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FOOD AND IDENTITY
IN A GLOBALISING WORLD

Food,
National Identity
and Nationalism
From Everyday
to Global Politics
Second Edition
Ronald Ranta
Atsuko Ichijo
Food and Identity in a Globalising World

Series Editors
Atsuko Ichijo
Department of Politics
Kingston University
Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK

Ronald Ranta
Department of Politics
Kingston University
Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK
This series aims to overcome the current fragmented nature of the study
of food by encouraging interdisciplinary studies of food and serving as a
meeting place for a diverse range of scholars and practitioners who are
interested in various aspects of food. By encouraging new original, innova-
tive and critical thinking in the field and engaging with the main debates
and controversies, and by bringing together the various disciplines that
constitute food studies, such as, sociology, anthropology, politics and
geography, the series will serve as a valuable source for researchers, practitio-
ners, and students. There will a focus on identities and food; issues such
as gastrodiplomacy, settler colonialism, gender, migration and diaspora,
and food and social media, while at the same time promoting an inter-
and trans-disciplinary approach.
 Ronald Ranta • Atsuko Ichijo

Food, National
Identity and
Nationalism
From Everyday to Global Politics

2nd ed. 2022

Ronald Ranta Atsuko Ichijo
Department of Criminology, Politics, Department of Criminology, Politics,
Sociology Sociology
Kingston University Kingston University
Kingston-upon-Thames, UK Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK

ISSN 2662-270X     ISSN 2662-2718 (electronic)

Food and Identity in a Globalising World
ISBN 978-3-031-07833-0    ISBN 978-3-031-07834-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07834-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover illustration: Contributor: Africa Studio / Alamy Stock Photo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Foreword

Our current historic moment is clearly exposing fraught anxieties and

paradoxes about food. We are witnessing a global cultural shift toward
ethical and sustainable food consumption that contrasts with unresolved
justice issues like the poverty wages of food industry laborers and the
slave-like conditions of migrant agricultural workers. We see efforts to
grow and integrate markets for food and agricultural products across
national borders meeting ardent resistance from populists and nationalists.
And we are now observers of the precarity of ‘just-in-time’ supply chains,
as container ships are bottlenecked at seaports and seemingly random
supermarket shelves remain empty almost two years after the COVID-19
pandemic began.
Because edibility and morality are intrinsically linked, as anthropolo-
gist Mary Douglas once argued, food and culinary practices have long
been coupled with political projects, used by those seeking to identify
and consecrate the characteristic foodways of nations. Representations of
food as ‘national culture’ are now firmly rooted in public imaginations
around the world. And thus far in the twenty-first century, foodways—
the varied economic, social, and cultural practices of food production
and consumption—have become ever more politically charged, from
debates over newly invented food traditions to strategic national branding
in global markets to food producers’ role in the climate crisis.

v
vi Foreword

Moreover, in an era dominated by conceptions of ‘food from nowhere,’

vanishing traditions, and the ostensible demise of pastoral, rural land-
scapes, designating specific foods and dishes as local, place-based, and
authentic is an especially marketable idea. Groups, associations, and gov-
ernments around the world work to promote specific foods and dishes as
‘typical’ of communities and places, as well as use them as elements of
soft power, often with high-profile chefs and cookbook writers serving as
their cultural ambassadors, a practice referred to as gastrodiplomacy. Yet
this modern-day pride in the ‘taste of place’ also has a dark side; it can and
has easily aligned with xenophobic logics and neo-nationalist political
projects that undercut the work of using food for building cross-cultural
understanding or social connections, and even the otherwise-universal
idea of simply enjoying a good meal. Food can bring people together, but
it can also keep them apart. I write these words with one part of my brain
focused on planning meals for family and friends for upcoming holidays
and another on acknowledging the fact that the arrival of new, food-­
related elements to the United States, Europe, and elsewhere—compa-
nies, workers, plants, and pathogens alongside tasty ingredients and novel
cooking techniques—often earns cautious reception at best.
Scholarship on nationalism and food has grown rapidly over the last
two decades, detailing and analyzing these dynamic realities, often focus-
ing on case studies of individual regions, countries, or food items.
Foodways are now recognized as objectified forms of social belonging and
difference, as potential sites of activism, as lenses through which to observe
social contestation and change, and even mediums for addressing contro-
versies that are not necessarily about food. Sociologists and others have
proffered the importance of examining contemporary ‘national’ practices
around food as relational, as significant, and as embedded in the conflicts
that are part and parcel of contemporary globalization. The first edition of
this book by Atsuko Ichijo and Ronald Ranta—Food, National Identity,
and Nationalism—was a meaningful, smart, and systematic engagement
of food and nationalism in this vein. It examined a wide range of issues
across different levels of politics, from on-the-ground and banal ways of
performing the nation through recipes, to nations developing culinary ini-
tiatives to promote themselves to tourists, to the inclusion of specific cui-
sines on UNESCO’s list of protected intangible cultural heritage.
 Foreword vii

Yet, since its publication in 2016, the realm of ‘food-and-nationalism’

has continued to evolve in leaps and bounds, making this new edition
quite a welcome one. They say the ‘devil is in the details’ and there are
many throughout this volume that the authors get just right. Some chap-
ters show, for example, new organizational and categorizational schemas
within the recent weaving of populist politics, such as Brexit, into consid-
erations of food identities as well as access. Others account for intersect-
ing trends in social, media, and political discourses with new awareness
of what ‘belonging’ and ‘us-versus-them’ dichotomies have come to mean
in the context of new technologies and controversies, as some people
have proven willing to go to extreme lengths to defend ‘traditional’ food
objects, practices, and norms.
Studying the development and ramifications of ‘food and nationalism’
in contemporary times is humbling. As health and economic crises con-
tinue to sweep the globe, we need an approach like this one, one that
takes seriously our desire for authentic, meaningful lives without down-
playing the tools, trials, and tribulations of national identity and political
movements in the global market economy. In sum, this book will help us
to further appreciate the idea that foods and cuisines can be producers of
both dissonance and pleasure, and that they bring into collision disparate
social worlds. This is what makes this new edition valuable—it counters,
from the purview of many angles and events, the very notion that food
ever exists outside of contemporary politics.
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

December 2021 Michaela DeSoucey

 Praise for Food, National Identity
and Nationalism

“Food, Nationalism, and National Identity shows us how nations make food and
how food makes nations. It reminds us of the multiple ways in which food and
nationalism are intertwined in politics and everyday life, and in so doing it
points to the continued relevance of nationalism in our world today. The
expanded scope and analysis of this new and revised second edition promises to
solidify the book’s reputation as a key reference work in the field.”
—Professor Jon Fox, University of Bristol
 Contents

Introduction: Food, Nationalism and National Identity  1

Part I Unofficial/Bottom-Up: Nationalism and National

Identity Through Food Away from the State  25

Chapter One: Everyday Creation of the Nation 27

Chapter Two: When Groups Participate in Defining the Nation 55


Chapter Three: Consuming Nations—The Construction of
National Identities in the Food Industry 77

Part II Official/Top-Down: The Nation-­State, Food and

Nationalism 103

Chapter Four: Food and Diet in ‘Official’ Nationalism105

Chapter Five: National Food in the International

Context I—Gastrodiplomacy131

xi
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xii Contents


Chapter Six: National Food in the International Context
II—Gastronationalism and Populism153

Part III Food and Nationalism/National Identity at the

Global Level 175

Chapter Seven: Norms, Ethics, Food and Nationalism177


Chapter Eight: International Organisations, Food and
Nationalism207

Conclusion: From Everyday to Global Politics233

R
 eferences241

I ndex273
 List of Photos

Introduction: Food, Nationalism and National Identity

Photo 1 Celebrating foods eaten by primary school students 8
Photo 2 Celebrating foods eaten by primary school students 9
Photo 3 Brixton food market 10

Chapter Two: When Groups Participate in Defining the Nation

Photo 1 Examples of Israeli mass-produced ‘Arab’ hummus 68
Photo 2 Diana Kosher Israeli Grill 74

Chapter Three: Consuming Nations—The Construction

of National Identities in the Food Industry
Photo 1 Sainsbury’s chocolate range 79
Photo 2 Sainsbury’s coffee range 80
Photo 3 Traditional pie and mash shop interior 88
Photo 4 Traditional pie and mash shop menu 89
Photo 5 Pieminister’s menu 91

Chapter Four: Food and Diet in ‘Official’ Nationalism

Photo 1 Coat of arms Petah Tikva 120
Photo 2 Coat of arms of Hadera 120
Photo 3 Coat of arms of Afula 121

xiii
xiv List of Photos

Chapter Six: National Food in the International

Context II—Gastronationalism and Populism
Photo 1 French Tacos 171
Photo 2 German Doner Kebab 172

