, people still come, people still get through – or escape. The problem with walls is that there’s often a wall around or through them – be it a ladder, a tunnel, a balloon or simply a bribe at the gate. Most rational wall builders know this. Walls will slow the movement of people, not stop it. Walls are an additional cost – monetary, psychological, emotional – to people looking to relocate. Often the additional cost is worth paying and the cost to be builders to prevent this can be eye-wateringly large. Is it even worth it? 

The issue here, as the author points out, is less practical than emotional. Walls might not make us safe, but they make us feel safer. Or at least that’s the idea. But living inside a wall also makes people feel besieged and under (at least potential) attack. They may feel (at least temporarily) safer but at the cost of increased anxiety. In many ways its completely understandable. We seem to be living in a particularly uncertain time. Ironically, it might have been the falling of one wall – in Berlin – that eventually led to so many of us either cowering behind our new walls or calling for them to be built. The Cold War – however potentially existential it was – provided at least the illusion of stability. Generally speaking, people knew what to expect from their own side and that of the ‘other’. The future, bleak though it might be, was a known quantity. Today we live in a much more complex multi-polar world where the future can be barely imagined (bleak though it is expected to be) much less planned for. The entirely natural instinct is to burrow in, hunker down and protect what you have – in other words, to start building walls or build existing walls all the higher. 

Taking a world tour of wall building – both existing and planned – the author shows (to a surprising extent I thought) the extent to wall building in regional hotspots and along contended and contentious border areas. Most of these walls I’d barely heard of as most talk, at least in the western media is about America’s southern border with Mexico. That is, sadly, not the only one, not the biggest or most expensive or most complex one. With global migration increasing due to conflict, climate pressure and other factors the numbers of people pressing up against walls across the world can only increase. The question for everyone, not just our politicians, is what we can, should, and will do about it. Bigger walls or a more managed and rational process. One way or another we’re going to find out. Definitely recommended, although it might depress you more than a little bit. Much more to come from this author. 

Just Finished Reading: The Anarchy – The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple (FP: 2019) [409pp]

It was not exactly an auspicious start to the enterprise. Fewer than expected investors had signed on to the undertaking. Certainly nowhere near the investment capital had been raised compared to their Dutch and Portuguese rivals. From the very start it was going to be an uphill struggle to survive. As if that wasn’t enough the first trading missions went badly – so badly that a significant number of trading ships simply vanished never to return. Only the interception of an already laden Dutch ship saved the company from going under in those early days. But Luck, as she has a tendency of doing, changes. Settlements were agreed with local princes and trading started flowing back – in a trickle at least. But the opportunities were truly immense. The British who landed in India, at Bengal, were astonished at the wealth seemingly there for the taking – if they could hold onto it. Security was, naturally, a problem. Months away from any relief they had to be able to defend themselves. The British navy was available in time of war – in other words quite often – but could hardly be prevailed upon to protect assets inland from the trading ports. But the Company did have something in its favour – money – and with money the ability to buy security in the form of mercenary captains and hired local soldiers trained to fight in the European way. A private Company hired itself a private army. They were not alone of course but gradually the Portuguese, the Dutch and even the French left the sub-continent effectively leaving it to the British to gobble up piecemeal. The Company and its plans were not without opposition however. The local leaders had been fighting amongst themselves for generations and knew a thing or two about warfare. They were even aware of European fighting styles and could afford European arms and European captains just as the Company could. But the local leaders had other things too – deep seated rivalries that could not just be set aside in the face of a common enemy, an overpowering sense of power and entitlement that had little foundation in reality and a mistaken belief that one or two lost battles would send the Company scuttling home to Britain. Things had gone too far for that. The Company was now so successful that it was FAR too big to fail. The revenue it generated for the British economy outweighed every other money stream by far. If the Company failed, some argued with a great deal of reason, then Britain itself could fail. So, gradually, reluctantly, the British government (whose Ministers already invested in the Company and who were loath to see their investments in peril) became more and more entangled in its operation and more and more dependent on its survival.

Before reading this excellent history I had no real idea just how important the East India Company was in the history of the British Empire, Britain herself and indeed world history of that period. Not only did the Company provide – by essentially asset stripping an entire sub-continent of its natural wealth – a HUGE capital influx to the coffers of the British economy for decade after decade but it gradually took over the administration of more and more of India and placed the British government in the position of having to ‘take charge’ when the Company was faced with bankruptcy. If you have ever wondered, like me, just how the British ‘acquired’ India then look no further that the history of the East India Company. It’s actually incredible that a private company answerable only to its shareholders was generating a significant percentage of Britain’s GDP and, at least for a time, had more armed forces at its command than did its mother-country. I wonder if that’s a sneak-peek into the future of multi-nationals. Covering several hundred years from its inception to its crashing down in flames this is a fascinating look at a company out of control, a continent being ransacked and the fight over what should be done about it. A definite must read for anyone interested in India, the British Empire and the possible future of BIG business.     

