Eminent Victorian Soldiers: Seekers of Glory

by Byron Farwell

Book Overview

This book brings together the lives of eight of Queen Victoria's most renowned and idiosyncratic generals, men who helped create the British Empire and whose lives reflect the vigor and diversity of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393305333
• ISBN13: 9780393305333
• Release Date: June 1988
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A little gem of biography

The stories are interesting, the writing is engaging, but the genius of this book is to compress a set of biographies into a single book rather than the current trend of writing definitive 1000 page biographies of even minor figures. In bite sized chunks you can survey the human condition, learn something about the history of a time, and get a great set of stories in a fraction of the time. I wish there were more books like this. I'd like to write a book like this. The subject matter itself is an acquired taste...but read the book anyway.

A Bully of a Book !

I have found this book to become a permanent part of my humble library. If one was to have only one book about the British Empire, one could do a whole lot worse than this little tome. It is not for the faint hearted PC historian but a real nuts ands bolts book about the Men who went out with amazingly small but highly effective Armies and made a huge chunk of the map pink. (For those not in the Know, the Old Empire was always coloured Pink on the maps) I can only hope that our Army would do so well in Iraq. I can recommended it most highly as it is with Mr. Farwell's other books

The Victorian Empire Builders

This compendium biography presents a fine sketch of the eight prominent Victorian generals who commanded during the Little Wars of Queen Victoria. The often respressed and somewhat bizarre characteristics of these men seems typical of the Victorian mind-set. While they were certainly eccentric, these men personified the times they lived in and in their actions pursued the notion of the White Man's burden to civilize the dark regions of the world. In the politcially correct times that we live in today perhaps some of these notions will appear offensive, but in order to appreciate these man we must understand the times they lived in and try not to impose our own values upon them. Indeed, many Victorians would find our social values today strange to comprehend as well. Byron Farwell specializes in the Victorian military experience and his writtings on this topic are always witty and informative. The reader may find it surprising that homosexuality was present in several of these gentlemen, namely Charles Gordon and Hector Macdonald. Again, we can attribute this to the oddities of the age which repressed such feelings on the surface, thereby encouraging their lurkings behind the scenes. It is doubtful that any of them would have preferred to advertise their inclinations as seems to be the norm today. Homosexuality was more discreet then, and perhaps that was a good thing in a way. The military life that these men pursued perhaps inclined them toward a different lifestyle as the compnay of women was often infrequent in far outposts. The talents of these generals certainly expanded the British Empire and made it one of the great epochs of its day. Farwell has provided a worthy addition to Lytton Strachey's earlier work, "Eminent Victorians". The reader will find all sorts of interesting and amusing aspects of these Eminent Victorian Generals.

Useful and well written guide to Victorian Generalship

This book is a detailed overwiew of the lives and military careers of eight prominent Victorian Generals and as such it represents a very interesting insight in the higher echelons of the British Officer Corps during the XIX century. Spanning from the Napoleonic Wars to the First World War, the narrative brings to life the experience of these leading figures of British military from the professional as well as human point of view. Often at loggerheads with the political authorities on the spot and at Home, these Generals (Hugh Gough, Charles James Napier, Charles Gordon, Garnet Wolseley, Frederick Roberts, Evelyn Wood, Hector MacDonald and Herbert Kitchener)were nevertheless the spearhead of the expansion of British Empire during the Victorian Era. Their failings as well as assets are presented by Farwell with fairness, even though this is not enough to conceal a slight preference for Lord Roberts, undoubtly the best person of the lot. Through the life ot these leaders of men the reader has a better understanding of the different motivations behind the "imperial adventure" of Britain. The author does a commendable work in bringing to the fore the often original, quizzical or downright ambiguous personality of these "empire-builders". As a scholarly work the book is a bit superficial: the influence of the cultural and social background of the charachters remains to be analyzed and the problems of the relationships between the Army and society are not properly stressed. These failings apart, I found this a high recommendable book for anyone interested in Victorian Colonial history and one of the very few sources of information now available about XIX century British Generals.

Mad but magnificent!

This is a fine selection of off-the-wall & varied characters. From the cold, calculating introverts to magnificently brave & foolish show-offs. Their strengths & , many times their weaknesses, are developed with brutal frankness. For almost every positive trait there is usually a corresponding defect, that many times went without notice during the charater's lifetimes. This "warts n'all" approach, whilst probably being completely libelous (if the guys were not long dead), has a humanizing effect that increases both the credibility of the stories, & the reader's interest in the subjects. What all the Generals certainly have in common is an implacable desire to succeed at all costs. Completely oblivious to personal danger, & most, in their thirst for victory, having a callous disregard for the lives & general well-being of their soldiers. The content is varied, the style is fast, well written, & above all, enjoyable. History at school should have been as much fun to read as this!