Chapter Seven: Norms, Ethics, Food and Nationalism

Photo 1 The menu lists 5 different items (red meat, processed sliced
tail fin, bacon, skin and tendon) substantiating the claim
that the Japanese do not waste any part of a whale 186
 List of Tables

Chapter One: Everyday Creation of the Nation

Table 1 The quantitative outline of extracted recipes 42
Table 2 The coding scheme 43
Table 3 Descriptive statistics of three sets of recipes 44

Chapter Eight: International Organisations, Food and

Nationalism
Table 1 The list of elements related to food culture/cuisine in the
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity as of December 2021 213

xv
 Introduction: Food, Nationalism
and National Identity

When we first approached publishers and pitched our idea for a book on
food and nationalism in 2013, we were taken aback by some of the feed-
back we received; important to note that this did not include our publish-
ing editors at Palgrave! One of the main criticisms we had to contend with
was that the subject of food and nationalism was no longer relevant; a grant
application we submitted roughly at the same time to convene a workshop
on food and nationalism received similar feedback. Food, we were told, was
increasingly seen not as national but as transnational, regional, local and/or
identity based. We were told that nationalism was an important and trans-
formative historic force, but one that was waning in a globalised world.
It is interesting to read these criticisms from our current vantage posi-
tion. It was clear to us then, as it is now, that the national does not have a
monopoly over food, and that there are indeed constant tensions, and often
conflicts, between the various forces and actors that seek to claim food as
their own, or to use, reject and resist the nation as a rallying point. We fully
accept that ‘the relationship between food and identity is a complex one’
(Scholliers 2001: 3). Food can be many things, it can be personal, festive,
ethnic, regional, local, gender or generational-specific; for more on this
point, see our discussion below. Nevertheless, it is a fact that the politics of
the world we live in, and of which food is an integral part, are deeply
enmeshed in the nation-state system. We fully acknowledge that this

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

R. Ranta, A. Ichijo, Food, National Identity and Nationalism, Food and Identity in a
Globalising World, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07834-7_1
2 R. Ranta and A. Ichijo

system is being challenged from below, by the forces of the everyday, the
local and the regional, and from above, by transnational and international
movements and bodies. However, given the time that has passed since our
first edition—with the rise of nationalist-populism, the emergence of
migration as a global political issue, concerns over global governance,
Brexit, the presidency of Donald Trump, the Covid-19 pandemic and vac-
cine nationalism—it is clear that nationalism is not a waning force.
Whether this is just a temporary resurgence or not is hard to tell. What is
clear is that nationalism will remain a dominant and transformative force
in global politics, at least in the short-term future. In this regard, we would
argue, as we have argued in the first edition, that food and nationalism is
an important area to study, and that the food-­nationalism axis provides a
useful prism through which to explore and analyse the world around us,
from the everyday to the global, and the ways in which it affects us.
It is an anthropological truism that food holds significance beyond the
mere fulfilment of physiological needs; it provides an outlet for people to
express ‘who and what they are, to themselves and to others’ (Mintz 1986:
13). For the purposes of this book, we do not focus on the relationship
between food and identity in general, but on how individuals and groups
perceive their food culture and how this in turns helps them to imagine
themselves as part of the nation. By food culture we refer to the myriad
of ways in which food is grown, commodified, prepared, consumed and
articulated by a particular society (Ranta and Mendel 2014: 414). The
relationship between food, identity and the nation is not a new phenom-
enon, nor is it limited to particular geographic areas. For example, Avieli
(2005) demonstrates the importance of rice cultivation and consumption
to Vietnamese identity from the late eighteenth century; Orlove (1997)
discusses the importance of beef to Chileans at the beginning of the
twentieth century; and Rogers (2003) provides examples, from the arts
and literature, of the connection between English and then British
national identity, and roast beef from as far back as the late sixteenth
century.
There are a number of criticisms to the importance and relevance of
discussing food in relation to the nation. As we mentioned above, food
can be many different things, it can be regional, local and/or transna-
tional. One could also talk about non-cuisines (baking, seafood, BBQ,
 Introduction: Food, Nationalism and National Identity 3

etc.), or counter-cuisines (organic, vegan, foraging, slow food movement,

etc.), and the apparent non-national aspect of these. This is indeed an
important point to address. To start with, the term regional or local is
controversial in itself; several authors (e.g., Cook and Crang 1996;
Montanari 2004) argue that the term regional is a modern construction
that has little to do with historic food traditions. Nonetheless, what has
become clear, since the formation and construction of nation-states, is
that regional and ethnic differences have been to an extent incorporated
into and have become ‘subservient to, and part of, the greater national
identity’ (Edensor 2002: 66). While ethnic or local foods may compete
or collide with national food, the former is often incorporated in the lat-
ter. Montanari (2004) gives examples of how cookbooks culinarily united
Italy by disseminating local and regional food knowledge nationally.
Additionally, in his discussion on the role of cookbooks in the construc-
tion of an Indian national identity, Appadurai (1988) explains how
Indian and colonial cookbooks integrated and tied together the diversity
of regional and ethnic cuisines to the nation, even though this created
strange food ‘bedfellows’, and reified and inflated historic traditions.
According to him, national cuisine, in the case of India, ‘has emerged
because of, rather than despite, the increased articulation of regional and
ethnic cuisines’ (Appadurai 1988: 21). The merging of the local and the
regional into the nation has also been demonstrated in many other cases
(see, e.g., Cwiertka 2006 with regard to Japan; Pilcher 1996, 1998 with
regard to Mexico; and Simpson Miller 2021 with regard to Ghana). The
same can also be seen in the way ethnic- and identity-based foods have
been incorporated into national food culture: for example, in the case of
Britain (Panayi 2008), Israel (Prieto-Piastro 2021) and the US (Gabaccia
1998; Harris 2012).
There is no denying the strong relationship food has to geography,
land and locality. The point to emphasis here is that increasingly this has
been and is viewed and interpreted through the prism of the nation; this
is not to say that we argue that food is national, but rather that it is imag-
ined and constructed as such. A good example to illustrate this point is
the concept of terroir, which was for a long time mostly associated with
wine and has now increasingly been used in reference to food. Terroir is
not an easy concept to define and can mean different things, from
4 R. Ranta and A. Ichijo

qualities of natural geography (soil, temperature, precipitation, elevation,

etc.) to methods of production and cultural practices. Although the term
has been used for centuries, in more recent times it has been used to dif-
ferentiate between foods that might be considered modern and industrial
and those that reflect artisanal and local history, knowledge and tradition.
This has been partly a result of the increasing emphasis on terroir by the
private sector to denote difference, authenticity and quality: a process
that we define as ‘terroirism’ and which is often simply a crude marketing
strategy. Nevertheless, the ideas behind terroir have increasingly been
used either in the context of particular nations (most famously with
regard to France: see Ferguson 2006, 2010; Trubek 2008) or as a site for
national contestation. A point illustrated in recent work on wine and the
way in which terroir is intertwined with debates over borders, sovereignty,
history, national identity and even indigeneity and cultural appropriation
(Monterescu 2017; Monterescu and Handel 2019); we will return to
these debates in “Chapter Six: National food in the International
Context II—Gastronationalism and Populism”.
In terms of other cuisines, these too are, to some extent, discussed
within the boundaries of nations. Thus, vegetarian and vegan cookbooks
might reference Indian food and extol its virtues, while advocates of
healthy eating might discuss Japanese food and its reliance on fresh pro-
duce, soybeans and fish. Overall, although it is possible, it is hard to
escape the persistent reference and allusion to nations and nationalism in
food. Additionally, many food items and practices are so closely linked to
the idea of nations that it is a challenge to find a cookbook that has no
references to nations or national qualities in it, even though this is not
something many cookbooks set out to do. One can also see this focus on
nations in mainstream television and streaming services: from Netflix’s
Chef ’s Table to different manifestations of the popular MasterChef series,
food is constantly discussed through the prism of the nation.
This is not to argue that the relationship between food and nations/
nationalism is self-evident or unproblematic. It is wrong to take for
granted that there is always a relationship between food and nations/
nationalism, and if such a relationship exists, it is always contested and
challenged. As demonstrated by several authors (see, e.g., Ichijo et al.,
2019, King 2019), the relationship between food and nations/
 Introduction: Food, Nationalism and National Identity 5