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.   

Just Finished Reading: The Deluge – The Great War and the Remaking of Global Order (1916-1931) by Adam Tooze (FP: 2014)

No doubt it was offered with the very best of intentions however naïve. But all the same the idea was like political acid – self-determination. Never fully explained or even understood it meant many things to many people and that, at its heart, was the problem. Throughout Europe and the wider world the idea of the right to and expectation of self-determination worked its magic helping to break up old empires and create countries out of whole cloth. It encouraged people’s, previously disenfranchised, to rise up against their governments to be allowed their own homeland and equal rights in the eyes of the law, and it brought democracy where none had previously existed. The Genie was very much out of the bottle and no one, even at gun point, was going to put it back in – although some would try very hard indeed.

Of course principles are easy to state, safely between two oceans with little or nothing to lose by the statement. Living up to the same principles when they hit the hard reality of international politics was something else. The easy part was returning Alsace-Lorraine to France (despite the number of ethnic Germans living there). The harder part was countries like Poland which had to be carved out of the pre-existing territories of Germany, Russia and others. Most especially difficult was the provision of natural resources and, more importantly, access to the sea at Danzig. No self-determination there just hard economics, realpolitik and hard bargaining. Even those on the ground could see that the Polish solution was storing up problems for the future. But that was for the newly formed League of Nations to resolve or at least that was the idea before it was effectively emasculated by its Byzantine internal set of rules in an attempt to appear fairer than it in fact was as well the aspect that America never took up its place at the table to spare any future European entanglements.

As a forward looking people the Americans – in the public guise of President Wilson – had little interest in Europe’s Imperial past. They did have an interest in the world’s economic future, unrestricted access to new markets, an open seas policy enforced by a navy at least the equal of Britain’s and the speedy recovery of war debt accrued by the Entente powers. Almost as important in many eyes was the restriction of Japanese expansionism within China and throughout Asia. Not only did the US consider the Pacific to be within their sphere of influence but they thought of the Japanese themselves with a mixture of suspicion and contempt. The US policy towards China itself was hardly coherent and managed to send mixed signals to both the Japanese and Chinese authorities which did little to help stabilise that chaotic region.

At the centre of everything were two countries fighting in many ways for their very existence – Germany and Russia. Germany was the vanquished foe trying to recover from the heavy blow of defeat and the heavier blow of post-Versailles reparations. Stumbling from government to government, fighting elements from both the hard-left and the hard-right, it had an uncertain future. Russia meanwhile was trying to decide between being a failed state or a pariah state. After the 1917 revolution, the declaration of a separate peace with Germany and a descent into years of Civil War the newly formed Soviet Union, birthed in a sea of blood, began to take its place on the world stage. Contained for now by the western powers it still had the capacity, real or imagined, to infect the rest of the world with the ideas of universal Communism. It was in many ways a useful bogeyman.

In this truly formidably impressive work the global chaos caused by 5 years of war, the likes of which had never been seen before, is laid out for all to see and the echoes of this great conflict are followed through as they impacted countries as diverse as Japan and Ukraine. Despite its world spanning reach and its 15 year timeline the detail presented between these 500+ pages is awe inspiring. It is by no means an easy read but the effort is amply rewarded and then some. Not only does the author clearly explain exactly the damage – political, economic and in a real sense moral – caused by the war but he also (again very clearly) shows how this often unresolved and unaddressed damage significantly facilitated an even greater disaster a mere two decades later. The author rightly points out that although World War Two was not the inevitable result of its predecessor the fact that systemic problems in the world system after 1918 were not addressed – even when known about and warned about – meant that any realistic options for peace were increasingly closed off between then and 1939. This is an important work and a must read for anyone who wants to understand exactly how we got here. I can think of much worse places to start if you’re willing to put the time and brain effort into it. Highly recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: The New Silk Roads – The Present and Future of the World by Peter Frankopan (FP: 2018)

