Chitral 1895: An Episode of the Great Game

Description

In 1895, a small Indian Army garrison, commanded by Surgeon-Major Sir George Scott Robertson and Captain Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, was besieged by a joint Chitrali and Pathan army at the fort of Chitral. Despite the odds being heavily stacked against them, Robertson's beleaguered little garrison held out for forty-eight days until a relief expedition was able to fight its way through to the rescue. The siege and subsequent relief is a story of valour and sheer determination in the face of a stubborn adversary and extreme weather conditions, all played out on the often-mountainous terrain of the north-western border of British India. Robertson described events in Chitral as a 'minor siege', but the siege and subsequent relief should be viewed as an important episode in Britain's 'Great Game' with Russia, which would have serious consequences for the British several years later. Indeed, the retention of Chitral by the Indian Government would be a contributing factor to the mass uprisings along the North-West Frontier of India during late 1897. In reality, it was anything but a minor siege.

Mark Simner has been interested in British military history since childhood, having widely read and researched the period of 1700-1945. In 2007 he set up the incredibly successful 'Victorian Wars Forum', which was followed by the equally popular 'Napoleonic Wars Forum' in 2011. His first book, 'An Illustrated Introduction to the Battle of Waterloo', was published in May 2015, and he has since written a number of other titles and articles.

"...places the 'minor siege' of Chitral within the overall context of the Anglo-Russian imperial rivalry of the nineteenth-century 'Great Game.'"-- "International Journal of Military History and Historiography" "Both the siege and relief expedition are covered in detail in this new work by the author, who has several previous books published on the wars of this era. The descriptions of the harsh weather, difficult terrain, and stubborn fighter all blend together to give the reader a clear idea of the hardships faced by the combatants during this time. The result is an interesting look at a little-known battle with far-reaching consequences for the British Empire in this region."-- "Military Heritage" (5/1/2018 12:00:00 AM)