nationalism or the association of specific food items and practices with a

particular nation is complex and at times heavily contested from within
and outside the nation. As we have shown elsewhere (Ichijo et al. 2019),
while it is possible to generalise and demonstrate parallels among cases,
the relationship between food and nations/nationalism is often context
dependent. For instance, in several settler colonial states, it is hard to
discuss or even identify the idea of national food/cuisine. However, in the
age of nation-states, we always find attempts to forge such a link between
food and a nation, as seen in the invention of Israeli salad, the use of
kangaroo meat to differentiate Australian culture from other English-­
speaking ones and the promotion of maple syrup as a quintessentially
Canadian product. In these attempts, we find a variety of power relation-
ships laid out and, as such, the ‘food-and-nationalism’ axis help us grasp
the politics of these societies.
Building on the above points, our second edition has three main aims.
First, it aims to continue shedding light on an under-investigated area in
the study of nationalism, that is, the relationship between food and
nationalism/national identity. As we will elaborate further below, while
the centrality of food in and to human life is well acknowledged, the
relationship between food and nationalism has not been systematically
investigated in the study of nationalism despite the recent rise in interest
in ‘everyday nationalism’. In our first edition we argued that the subject
of food and nationalism had not been systematically addressed and was
largely neglected. While we still stand by our argument that the subject
had not been systematically addressed, in many ways we were unfair to
those who had written about the subject before us and upon whose shoul-
ders we were standing. In that regard our scholarship clearly benefited
from and built on the work done by others, among them: Appadurai
(1988); Avieli (2005, 2013); Cwiertka (2006, 2012); DeSoucey (2010);
Ferguson (2006, 2010); Gabaccia (1998); Pilcher (1996, 1998); and
Wilk (1999, 2006).
Secondly, the second edition continues to draw the reader’s attention
to the relevance of the ‘food and nationalism’ axis for studying and under-
standing politics, political economy and international relations. Needless
to say, nationalism is an integral aspect of politics, political economy and
international relations, and food is one of the essential commodities with
6 R. Ranta and A. Ichijo

which political powers at various levels are concerned. As such, neither

nationalism nor food in itself constitutes a novel aspect to investigate the
political. What this edition aims to illuminate is that food and national-
ism can serve as an axis to bring together analyses of the political at dif-
ferent levels.
Thirdly, looking at the first edition, it is clear that we did not pay suf-
ficient attention to a number of important areas. In this edition we try to
fill in many of the gaps and lacunas identified and include some of the
new scholarship on food and nationalism that has come out since. In
particular, we include and discuss the relevance of food and nationalism
to diasporas, social media, transnationalism, tourism, food security, pop-
ulism, technology and terroir. We have also included additional discus-
sions of definitions and methodologies, and have revised and updated our
previous case studies, as well as added a number of new ones.

Food and Nationalism: Areas for Investigation

In the first edition, we proposed to approach the link between food and
nationalism/national identity in three areas: unofficial/bottom-up, offi-
cial/top-down and the global level. This was because while not conflating
nationalism as an ideology with the nation-state as an apparatus of power,
we wanted to acknowledge the importance of the nation-state in making
nationalism an enduring and all-permeating ideology in our life
(Malešević 2013). Consequently, we proposed these divisions in refer-
ence to the nation-state.
In investigating the official/top-down aspect of food and nationalism,
the analyses will focus on phenomena which are ostensibly not controlled
by the nation-state. What to be analysed is therefore approached by way
of banal nationalism and everyday nationalism (Billig 1995; Edensor
2002; Fox and Miller-Idriss 2008a, b; Skey 2011). The second aspect, the
official/bottom-up one, is where the relationship between food and
nationalism is directly mediated by the nation-state in the form of
national branding, standardisation of ‘national’ cuisine, protection of
agriculture or restrictions on trade of certain food items. This can be seen
as part of a growing trend of asserting national rights to food, which has
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Other documents randomly have
different content
Here it was that the Gurkhas and the Highlanders rushed on
together side by side in a memorable charge, none of them knowing
the strength and number either of the enemy or his further
stockades. In the uncertain light of early dawn they drove the
enemy up the hillside like chaff before the wind. For a time the
Afghans fled in disorder, then suddenly they rallied and prepared for
a wild charge downhill. Major Galbraith of the 85th Foot was the first
to see their intention, and he immediately directed the fire of his
men to demoralise and check this movement. While he was doing
this an Afghan crept up behind some bushes, and, levelling his rifle
at him, took careful aim. Suddenly the Major observed him, and,
with the rapidity of lightning, raised his revolver and pulled the
trigger. The weapon missed fire, but his prompt action had disturbed
the Afghan's aim, and in another moment Captain Cook of the
Gurkhas had closed with the native and flung him heavily. There was
a quick fight between them, during which Major Galbraith, more
fortunate this time with his revolver, sent a bullet through the
Afghan's heart. For his brave act in saving the Major's life Captain
Cook gained his V.C. But the nation was compelled to mourn this
hero very soon, for it was in the following campaign at Sherpur,
while leading the Gurkhas, that he was mortally wounded.
By the dawn of day the Gurkhas and the Highlanders, with the
assistance of the 29th Punjabis, had taken some important positions,
and by the time the sun rose the enemy was defeated.
This victorious campaign was carried on through the craggy ravines
of Sappri as far as Siafooden, where the Afghans made a stand and
gave battle a second time; but here again the Gurkhas and the
Highlanders were the principal factors in their defeat. The
subsequent brilliant rush on Shaturgardan Pass was also made
glorious by these Highlanders of Britain and Asia. The campaign
ended on May 26th, 1880.
Again, in the third Afghan war, the Gurkhas, in common with
different regiments of Highlanders and some native regiments, won
great distinction.
Sir Louis Cavagnari, who had concluded peace after the first
campaign, undertook a personal mission to Kabul. This time the
mission was well received—at least at first—but there soon came a
time when the Afghans, taking advantage of the necessary inferiority
in the numbers of our peaceful mission, insulted it, at first vaguely,
then openly, apparently with the idea of goading the Governor to a
quarrel. Insult on insult gave fuel to the fire thus aroused, and at
last, when the insults became unbearable, the Governor and his staff
protested so vigorously that the Afghans seized their opportunity
and massacred them. Immediately following on this came the
declaration of war by Shere Ali. After the preliminary battles at
Charasiah and Asmai the British force advanced to Kabul. There was
very severe fighting around the capital, and another sharp
engagement at Asmai, after which our troops found themselves
entrapped in Sherpur. Here the Gurkhas won a lasting glory for
themselves by the recapture of some of our guns which had been
taken by the enemy.
During this campaign the Gurkhas took part in the battle of
Sijazabad. Here the enemy took up a strong position on the side of a
steep hill, which they had further strengthened by barricades of
earth and stone. From one to another of these they were driven
point by point by the determined assault of the 4th Gurkhas, 14th
Punjabis, and the 9th Foot. This was a battle in which all our
outnumbered forces, especially the Gurkhas, showed remarkable
élan. For many hours the Gurkhas stormed one barricade after
another, always driving the Afghans up the hill with bullet, bayonet,
and kukri, until at last the enemy's final defence was taken. It was in
this battle that an incident occurred which shows, not only the
Gurkha's quality, but his primitive methods of revenge—which
methods, needless to say, are now somewhat modified. Towards the
close of the uphill battle, when the enemy was in full retreat, a
single Gurkha, in advance of his fellows, had just shot one of the
Afghans, when two of them suddenly sprang up from behind a rock
near by. They were Afghan hillmen—fanatics pledged in the name of
Allah to the last drop of blood for Islam. They shared the belief,
common among Orientals, that death under this pledge was the
entrance to Paradise, where the houris are born of pure musk. With
a spring one of them fiercely plunged his dagger into the
unfortunate Gurkha, while the other with a sweep of his tulwar clove
the head of the dying man. Swift as was this passage of arms, still
swifter came the retribution. Lieut. Gordon of the 92nd Foot
despatched one of the hillmen, and the other immediately fell,
riddled by Gurkha bullets. With a ferocious cry the Gurkhas swept
down upon the two stricken hillmen, and with their terrible kukris
hewed them in pieces. But as the time of Samuel and Agag has
departed, so has this primitive lust of revenge been gradually
modified in the Gurkha by his association with the humanity of the
West.
The Gurkhas were in the famous march of General Roberts on
Kandahar, which immediately followed the battle of Sijazabad. It was
towards the end of this march that the Gurkhas and the 92nd
Gordon Highlanders made an attack on the little village of Gundi-
Moolah-Sahibdad. In this memorable assault the Gurkhas and the
Gordons almost strove with one another for the kudos of the victory.
But the kudos may easily be said to belong to them jointly. And in
recognition of this the Gordon loves to talk about his little comrade-
in-arms, while the Gurkha worships the Gordon to such a degree
that he would lay down his life for him.
The Afghan strife closed—let us hope for ever—with the battle of
Kandahar. This conclusive fight stands in history as a signal tribute to
the tenacity of the British soldier in general, and to the generalship,
since tried and proved and never found wanting, of Lord Roberts.
Says a historian, "It was remarkable for the generalship and cool
judgment Roberts had shown, and also for the courage displayed by
his troops.... On every occasion we were far outnumbered by the
enemy, who were equal to our men in physical strength, and armed
with nearly the same weapons; but Roberts trusted to the courage
of his slender army and to its perfect discipline, which were
conspicuous alike in the savage defiles of the Kurram Valley, on the
rocky heights of the Peiwar Kotal and the Spingawi Pass, in the lines
of Sherpur, and on the splintered bluffs of Asmai."
The Kandahar Field Force was disbanded in September, 1880, and
Roberts' last act before returning to India was to distribute
distinguished-service medals to the 72nd and 92nd Highlanders and
the 5th Gurkhas. These are his words on that occasion, and no
doubt every Gurkha at the front to-day has them, or their
translation, in his memory, for they have, more than anything else,
confirmed and ratified a brotherhood-in-arms between the Gurkhas
and the Highlanders:—"Soldiers of the Kandahar Field Force, I am
glad to have this opportunity of giving medals for distinguished
conduct to the men of the 72nd and 92nd Highlanders and the 5th
Gurkhas. They have deservedly won them. I say from my experience
as a soldier that no men with whom I have served can have better
deserved these rewards; and it is an additional pleasure to me to
have seen the other day of what material my Highlanders and
Gurkhas are made. I can but hope it may be my good fortune to
have such good soldiers at my side when next I go into action....
You may be assured that the very last troops the Afghans ever wish
to meet in the field are the Scottish Highlanders and the Gurkhas."
After this, from one who is now a veteran of England, who can
doubt that, as the Gurkhas marched towards the front, their hearts
went before them to their big brothers of former frays, with the
hope that they would be in close touch in the battle line?