China is not a rising power. No, China has risen. That is the overall conclusion of this fascinating study of China’s global reach and China’s future power in the world. How are we responding in the West? - with division, in-fighting, denial and a delusional sense of self-importance. The West has been dominant across the globe for centuries so it’s understandable that we have come to accept this reality as somehow permanent. However, in the recent decades the centre of power in the world – political, financial and, growing in leaps and bounds, military is shifting to the East. The threat (if it’s characterised that way) is real. But the West seems to be incapable of challenging this truly seismic global shift. Even our response is too little, too late, misses the point entirely or simply does not exist. China in particular (along with the other BRIC countries Brazil, Russia and India) in spending billions of dollars across the world on the new Silk Roads which throughout history have wrapped the world in a web of trade in exotic spices, silk and ideas – plus a few nasty diseases. The new roads consist of port installations, actual roads, power stations, dams, oil refineries and much else besides. As it expands China acquires the vast natural resources it needs to grow at (until recently) a truly astonishing rate – lifting a billion people out of poverty – and acquiring the rights to future resources from Africa, Central Asia and South America. The Chinese are either buying or building port facilities in Europe, Malaysia and even the US. Being unburdened by the need to appeal to an electorate the Chinese can plan 10, 20, 50 or 100 years ahead and actually be able to stick to the plan through thick and thin. No democratic country could hope to do that tied as they are to the election cycle and the demands of big business with shareholders to please and short term profits to provide.

The question that all of this raises is how do we in the West respond? As our relative power with China and the other BRICs decline how do we cope in a multi-polar world were we no longer command the wind (or much else for that matter). If we can no longer throw our weight around with impunity how do we respond to Chinese moves in the Pacific or Indian probes on the Moon or Russian troops in Crimea. What do we do when the first man (or woman) on Mars is from Beijing and not Boston? What do we do when most of the world looks to developments in New Delhi rather than New York? What do we do when the most common second language ceases to be English and becomes Mandarin instead? How do we adapt to this new reality.

The most important thing is, naturally, to recognise that this is happening and to stop seeing ourselves as the natural masters of the universe and the inheritors of all we survey. The West, it seems, has had its time in the sun and now the sun sets and rises in the East. We should see it for what it is, accept it and then do our best to be part of the new narrative rather than a historical side note. This book is not a cry in the wilderness and is most certainly not a cry for help of any kind. It is, above all else, a wake-up call showing us what we have by and large ignored. We may, on many scales, still be a force to be reckoned with, we may still indeed be Number One but not for much longer. How we respond to our new place in the world will determine how happy or how miserable future generations of Westerners will be. Some think that war is inevitable – Thucydides Trap – between the rising power of China and the falling power of the US. I don’t believe this. I have never been a great believer in fate or destiny and I’m not going to start now. Working with the multi-polar nature of the future rather than against it would be in everyone’s interests and could usher in a new global age of prosperity. Or we could fight, waste our dwindling resources and, ultimately, lose and beggar our grandchildren who will curse our names. We need to recognise that the future is probably going to be bright. It’s just won’t be our future. This book will help you see that. Highly recommended for anyone interested in how the future is likely to pan out and who want to know what the BRICs are up to across the globe right now. (R)         

Just Finished Reading: The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction by Ashley Jackson (FP: 2013)

It is said, not without reason, that the British acquired their Empire by accident. As Britain grew in power as a maritime nation and explored the world looking for trading opportunities and places to plant colonies it inevitably left an impression wherever its ships made landfall. It was not, of course, alone in this endeavour but seemed to be both particularly good and particularly lucky at it. In numerous wars with its rivals and fortuitous marriages amongst its ruling elites more colonies, territories and sometimes whole countries fell into Britain’s orbit. Equally inevitably previously colonies grew as colonies will and their demands grew with them – for food, natural resources and land. The local inhabitants of the New Lands often traded with these outsiders until it became obvious that they were here to stay and here to rule. After that the choice was clear – co-operate or fight back. Looking back it is unclear who made the better choice between ultimate (at least attempted) assimilation or (almost certainly guaranteed) extermination of their way of life if not their whole tribe or worse. So, over hundreds of years and through the actions, often unknown and unsanctioned from London, of thousands of individuals the Empire grew until it covered a fair proportion of the planet and held hundreds of millions as its subjects. Until, quite suddenly and almost (but not quite) bloodlessly it vanished in an historical blink of the eye.

