Queen Victoria's Little Wars

by Byron Farwell

Book Overview

Tells all the old stories of imperial heroism con brio. Noel Annan, New York Review of Books

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393302350
• ISBN13: 9780393302356
• Release Date: June 1985
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

An interesting and useful work on the British colonial wars

Magnificent job,describes the various military expeditions, little wars, rebellions, mutinies(well only one was the only big threat to the Queen Victoria Empire, the Indian Mutiny)and all the small affairs to repel a proboked attack, to save or to protect resident Britons, to avenge an insult or to stop any other Empire from extending it.A lively and compelling study of the Savage wars of peace and the eccentric personalities who fought them,from 1837 to 1901 continuos warfare to protect British Interest in Asia, Canada, Africa, Arabia, this is not a complete work but is one of the best, Mr. Farwell gave us a fascinating overview highly readable with many entertaining historical anecdotes of British colonial wars and bloody confrontations, well written.I know that there are other works that name all the battles or small campaigns(like the work of Philip J. Haythornthwaite "The Colonial Wars Source Book")but a fascinating and exciting story that was omitted was the Fashoda Incident,this was going to be one of the greatest collision of rival imperial ambitions, the French with their historic claims of the Nile try to take control of a small town call Fashoda and this was a big threat to the British control of the Suez Canal and Egypt so after the famous battle of Omdurman Kitchener was send to stop the young Colonel Marchand, at the end the Fashoda crisis was eventually resolved, the British gave the French a free hand on Morrocco and the French forget about Egypt.Even with out this the author made an exciting book and a valuable addition to military history, maps and pictures,well laid out, nice appendix, one on the British Regiment system essential to understand the British Military Mind and the other a easy to follow list of the Little wars from 1837 to 1901 this is a partial record of the conflicts for the "PAX BRITANNICA"

I thought I would hate this book, but ended loving it!

When I first began reading this book, I was disappointed, thinking that it was little more that an account of the various military campaigns undertaken during the reign of Queen Victoria, with no attempt to connect these wars with events within Britain itself.However, very shortly indeed, I realized that this book was nothing short of a tour de force! The author uses wit and a thorough understanding of his subject to draw the reader in, both informing and entertaining!

Exciting Account of "the Savage Wars of Peace"

The reign of Queen Victoria was the high water mark of the British Empire, and during her reign,dozens of little wars were fought throughout her empire. Mr. Farwell is able to take the highlights of these little wars and string them together into a fascinating and very readable story. Throughout, he gives little character sketches and interesting-and sometimes amusing asides-while not getting too far from the main flow of the narritive. A colorful look into an era when prestige and honor sometimes counted for more than expediency. My only criticism is that there was a lack of maps to go with the accounts of the various campaigns, the three maps included being of Northern India, Afganistan, and North-East Africa. While many of the campaigns did take place in these locals, a third of the wars in this book took place in South Africa, West Africa, China, the Crimea, and even Canada. Perhaps putting a map of the area of the campaign at the beginning of each chapter would have helped.

Splendid account of Victorian military affairs

As with all of Mr. Farwells's other books, this is a classic. Rich in detail, unique characters and incredible events that spanned the British empire. I recommend this and any of his other works, I have read them all, and some day soon, I plan to begin reading them all once again. I even had the opportunity to speak with him on the phone once, a real class gentleman.

A wonderfully written summary of a fascinating period

This was my first reading of the military history of the victorian era and what an truly interesting era it was! This book wonderfully evokes the amazing, if now politically incorrect, exploits of a small number of victorian military adventurers in the rapidly expanding, exotic realms of the empire. I highly recommend this book to anyone interesting in militaria and 19th century history. I am on-line now to pick up two more of Farwells books!