THE GURKHA REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE

HONOURS
The following is a complete list of the ten Gurkha Regiments (each
composed of two battalions), with their Battle Honours, etc.:—

1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment).

Raised at Subathu in 1815, chiefly from Gurkha soldiers of Amar
Singh,by Lieut. R. Ross.
Badges.—The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and
Imperial Cypher.
Battle Honours.—"Bhurtpore," "Aliwal," "Sobraon," "Afghanistan
'78/80," "Punjab Frontier," "Tirah."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings scarlet.

2nd King Edward's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles).

Raised at Nahau (Sirmoor) in 1815, by Lieut. F. Young, from Gurkha
soldiers, who took service with the British on the termination of the
first phase of the Nepal war. Granted a truncheon for distinguished
service at Delhi, 1857.
Badges.—The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and
Imperial Cypher of Edward VII.
Battle Honours.—"Bhurtpore," "Aliwal," "Sobraon," "Delhi," "Kabul
'79," "Kandahar '80," "Afghanistan '78/80," "Punjab Frontier,"
"Tirah."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings scarlet.

3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles.

Raised at Almora in 1815, by Lieut. Sir R. Colquhoun, Bart., from
Gurkha soldiers, who took service with the British after the fall of
Malaun and the conquest of Kamaon; supplemented by transfers
from the Gorakhpur Hill Regiment, and originally designated the
Kamaon Battalion.
Badge.—The Cypher of Queen Alexandra.
Battle Honours.—"Delhi," "Ahmad Khel," "Afghanistan '78/80,"
"Burma '85/87," "Chitral," "Punjab Frontier," "Tirah."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

4th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised in 1857, by Lieut. D. Macintyre, as an extra Gurkha regiment.
Battle Honours.—"Ali Masjid," "Kabul '79," "Kandahar '80,"
"Afghanistan '78/80," "Chitral," "Punjab Frontier," "Tirah," "China
1900."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

5th Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force).

Raised at Abbotabad in 1858, by Capt. H.M.F. Boisragon, as the 25th
Punjab Infantry, or Hazara Gurkha Battalion.
Battle Honours.—"Peiwar Kotal," "Charasiah," "Kabul '79,"
"Kandahar '80," "Afghanistan '78/80," "Punjab Frontier."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

6th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised at Chanbiaganj (Cuttack) in 1817, by Capt. S. Fraser, as the
Cuttack Legion. Subsequently the 42nd Gurkha Rifles. Present
designation, 1903.
Battle Honour.—"Burma '85/87."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

7th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised at Thayetmyo in 1902, by Major E. Vansittart, as the 8th
Gurkha Rifles; became 2nd Battalion of the 10th Gurkha Rifles in
1903. Present designation, 1907.
Col.—Field-Marshal H.H. Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum.
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

8th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised at Sylhet in 1824, by Capt. P. Dudgeon, as the 16th or Sylhet
Local Battalion; 1st Battalion was subsequently known as the 44th,
2nd Battalion as the 43rd. Present designation, 1903.
Battle Honour.—"Burma '85/87."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

9th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised at Fategarh in 1817, by Major C.F. Fagan.
Battle Honours.—"Bhurtpore," "Sobraon," "Afghanistan '79/80,"
"Punjab Frontier."
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

10th Gurkha Rifles.

Raised in 1890, by Lt.-Col. C.R. Macgregor, from the Kubo Valley
Police Battalion, and originally known as the 10th Regiment of
Burma Infantry.[1] Present designation, 1903.
Uniform.—Dark green, facings black.

FOOTNOTES:
[1] It is a singular fact that the old 10th Madras Infantry (1st
Burma-Gurkha Rifles), raised in 1766, bore the honours
"Carnatic," "Mysore," "Amboor," "Assaye," "Ava," "Burma '85/87,"
and in 1900 Capt. J. Henegan was a wing commander. He is now,
at the time of writing, Lieut.-Col. commanding the 1st Battalion of
the present 10th Gurkha Rifles.
 Another peculiar point will recommend itself to military students.
In "Whitaker's Naval and Military Directory" of 1899 and 1900 the
17th and 19th regiments of Madras Infantry are given, but the
18th regiment is omitted. This, however, is not the only instance
of the kind. As in the case of our 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers there
have been certain regiments that have disappeared for a time
from the Army List, the numbers of the others remaining
unaltered.

THE DOGRAS
There is some little doubt about the derivation of the word "Dogra."
Some say it is derived from the Indian word "dogur" or "dugur,"
meaning "hill" or "mountain," and that the Dogra country is so called
because the whole of it is more or less mountainous. Others
maintain that the origin of the name is found in two Sanscrit words,
"do," meaning "two," and "girath," meaning "lake," there being two
small lakes of great beauty known as Man Sur and Sardin Sur. The
first derivation is most probably the correct one, for it is a matter of
history that the pioneer Rajputs, who left the plains to make their
home in the hills to found the Dogra principalities, styled themselves
Dogras, or Hillmen, as distinguished from men of the plains.
The district of Dogra lies between the rivers Chenab and Sutlej,
including all the hills and valleys on the slopes of the Western
Himalayas.
The Dogra is a shy, reserved man, with considerable strength of
character. He may not be so brilliant as the Pathan, nor so tenacious
and subtle as the Gurkha, but he has a high idea of honour, is very
self-respecting, and makes a capital soldier. Since he is always ready
to cast aside his social prejudices he affords recruiting officers little
trouble. The virtues of this solid, quiet, resolute, reliable man are
seen in moments of peril, when, without any boasting or striking of
attitudes, he will face certain death with a calm determination to do
before he dies.
From the above description it will be gathered that the Dogra is
simple-minded and generous, capable of the highest loyalty, and a
complete stranger to anything like treachery or cruel barbarity. It is
through the combination of all these qualities that the Dogras as a
race have justly earned, and faithfully maintained, the reputation of
being among the best fighting material to be found in India.
The Dogra's physique is not so fine as that of the Pathan or Sikh. He
is a man of average height, somewhat sparely built, with fine,
sensitive features. His complexion is fair, though not as fair as that of
the Todas.
The Dogras are very particular in all matters relating to food and
drink. They are keen sportsmen, and in rifle-shooting they maintain
a fair standard of excellence. Hawking and snaring birds are
favourite pastimes among them, and even such games as tip-cat,
leap-frog, and hop-scotch are not unknown to them.
This brave and loyal race were faithful to us during the Mutiny, and
their services at the siege of Delhi were invaluable; but as early as
1849 their soldierly qualities had been recognised, for it was at that
time that the Government enlisted great numbers of them in the
Punjab Frontier Force. The reason of this lay chiefly in their military
value, although it was at the same time evident that they would be
useful to balance the influence of the Sikhs, who were still imbued
with Khalsa traditions.
The 2nd Sikh Infantry, raised at Kangra in 1846, consisted entirely of
Dogras. This was the regiment that ratified its loyalty by assisting to
quell a rebellion of its own countrymen. Later, in the second Afghan
war, this same regiment, the majority still being Dogras, fought
gallantly at the battle of Ahmad Khel. Indeed, there was a moment
in this battle when victory or defeat depended entirely on this
regiment. At this critical juncture it behaved splendidly, and disaster
was averted.
 THE DOGRA REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE
HONOURS
Company Regiments—Cavalry
It must be borne in mind that Company Regiments are those which
contain squadrons or companies of different native classes. The
following regiments of Indian Cavalry contain Dogras in the
proportions given:
7th Hariana Lancers, one squadron.
9th Hodson's Horse, half a squadron.
10th Duke of Cambridge's Own Lancers (Hodson's Horse), one
squadron.
11th King Edward's Own Lancers (Probyn's Horse), one squadron.
12th Cavalry, one squadron.
13th Duke of Connaught's Lancers (Watson's Horse), one squadron.
16th Cavalry, one squadron.
19th Lancers (Fane's Horse), half a squadron.
21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Daly's
Horse), half a squadron.
23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force), half a squadron.
25th Cavalry (Frontier Force), one squadron.
Class Regiments—Infantry