Covering the main themes of the origins, expansion and ultimate demise of the British Empire this slim volume (as usual around 130 pages) is an excellent introduction to a still controversial institution. After its collapse the prevailing opinion, especially in the more ‘enlightened’ age of the 1960’s and 1970’s, was that Empire and the British Empire in particular was a unarguably bad thing bringing oppression and worse to large areas of the world and was something to both feel guilty about and offer recompense for. Those who offered up any kind of alternative – even those who recognised and acknowledged the Empire’s less than savoury activities especially in Africa, India and most notoriously Tasmania – were considered to be blind to the realities of history and apologists for Imperialism. Others, notably historians, pointed out a more nuanced narrative – of both atrocity and triumph in a rather messy, complex and often contradictory narrative known technically as History. The author struggles with the idea of labelling the Empire either ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ and essentially dismisses the question itself – although he gives it some serious rumination room. Such labels are, in my opinion at least, both simplistic and naïve. It’s rather like trying to describe the 20th Century in a single word. Sure, you could probably do it – but would it actually mean anything? I think not. As an introduction to the British Empire I couldn’t fault this book overly much. If you know very little about it but for the name and the fact that it existed at all this is definitely the book for you. More detailed books on the topic to come.

That’s this book blitz finished. The next blitz will be: Cinema.   

Just Finished Reading: The Fishing Fleet – Husband Hunting in the Raj by Anne De Courcy (FP: 2012)

It made perfect sense. Not just to the women themselves, but to their mothers, their friends, to the Indian Civil Service and to the early East India Company. After all, India being what it was, even in the very early days before the Raj as such existed, it was inevitable that it would attract the best and the brightest, the cream of the English Public School system, the elite of Imperial society. These men who ran the jewel in the crown of the Empire where often posted for years on end without any chance of taking leave so when, oh when, would they have time to find and attract a suitable woman? What could be more logical to encourage, even facilitate, the travel of young eligible women to go to India in the expectation of acquiring a well-placed husband – one with impeccable credentials and excellent prospects? Rather inevitably some wag called these girls and young women the ‘fishing fleet’ and the name stuck. Equally inevitably those who failed to find a husband and sailed back to England still unhappily single where known (semi-officially) as ‘returned empties’ which was not exactly a flattering term.

So they came, year after year, decade after decade, through two World Wars, to look for a mate, to marry well, to have children and to survive (hopefully) the many dangers inherent in a country far different that the home nation. Fever, snakes, drought and monsoon, rebellion and uprising, plague, tigers, poor sanitation, medical staff tens of miles away over dangerously winding roads and seemingly an endless number of other dangers awaited those who made the trip. The author, using access to private diaries and correspondence, paints a picture of the exotic, the frightening, the exhilarating and the often boring times had by the generations who made the effort to make their home in a truly alien environment. As expected this was pretty much the lifestyles of the rich and shameless – the working class tending not to leave much in the way of written evidence of their existence and the white working class tended to be thin on the ground (outside the army) in a country teaming with potential local servants and labourers. That being the case much of the material in the book came from the lives of the upper echelons which did make it, at least for me, rather less interesting than this otherwise very good volume could have been. I’m not a huge fan of the privileged classes (to say the least) and I must have rolled my eyes many times to yet another description of a posh frock worn to yet another dinner party surrounded by military and diplomatic types.

Despite those reservations this book is full of insight into a comparatively strange (if reasonable) phenomena and has numerous little nuggets of stories scattered through it. One that made me laugh out loud was a tale of a newlywed having dinner at her new husband’s residence when a rat scampered across the floor. Without pausing to explain he pulled out his revolver and shot it dead and then carried on his conversation as if nothing had happened – welcome to India indeed! I did think that this made a nice companion volume to Singled Out reviewed here recently as it went into much more detail about one aspect of how women after WW1 coped with the lack of men. Interesting, full of often fascinating detail (even with too much emphasis of clothes!) this was a readable piece of cultural history that, until I picked up this book, I was completely unaware of. Recommended.

Just Finished Reading: Indian Philosophy – A Very Short Introduction by Sue Hamilton

Despite having a general (and genuine) interest in this area as well as reading several books on Buddhism over the past year or so, I honestly struggled with this small volume. Part of the issue was that it attempted to cover a very wide area of study in a mere 139 pages. Another issue was probably that I found the writing quite dry and overly academic. I also found myself becoming confused by the number of unfamiliar terms and unknown authors presented throughout the book. Despite all of this I did come away from reading it with a somewhat better understanding of the history of Indian Philosophy and an appreciation of how it all hangs together. I expect, or at least hope, that this will help me to put further future planned readings – again largely in the area of Buddhism – into some kind of coherent context. I think that this book was on reflection aimed too high for the general reader coming to this subject (as I did) with little background knowledge or preparation. There was a lot to take in and little space to cover all the necessary bases. Not my favourite VSI book to date.