The Victorians at War

by Ian F.W. Beckett

The men of the Victorian army ruled a large part of the world. As the visible power behind the greatest empire there had ever been, they were involved in wars and policing wherever British interests demanded it, whether in Canada, the Crimea, Afghanistan or the Sudan. Very small by continental standards, the Victorian army combined a strong sense of tradition with growing professionalism. The variety of tasks it had to undertake gave its officers and men an extraordinary range of challenges and experiences: putting down the Indian Mutiny, fighting in the jungles of West Africa, facing a Zulu impi and Boer sharpshooters, or garrisoning the many outposts of the empire. In The Victorians at War Ian Beckett looks at the men and their leaders from a variety of angles, using particular incidents and battles to show how the army lived and fought.

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Dr. Ian F.W. Beckett is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and retired Professor of Military History at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Reviews

[Brian Curragh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An occasionally patchy collection of essays and articles on the Victorian British Army. Individual chapters range from generally interesting to some well-written pieces of analysis on why the Victorian Army fought and developed as it did over the Nineteenth Century. But the chapter organisation does not flow and overall does not deliver a coherent volume on the Victorian era.

[Mark Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

More to do with the politics of the time than the actual wars they fought and also focussed a good chunk on the second Boer war and not the other wars but still a decent read

[Jansen Wee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather interesting read of the Victorian Army, its generals, campaigns and soldiers. The bureaucracy behind it, both the British and Indian Army variants, the impact of technology on this era's campaign, and the writing of histories and reputations. The themes covered in this book are varied, but necessarily selective. Touches more than a fair bit on the Boer War and the Crimean War, and to me at least, at the expense of many other colonial campaigns that would have made for even more intriguing reading. All in all a commendable read, and at times, I half expected Flashman's name to pop out in this book.