37th Dogras. Raised 1858, disbanded 1882, re-formed 1887.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
Battle Honours.—"Chitral," "Punjab Frontier."
Uniform.—Scarlet, facings yellow.

38th Dogras. Raised 1858.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
Battle Honours.—"Punjab Frontier," "Malakand."
Uniform.—Scarlet, facings yellow.

41st Dogras. Raised 1900.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
Uniform.—Scarlet, facings yellow.

THE BALUCHIS
The Baluchis are said to come of Arab stock. Their legends and
traditions attribute their origin to Hamzah, an Arab of the Koreish
tribe, which claimed the honour of including the prophet Mahomet
as one of its number. Mahomet is said to have been Hamzah's
nephew. Notwithstanding the fact that some Mahomedan peoples
are in the habit of employing elaborate fiction in their claims to close
connection with their prophet, it still remains that there is much
evidence in favour of the general tradition existing among the
Baluchis as to their Arab origin.
The traditional Hamzah, progenitor of the Baluchi race, is regarded
as one of the most important of the early Mahomedan chiefs. He is
pictured as a mighty warrior, a man of Herculean strength and high
courage; hence his romantic and classical sobriquet, "Lion of God."
The tradition runs that Hamzah was killed at the battle of Ohod in
625 a.d. His descendants and adherents settled about Aleppo,
whence they were driven by Yezid, son and successor of Muavia,
and first Omeyeid Kalif. It seems that the reason for this expulsion
was that Hamzah and his tribe had given assistance to Hössein,
grandson of the prophet, in his attempt to oust Yezid from the
position which he had occupied.
Being driven forth into the desert, the tribe migrated eastward as far
as Persia, where, as pastoral nomads, they wandered and lived and
multiplied to such an extent as to cause considerable alarm to the
Persian monarch. It is to this sojourn that the Baluchis attribute their
obvious admixture of Persian blood and characteristics. As their rapid
increase in numbers promised trouble to the Persian kingdom, steps
were taken to expel them, and they ultimately descended into an
uninhabited tract south-east of Mekran—a country to which no one
laid any definite claim. From this point they gradually spread over
the whole of the country now known as Baluchistan, driving before
them all the peoples who had so far emigrated to that region. It will
be seen from this that the probabilities are decidedly in favour of the
Arab origin of the Baluchis. Yet it has been contended by some that
they are a race of Turkish stock, since certain of their rites and
customs seem to be drawn from that source; nevertheless it is more
probable, from all the available facts, that the Turcoman and Persian
characteristics and survivals are merely the result of a temporary
admixture.
Very little is known of the early history of the warlike Baluchis
beyond what can be drawn from tradition, unsupported by any
written historical records. One of their chief traditions is that Jalal
Khan, who led them out of Persia, had four sons, named Rind, Hot,
Lashari, and Korai; and a daughter named Jato. At the present day
there are five distinct tribes which still bear the names of these five
children of Jalal Khan; but of these tribes the Rind and Lashari soon
acquired, by reason of their superior force of character, a
predominant influence, so that, as the people multiplied and split up
into an ever-increasing number of tribes, all these fell under the
domination of the Rind or the Lashari. Gradually in this way all the
Baluchi race came to be divided under two great heads, the Rind
and the Lashari—a division which has been determined, not by
descent, but by political sympathy.
The Rind division possess a great traditional hero, Mir Chakar, who is
supposed to have lived in the sixteenth century, and to have been a
powerful dependent of the Moghul Emperor Humayun, giving him
great assistance in his re-conquest of the Delhi throne. In return for
this Humayun bestowed upon Mir Chakar a large tract of land on the
frontier, and it is more than probable that the Baluchis' settlements
on the southern frontier were founded in this way.
The Lashari faction also had their traditional hero, Mir Gwahram
Khan, of whom many stories of heroism are recorded. His name has
still a sound of glory for the Lasharis.
The Baluchis follow the Mahomedan religion, but, like the Gurkhas,
they are not religious by nature, preferring practical pursuits and
tangible material ideals, chief among which is war. It is not that they
are less bigoted than many of the other races, but rather that they
are more practical. Their language is a rude and far-off dialect of the
early Persians, and they have no form of written literature.
Although the Baluchi differs greatly from the Pathan in the matter of
religion, there are many points in common in regard to social
character. The Baluchi has the manly, frank, brave, strong nature of
the Pathan, with a fund of patience rendering him capable of
enduring endless hardship, and a fine dignified carriage and
physique combined with a spirit of quick daring and sudden ferocity;
to these qualities he adds the virtues of truth, fidelity, and simple
generosity. His condemnation of servility, insolence, deceit, and
treachery in many tribes is indicative of his character. His wild, free,
open-air life, combined with the artificial restraints of civilisation, has
given him a bold and resolute air of vigour and self-reliance. It
redounds to his fundamental integrity to find still existing in
Baluchistan a kind of altar or sacred stone—"a stone or cairn of
cursing—erected as a perpetual memorial to the treachery of one
who betrayed his fellow." His chivalry is superior to that of some
more cultured races, for, wild as he is, he will not harm the women
and children even of his bitterest foe. Yet his moral code allows him
to plunder and to loot on a wholesale scale. But set against this is
his strong adherence to discipline, a quality which has developed
more and more during his closer touch with the British.
If a Baluchi were allowed his own choice of weapons in any fight
whatever, his immediate selection would be a long knife, a sword,
and a shield. He has never found any material use for the matchlock,
which has always been so dear to the heart of the Pathan. He is a
born knifer, and loves to kill at close quarters—a fact based upon the
primitive blood-thirstiness of his nature, "blood for blood" being his
motto. The tales of the Baluchi's prodigal hospitality to a stranger
within his gates, and then waylaying and murdering him on his
departure, must be discredited in these days, when these fierce
instincts have been turned into worthier channels. Nor should any
credence be accorded to such stories of degradation as picture him
the habitué of the opium, hemp, and gambling dens; for, though he
may have been prone to wild excesses, recent years have seen
nobler ambitions placed before him, and certainly those Baluchis
now showing their loyalty and love for Britain and the right on the
battlefields of Europe are not of the class of whom these stories
have been told. A word of praise must be given to the Baluchi's
horse, which he rides as if it were a part of him. Baluchistan
produces some of the finest horses in the world.

THE BALUCHI REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE

HONOURS
Cavalry

37th Lancers. (Baluch Horse.) Raised 1885.

Class Squadron Regiment. 2 squadrons Derajat Mussalmans
(including Baluchis), 1 squadron Pathans, 1 squadron Sikhs.
Uniform.—Khaki serge, facings buff. (No service.)
 WITH THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, 1914.
Infantry

126th Baluchistan Infantry. Raised 1825.

Class Company Regiment. 2 companies Hazaras, 1 company
Khattacks, 1 company Waziris, 2 companies Baluchis and Brahmans,
2 companies Sikhs and other Jat Sikhs.
Battle Honours.—"Persia," "Khooshab," "China 1900."
Uniform.—Drab (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.

127th Queen Mary's Own Baluch Light Infantry. Raised 1844.

Class Company Regiment. 4 companies Pathans, 2 companies Hill
Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Badge.—In each of the four corners the Cypher of Queen Mary.
Battle Honours.—"Delhi," "Abyssinia," "Afghanistan 1878/80,"
"Burma 1885," "British East Africa 1897/99."
Uniform.-Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.

129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis. Raised 1846.

Class Company Regiment. 4 companies North-west Frontier Pathans,
2 companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Battle Honours.—"Persia," "Reshire," "Bushire," "Khooshab,"
"Kandahar 1880," "Afghanistan 1878/80," "Egypt 1882," "Tel-el-
Kebir."
Uniform.—Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.

130th King George's Own Baluchis. (Jacob's Rifles.) Raised

1858.
Class Company Regiment. 3 companies Pathans, 2 companies
Mahsuds, 3 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Badges.—The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and
Imperial Cypher.
Battle Honours.—"Afghanistan 1878/80," "China 1900."
Uniform.—Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.

THE BATTLES OF THE GOLDEN DAGON PAGODA

(Burmese War, 1824)
Diminished by sickness and death, brought on by hard service during
an inclement season, by defective provisions, and by the ordinary
casualties of war, Sir Archibald Campbell's forces at Rangoon were
greatly weakened. But the opportune arrival of the 89th British
Regiment from Madras, and of parts of two detachments which had
subdued the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, raised the effective
strength just at the critical moment. By the end of June, 1824, the
Burmese in this quarter appeared to have somewhat recovered from
their defeats at our hands. Chiefs of the highest fame, who, until
they came in contact with our troops, had always been victorious,
were sent down the Irawaddi from Ava and from Prome, with orders
to slay or torture and mutilate every Burmese soldier that did not
fight to the utmost; and one of the brightest of golden umbrellas,
Sykya Wongee, minister of state, was appointed commander-in-
chief, with positive commands from the Golden Foot to attack and
drive the British at once into the sea. Following this, on the first day
of July, all the woods in Sir Archibald's front exhibited bustle and
commotion; 8,000 men had crossed to the Rangoon side of the
river; the jungles around all seemed animated; clouds of rising
smoke marked the encampments of the different corps of the
Burmese army in the forest; and their noisy preparations for attack
formed a striking contrast to the still and quiet of our readiness.
Golden Dagon Pagoda was the key of the British position. This
splendid edifice, in itself a fortress, is a little over two miles from the
town of Rangoon. In shape it resembles an inverted speaking-
trumpet; it is 338 feet high, and is surmounted by a cap made of
brass, 45 feet high; the whole is richly gilded. The base of this
pagoda is a conical hill, flat at the top, and rising about 75 feet
above the road.
In the neighbourhood of this gorgeous building Sir Archibald
Campbell placed a whole battalion of British troops. The two roads
running from the pagoda to the town were occupied by our forces,
native and European. The minor pagodas, bronze houses, and
pilgrims' houses along these two roads afforded good shelter to the
troops against the stormy weather, and some further shelter from
the attack of an enemy whose artillery was somewhat light. Two
detached posts completed our position—one at the village of
Puzendown, about a mile below the town, where the Pegu and
Rangoon rivers meet; the other at Kemmendine, about three miles
above the town; this second post being chiefly intended to protect
our shipping against the descent of the enemy's fire-rafts.
On the morning of July 1st the enemy issued in dense masses from
the jungle to the right and front of the Golden Dagon Pagoda.
Detaching to their left a column, which succeeded in setting fire to
part of the village of Puzendown, their main body came boldly up to
within half a mile of Rangoon, and commenced a spirited attack
upon part of our line. But two field-pieces, served with grape and
shrapnel, presently checked their advance, and then a brilliant
charge by the 43rd Madras Native Infantry put them all to flight. In a
very few minutes not a man could be seen of the Burmese host,
except the killed and wounded; nor could anything be heard of them
except a wild screaming of baffled fury coming from the depths of
the forest.
Their defeated commander was brought to book by the Golden Foot,
and degraded. Then a still higher minister of state, named Soomba
Wongee, who had arrived with reinforcements, took the command,
and commenced stockading his army in the most difficult and
intricate part of the forest, at Kummeroot, about five miles from the
Great Pagoda, intending, chiefly under cover of night, to carry on
such a system of desultory warfare as would harass, and ultimately
destroy, our sickly, worn-out soldiers. He also fortified a commanding
point on the river about Kemmendine, in communication with his
stockaded camp, hoping by this means not only to obstruct the
navigation of the river, but also to construct and employ numerous
fire-rafts. But this new commander-in-chief had scarcely finished his
works when he was driven from them with a terrible slaughter.
It was on July 8th that Sir Archibald Campbell embarked with one
column for the attack of the position upon the river, and Brigadier-
General MacBean, with a land column, marched upon the forest
stockades at Kummeroot. The works on the river were found to be
so formidable that it was judged necessary to employ breaching
vessels; accordingly a brig and three Company's cruisers, manned by
seamen of his Majesty's and the Company's navy, under the
superintendence of Captain Marryat, soon opened a heavy
cannonade and silenced the enemy's guns. Our troops then pushed
across the river in boats, entered the practicable breach which the
firing of our seamen had made, and carried all those works with
comparatively trifling loss. The Burmese suffered severely in killed,
and many of them were drowned in trying to escape across the river.
The operations of the land column, under MacBean, were equally
successful. It was unprovided with artillery; but the storming parties,
who escaladed stockade after stockade, consisted entirely of British
troops. Here, again, the slaughter was dreadful. Soomba Wongee,
and several chiefs of high rank, with 800 men, were killed within the
stockades; and the neighbouring jungles were filled with the
unhappy creatures who were wounded, and left to die from want of
food and care. Some of these poor Burmese were found by the
English soldiers, and brought into our hospitals; but, unfortunately,
none of them recovered. The monsoon rains were now at their
height. The adjacent country was almost wholly under water.
Nothing was to be obtained from it. Again, disease spread so rapidly
among our troops that the outlook was desperate.
Meanwhile an Expeditionary Force, consisting of his Majesty's 89th
Regiment and the 7th Madras Native Infantry, under the command
of Colonel Miles, was detached from Rangoon, with a considerable
naval force, to subdue the maritime possessions of his Burmese
Majesty to the eastward, in the hope that their loss might induce
him to sue for peace. The success of the expedition was complete:
Tavoy surrendered. Mergui was taken by storm, and British
protection was welcomed by the inhabitants of the entire coast of
Tenasserim.
Some few weeks later Sir Archibald Campbell attempted to release
such of the inhabitants of Rangoon as were desirous of returning to
their houses; and, by means of the sudden, unexpected, and, to the
natives, inexplicable movement of our steamboats, a few families
who had been driven to the villages at the heads of the numerous
creeks which branch off from the Rangoon river were released from
their guard, and joyfully took the opportunity of returning to their
city. It was to the report of these people of the kind treatment they
met with that our army was afterwards indebted for the return of
the great body of the men whose services and exertions contributed
to the final success of the war.
Having, so far, failed in all his undertakings, the Lord of the White
Elephant now sent his two brothers, the Prince of Tonghoo and the
Prince of Sarrawaddy, with a whole host of astrologers and a corps
of "Invulnerables," to join the army and to direct the future
operations of the war. The astrologers were to fix the lucky moment
for attacking; the "Invulnerables" had some points of resemblance to
the Turkish Delhis; they were the desperadoes, or madmen, of the
army, and their madness was kept up by enormous doses of opium.
The corps consisted of several thousand men, divided into classes;
the most select band of all being called the "King's Own
Invulnerables."
The Prince of Tonghoo established his headquarters at Pegu, and the
Prince of Sarrawaddy took post at Donoopew, upon the great river,
about sixty miles from Rangoon. In the beginning of August the
Prince of Sarrawaddy sent down a force to occupy a strong post at
the mouth of the Pegu River, a few miles below Rangoon, giving his
people strict orders to block up the channel of the river in our rear,
so that not one of the "wild foreigners" or "captive strangers" might
escape the punishment that was about to fall upon them. Brigadier
Smelt was at once sent, with a small corps, to dislodge Sarrawaddy's
force. Our land troops were brought to a standstill, when within
musket-shot of the place, by a deep and impassable creek; but a
party of sailors from his Majesty's ship Larne, under Captain Marryat,
threw a bridge over the creek; and, as soon as the column of attack
pushed forward, the enemy began to fly, leaving eight guns and a
quantity of ammunition in their stockade. A strong pagoda, with a
numerous garrison, and with cannons pointing down every
approach, was next carried with equal facility. Other posts on the
rivers and creeks were then attacked and taken. Such of the enemy
as had had any experience of our way of fighting seldom stopped to
fight in their stockades; but a new set of people from the interior
made a good stand in a succession of stockades on one of the
rivers, and cost us the loss of a good many brave men.
All this time the astrologers were busy casting the lucky moment.
Finally they told the Prince of Sarrawaddy that the moment had
come for a decisive action; and, on the night of August 30th, a body
of the "King's Own Invulnerables" promised to attack and carry the
Golden Dagon Pagoda, in order that the princes and the sages and
pious men in their train might celebrate the usual annual festival in
that sacred place—which was now crowded with English grenadiers.
And, true so far to their promise, the "Invulnerables," at the hour of
midnight, rushed in a compact body from the jungle under the
pagoda armed with swords and muskets. A small picquet, thrown
out in our front, retired in slow and steady order, skirmishing with
the "Invulnerables" until they reached the flight of steps leading
from the road up to the pagoda. The moon had gone down, and the
night was so dark that the enemy could be distinguished only by a
few glimmering lanterns in their front; but their noise and clamour
and the volume of their threats and imprecations launched upon the
impious strangers if they did not immediately evacuate the sacred
temple proved their number to be very great.
"In a dense column," says the historian, "they rolled along the
narrow pathway leading to the northern gate of the pagoda, wherein
all seemed as silent as the grave. But hark! the muskets crash, the
cannons roar along the ramparts of the British post, drowning the
tumult of the advancing column; and see!—see by the flash of our
guns, the column reels back, the 'Invulnerables' fall, mortally
wounded, and the rest turn their backs on the holy place, and run
with frantic speed for the covering of the jungle."
Our grape-shot and our musketry broke the spell—those
"Invulnerables" ventured no more near any of our posts. But a far
more terrible enemy came within the lines; the dysentery broke out
among our troops, killing many of them, and reducing more to a
most emaciated and feeble state. Scarcely three thousand duty
soldiers were left to guard the lines. Floating hospitals were
established at the mouth of the river; and bread was now furnished
in sufficient quantities, but nothing except change of season or of
climate could restore the sufferers to health. Mergui and Tavoy,
portions of our conquest on the sea-coast, were represented by the
medical officers who visited them as admirable convalescent
stations; and thither a number of our soldiers were sent, and with
the most beneficial result. Men who had for months continued in a
most debilitated state at Rangoon, rapidly recovered on arriving at
Mergui, and were soon restored to their duty in full health.
The Lord of the White Elephant now determined to call down from
the mountains of Arracan his prime favourite, and to carry off the
Governor-General in golden chains. Bandula obeyed the call, and led
his reinforced army from the mountains of Arracan to the Irawaddi
river. He had begun his march about the end of August, at a season
of the year when none but Burmese could have kept the field for a
week, much less have attempted to pass the unhealthy jungles and
the pestilential marshes of the country. The distance, by the shortest
route, was more than 200 miles; but Bandula, gathering fresh forces
in the latter part of his long march, reached Donoopew before Sir
Archibald Campbell knew that he had left Arracan. Happily, our
troops, though woefully reduced in numbers, were now fast
recovering their health and strength; and two fresh British
regiments, some battalions of native infantry, a regiment of cavalry,
and a troop of horse artillery arrived from Calcutta and Madras,
together with some admirable trotting cattle of the true Mysore
breed. Five hundred native boatmen came round from Chittagong,
and were busily employed in preparing boats for river service.
The rains had now ceased at Rangoon; and Sir Archibald Campbell,
strongly reinforced, was completing his preparations for the ascent
of the Irawaddi, and for an attack upon Prome, when he learned
that Bandula had reached Donoopew with 60,000 fighting men, a
considerable train of artillery, and a body of Cassay horse, the best
cavalry in this part of Asia. Bandula's musketeers were estimated at
35,000 men. Other numerous bodies were armed with gingals,
which carried an iron ball of from six to twelve ounces, and were
mounted on a light carriage easily dragged about by two men; and
great numbers were attached to the guns which were transported on
the backs of elephants. The rest of the host were armed with swords
and spears, and scattered through the army were more of the
"Invulnerables" who had not yet tasted the sour grape of English
guns, and who were amply provided with charms, spells, opium,
bhang, and betel-nuts. As Bandula proclaimed on all sides his
intention of riding at the head of his invincible army, with horses and
elephants and all manner of warlike stores, to capture and destroy
the British at Rangoon, it was deemed proper to wait for him there
with a view to a decisive battle.
The enemy came down to the neighbourhood of Rangoon in boats.
Our posts, consisting of redoubts and fortified pagodas, were
speedily constructed, connecting the great Golden Dagon Pagoda by
two distinct lines with Rangoon and the river, and leaving a
disposable force for moving to the support of any point that might
require such support. The post at Kemmendine was also strongly
occupied, and was supported on the river by his Majesty's sloop
Sophie, Captain Ryves, a Company's cruiser, and a strong division of
gunboats.
On November 30th Bandula's great army assembled in and behind
the dense forest; and his line, extending from the river above
Kemmendine in a semicircular direction towards Puzendown, might
be distinguished by a curved line of smoke rising above the trees.
During the ensuing night the low, continuous murmur and hum of
voices proceeding from the enemy's encampment suddenly ceased,
and were speedily succeeded by the distant but gradually
approaching sounds of a multitude in slow and stealthy movement
through the woods. Our troops soon became aware that the enemy's
masses had approached to the very edge of the jungle, within
musket-shot of the pagoda, apparently in readiness to rush from
their cover to the assault at the break of day.
The day had scarcely dawned on December 1st when hostilities
commenced with a heavy fire of musketry and cannon at
Kemmendine, the reduction of that place being a preliminary to any
general attack upon our line. The firing continued long and brisk,
and from their commanding situation at the Great Pagoda, though
nearly two miles distant from the scene of action, our men could
distinctly hear the yells and shouts of the infuriated assailants,
occasionally returned by the hearty cheer of the British seamen as
they poured in their heavy broadsides upon the resolute and
persevering masses. The thick forest which separated us from the
river shut out all sight of what was going forward; and, when the
firing ceased, we remained. There was a short period of anxiety,
though little doubt as to the result of the long and spirited assault.
At length, however, the thick canopy of smoke which lowered over
the fierce and sanguinary conflict gradually dissolved, and there
could be seen the masts of the vessels lying at their old station off
the fort—a convincing proof that all had ended well on that side.
Meanwhile the enemy had been seen on the west side of the river,
marching across the plains of Dalla towards Rangoon. They were
formed in five or six different divisions, and moved with great
regularity, led by numerous chiefs on horse-back—their gilt
umbrellas glittering in the rays of the sun—with a sufficiently
formidable and imposing effect. Opposite Rangoon the leading
column of five or six Burmese divisions began entrenching and
throwing up batteries, while their main body was stockading in the
jungle. In the course of the day several heavy columns issued from
the forest, and successively took up their ground along a woody
ridge, gently sloping towards Rangoon. Here they commenced
operations with their entrenching tools, and with such activity and
good will that in the course of a couple of hours their whole line was
covered; their flags and banners, which had been flying in profusion,
all disappeared, and nothing was seen but a parapet of fresh-turned
earth, gradually increasing in height. The moving masses, which had
so very lately attracted anxious attention, had sunk into the ground;
and, by anyone who had not witnessed the whole scene, the
existence of these subterranean legions would not have been
credited. The occasional movement of a chief with his gilt umbrella
from place to place, superintending the progress of their labour, was
the only thing that now attracted notice. By a distant observer the
hills, covered with mounds of earth, would have been taken for
anything rather than the approaches of an attacking army. Even to
those who had watched the whole strange proceeding, it seemed
the work of magic or enchantment. But, thus working like moles in
the earth, the Burmese could no more see than they could be seen;
and, in the afternoon, Major Sale, with his Majesty's 13th Regiment
and a regiment of Madras Native Infantry, moving rapidly forward
upon the busily employed and too confident enemy, fell upon them
before they were well aware of the visit, and drove the whole line
from their earthworks with considerable loss.
These Burmese trenches were found to be a succession of holes,
capable of containing two men each, and excavated so as to afford
shelter both from the weather and the fire of any enemy; even a
shell lighting in the trench could at most kill but two men. As it was
not the Burmese system to relieve their troops in making these
approaches, each hole contained a sufficient supply of rice, water,
and even fuel for its inmates; and under the excavated bank a bed
of straw or brushwood was prepared, in which one man could sleep
while his comrade watched. When one line of trench was completed,
its occupiers, taking advantage of the night, would push forward to
where the second line was to be opened, their places being
immediately taken up by fresh troops from the rear, and so on,
progressively. The Burmese understood this art of warfare, but our
men—especially our Native Infantry—also understood that art, and
the enemy's weaknesses as well.
Attacks were made on Kemmendine that day and were all repulsed
by our troops or by the seamen of our little flotilla. But it was not
until night that the Burmese made their last desperate effort to open
their way down the river, and so get possession of the port of
Rangoon. The soldiers had lain down to rest, when suddenly the
heavens and the whole surrounding country became brilliantly
illuminated. The enemy had launched their fire-rafts into the stream
with the first of the ebb-tide, and had now applied the match to
those huge masses of combustible materials, in the hope of driving
the Sophie and our other vessels from their stations off
Kemmendine; and as these fire-rafts came down, it was seen by the
light of their flames that they were followed by a vast fleet of war-
boats, whose crew were ready to take advantage of the confusion
which might ensue if any of our vessels should be set on fire. As the
rafts floated rapidly down to Kemmendine with the ebbing tide,
columns of attack moved once more by land against that well-
defended post, with artillery, gingals, and musketry.
But the skill and intrepidity of British seamen proved more than a
match for the numbers and devices of the Burmese; after gazing for
a while at the red, blue, yellow and green flames of the mighty
fireworks, our sailors leapt into their boats, pushed off to meet the
flaming rafts, secured them with their grappling irons, and
conducted them safely past our shipping or ran them ashore to finish
their short but vivid life of fire and flame upon the river bank without
injury to anyone. If these fire-rafts could have reached the harbour
of Rangoon, which was now crowded with transports and vessels of
all kinds, the effect might have been very tragic; but the British tars
said that none should pass Kemmendine Point, and none did pass.
Kemmendine, where the river makes a sudden turn, was the only
point from which the rafts could have been launched with effect.
Fully aware of this, Bandula ordered attack upon attack to be made,
and for seven days no rest by night or by day was allowed to our
troops or to our seamen there. But every effort of the enemy failed
—even their land attack on Kemmendine.
On December 5th, when the stores of the Burmese left wing were
brought forward from the jungle to their foremost entrenchment in
front of Rangoon, and were fairly within our reach, Sir Archibald
Campbell ordered a decisive attack to be made upon their army.
Major Sale, with one column 800 strong, and a troop of British
dragoons, who had only been landed the preceding day, was
directed to fall upon their centre; and Major Walker, with 500 men,
was sent to make a vigorous attack on their left wing. The
operations of these two columns of troops were greatly facilitated by
Captain Chads of the navy, who proceeded up the Creek to a point
within gunshot of the rear of the enemy's line, with the man-of-war
boats and a part of the flotilla, and began a heavy cannonade which
distracted the attention of the Burmese and prevented their
strengthening their front. Our two columns broke through the
entrenchments, and completely routed both the centre and the left
with vigorous bayonet charges; but Major Walker and a good many
of his gallant comrades fell. The loss of the Burmese was appalling;
they were driven from every part of their works into the jungle,
leaving the ground behind them covered with dead and wounded,
with all their guns, entrenching tools, gilt umbrellas, and a great
number of small arms. On December 6th, Bandula tried to rally his
defeated troops, and with some success. On the 7th the Burmese
made their last and grand attack on the Great Pagoda, but they
were beaten, driven back to their entrenchments by the British
bayonet, and finally into the depths of the jungle.
Our troops at that post, worn out by seven days and nights of
incessant fighting and watching, could not pursue the flying enemy,
who left in the trenches a great number of dead—nearly all stout,
tall, athletic fellows, who might almost have measured with English
grenadiers, and who had evidently belonged to the flower of
Bandula's army. During these seven busy and fiery days the
Burmese, in addition to a prodigious loss of life, had lost every gun
and their entire stores. The survivors fled towards Donoopew, but
they were stopped in their flight by some great and terrible chiefs,
who had been sent down with numerous reinforcements, and they
rallied at Kokeen, about four miles beyond the Great Pagoda.
It is said that when Bandula counted his forces he found them
reduced from more than 60,000 fighting men to less than 25,000.
Nevertheless, this favourite of the Lord of the White Elephant was
allowed to retain the chief command. His first move was to entrench
and stockade himself at Kokeen, after which he employed
incendiaries to burn the invaders out of Rangoon, and destroy all
their stores and powder magazines. On the night of December 12th
the cry of fire resounded through the town of Rangoon, and nearly
the whole of that flimsy, bamboo-built place seemed to be
immediately in a blaze. The incendiaries had placed their matches in
various parts of the town, and had set fire to them all the same
moment. One half of the town was burned; but the flames were
prevented from reaching our depot of stores and ammunition. This
attempt, which was very nearly successful, brought down a rapid
attack upon Bandula's new position, and defeat and ruin upon
himself. On December 15th—three days after the midnight fire at
Rangoon—1,500 British troops and sepoys, unaided by artillery,
under the command of Brigadier-General Willoughby Cotton, drove
Bandula and his mighty host from all their entrenchments and
stockades at Kokeen, and strewed the position with his dead in
thousands.

BHURTPORE
(1826)
If any fortress in India could have been with good reason called
impregnable, that fortress was Bhurtpore. In the early years of the
nineteenth century the chiefs and rajahs of Hindustan were wont to
say, "Yes, you may bully us, but go and take Bhurtpore!" Their belief
in its impregnability was well founded, for in 1805 Lord Lake had
attacked it vigorously, but had failed to reduce its well-fortified works
manned by staunch and numerous defenders. After suffering terrible
losses he was compelled to withdraw, leaving this Jat fortress with a
still stronger claim to impregnability than it had ever possessed
before.
When it was once decided by the British Government that Bhurtpore
must fall, the question immediately arose, where was the man to
take it? The East India Company Directors interviewed the Duke of
Wellington, asking him to find a man capable of taking this fortress.
The Duke gave them an answer. He said, "You can't do better than
have Lord Combermere. He's the man to take Bhurtpore." "But,"
replied the directors with great surprise, "we thought that your
Grace had not a very high opinion of Lord Combermere, and did not
consider him a man of genius." "I don't care a tuppenny damn" (that
was the Iron Duke's favourite par of exchange in hot words) "about
his genius. I tell you he is the man to take Bhurtpore!" And the Duke
was right.
There were 25,000 men in the Bhurtpore garrison, and they
represented the most warlike races of India. When Lord
Combermere set out with Bhurtpore as his objective, his army
consisted of 30,000 men of very mixed quality. On reaching the
fortress he began with heavy bombardment. Then for a week he
carried forward his siege works, covered by Gurkha sharpshooters,
whose eyes were so keen and whose aim so sure that no man of the
enemy could show his head above the ramparts with impunity.
Point after point was won until, at last, a small breach was made by
the artillery; and into this breach Lord Combermere flung a force in
which were included 600 dismounted men from the various cavalry
regiments—eighty from the 11th Light Dragoons, eighty from the
16th Lancers, 200 from Skinner's Horse, and forty from each
regiment of native cavalry.
Skinner's Horse is one of the earliest formed of the many
distinguished Native Irregular Cavalry Corps which have fought for
Britain. They had been under Colonel Skinner for many years, and
had served him in many wars; thus they had come to respect and
love him as tribesmen do their chief. There is a touching story of
their valour and faithfulness during the storming of Bhurtpore. A
party was told off according to rota duty, for the whole regiment had
volunteered for the dangerous service. Skinner placed at their head
Shadull Khan, one of his oldest, most faithful, and trustworthy native
officers. Then he spoke to them as follows: "This is the first time you
are going into danger when I cannot accompany you; but such is my
affection for you all that I cannot allow you to part from me without
carrying with you something dear to me." Then, taking his son by
the hand—the lad had only lately entered the corps—he continued:
"See, here is my son. Take him and gain for him such honour as you
have won for his father."
This shows clearly what Colonel Skinner thought of Skinner's Horse,
and also what he knew they thought of him. Old Shadull Khan
stepped forward, and, taking young Skinner by the arm, cried out,
"Farewell, our commander! Trust in God, who never deserts those
faithful servants who do their duty and who, please God, will now do
their utmost to maintain the honour of the corps."
Although the assault on the breach had been planned, it was
postponed for that day, as on further consideration Lord
Combermere deemed it was not practicable. It took place later, after
a great explosion of mines which the engineers had placed beneath
the ramparts. On entering the widened breach our troops
encountered fierce opposition. There was a hand-to-hand fight of
the most desperate description, and it was not until after some
hours of fierce fighting that the enemy surrendered.
The Iron Duke's words were justified; Lord Combermere had taken
Bhurtpore, and that successful assault on a fortress long regarded as
impregnable was one which yields in brilliancy and courage to few in
the British annals of war. Its beneficial effect on British rule and
influence in India was as striking as its place among battles is
dramatic.

THE WAR IN SCINDE

(Meeanee, 1843)
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