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The Story Of The Malakand Field Force Paperback – June 17, 2004

4.4 out of 5 stars 159
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The Story Of The Malakand Field Force is a book written by Winston S. Churchill, which chronicles his experiences as a young British army officer during the Malakand campaign in India in 1897. The book provides a detailed account of the military operations carried out by the British forces against the rebellious tribesmen in the Malakand region of present-day Pakistan. Churchill's vivid descriptions of the battles, the terrain, and the people involved bring the events to life and provide a unique insight into the challenges faced by the British in their efforts to maintain control over their Indian empire. The book also offers a glimpse into Churchill's early career as a soldier and his emerging political views, which would later shape his role as one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. Overall, The Story Of The Malakand Field Force is a fascinating historical document that offers a compelling account of a pivotal moment in British imperial history.The episode with which this chapter is concerned is one that has often occurred on the out-post line of civilisation, and which is peculiarly frequent in the history of a people whose widespread Empire is fringed with savage tribes. A small band of soldiers or settlers, armed with the resources of science, and strengthened by the cohesion of mutual trust, are assailed in some isolated post, by thousands of warlike and merciless enemies. Usually the courage and equipment of the garrison enable them to hold out until a relieving force arrives, as at Rorke's Drift, Fort Chitral, Chakdara or Gulistan. But sometimes the defenders are overwhelmed, and, as at Saraghari or Khartoum, none are left to tell the tale.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    212 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Kessinger Publishing
  4. Publication date
    June 17, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    7.6 x 0.47 x 9.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1419184105
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1419184109
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kessinger Publishing (June 17, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1419184105
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419184109
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.6 x 0.47 x 9.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 159

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
159 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

rainy
5.0 out of 5 stars Churchill was very intelligent. This book should be required reading for members of Congress and the military.
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015
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This story of history forgotten, demonstrates the fruitlessness of fighting another countries war, or wars. Churchill justified my thoughts about the history of mankind from the beginning, to our present, as his quotes mark the balance of the nature of man's designs and desires to take from other's, what he himself does not need but only wants. In 1865, a jihad was held against England and India. What precious monetary natural resources can be bought with a life of little value, to those who reap the gains or benefits which goes to the wealthy. Yet, even I have two Honourable Discharges during a time of war. I'm older now. I know what we can live with and without. There is no glory. North Vietnam was not bombed. Why? We had large companies there. The wealthy make the rules. Do you have enough money to be elected. If I am incorrect please forgive me, but I think Churchill was married to a daughter, whose father owned the newspapers, even in New York City. Public relations brings prominence, even Generals have to wage war to rise in rank. The greatest cause of war is greed. As long as someone else profit from the war, man will wage war. Someone will entice people and countries. It will always be so. Great information in this historically correct journey into the battlegrounds. I recall that the oil was being sought, as well as other resources. Churchill could not speak as freely in the 1890's. But then again, the same issues we had in the 1960's and much earlier are still present. Again, it will always be so. I like his story. Compare it to any time in history,and the stories will still fit any period of mankind. That's why it should be required reading for all, especially Congress, members of all governments and our military personnel. Someone has certainly said that " There is a time for war, and a time for peace".
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Dan Harlow
4.0 out of 5 stars There are no winners here.
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2014
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"It was a strange thing, to watch these conspicuous forms toiling up the hillside, dodging this way and that way, as the bullets cut into the earth around them; but with the experience of the previous ten minutes fresh in the memory, pity was not one of the emotions it aroused."

If I told you I was reading a book about a mountain war in the Swat Valley region of Afghanistan against religious extremists whom no matter how much talent and treasure you throw at them ever seems able to conquer or defeat them and that most of the arms given to any Afghan allies just winds up being used against you at the end of the day, you would be forgiven for thinking I was talking about a contemporary book and not one written over 100 years ago with Winston Churchill as the narrator. And this is what is so striking about the book: that the same war is still going on today.

This book is one of the ultimate examples of there being nothing new under the sun. Literally every single point Winston Churchill makes about his observations about his time in the forward push into the Afghan region at the end of the 19th century can be applied to today's war in the region. From religious extremism that fuels an endless wave of brave young men to literally throw themselves against the bullets and steel of a vastly more powerful enemy, to the splintered alliances and feuds of the local tribes which everyone takes advantage of to keep them from uniting less they become a truly formidable foe, to the moral dilemmas of burning villages to starve out combatants, or the light years wide gulf between Western values and Eastern Islamic values.

And when I wasn't shaking my head at the similarity to today's conflict, I was in awe of the absolute and astounding ignorance and racism that is so idly tossed about by Churchill. Here are an entire population of human beings written off mostly as savages. He makes no bones about this, he sees all these people as less than human. Yes there are exceptions when some of the tribesmen act honorably, but he mentions this not as a matter of course, but almost as if he's shocked to find an honest man from Afghanistan.

But I'm not going to write this book off as useless because in its ignorance we can learn quit a lot.

This is a work of nationalistic propaganda. Churchill doesn't even try to hide this fact and he does an excellent job of turning his experiences into the fuel that fires the imaginations and romanticism of young British men to go fight for glory and honor. Everywhere in the book are the brave, stoic, and cheerful British fighting against dangerous odds, but always victorious. Yes some men die, but there is still glory in it all and no young man will be forgotten. And through this propaganda we can begin to understand the propaganda used on the tribesmen themselves. Where Churchill calls men up to the flag out of a sense of duty, the Afghan uses religion as their fire to fight.

Yet he fails to see any real similarity between the two opposing ideologies even when he clearly draws the distinctions. He explains the courage of the young British soldier is rooted in sentiment and even vanity. Yet the tribesmen find courage in religion and their conviction of eternal reward will always be stronger than the abstract constructs of race or military division. The British must invent methods to induce courage; the tribesmen are born with it.

And after all these mountains are their home, they fight and die for their own land whereas the British are, in the grand scheme of things, just trying to maintain a buffer region between British India and Russia. The British couldn't care less about the Afghans or their history or their struggles. When he muses of the ancient history of the land he remembers Alexander the Great leveling whole great cities that are now completly forgotten. In fact he believes everything in this region, once dead, is forgotten to time. It never occurs to him that the people living her might actually have long memories.

Churchill also fails to understand why the tribesmen are so willing to stand up before all those terrible British guns time after time after time only to be mowed down instantly. He seems to think they are idiots, but what do the tribesmen think? They see a bunch of cowards with guns hiding in trenches and behind stone barriers instead of charging out gloriously onto the field of battle. Where Churchill wonders how the tribesmen could possibly be so 'savage' as to mutilate the body of an injured soldier, where he wonders why they only attack when the British retreat, why they only take advantage of weakness, aren't they wondering just the opposite?

He speaks of the virtue and vitality of military camp life, of no worries for the future, of the memories and friendships formed in the British army, of the good it does the body, and then adds how much everyone wants to go home regardless of these positives. But don't the tribesmen love the former as much as we the later?

It's this gulf of understanding that after over 100 years has still not been crossed or even properly surveyed. He believes dealing with the tribes on an individual basis, of utilizing silver over steel (as he puts it), of playing one tribe against the other will pacify them, make them desire comfort and western values. And this has been the policy ever since and it hasn't had any effect we were hoping for. We fundamentally misunderstand these people because we believe in order and comfort whereas they do not. They live in the most rugged spot on earth, why would they suddenly want comfort and stability? And using them as a buffer against Russia has only exacerbated the issues for us by arming these tribes who then after saying "thank you" use those weapons to fight us. They know they are being taken advantage of and they resent us for it - as they should.

And while we may scoff at the Islamic idea of religious superiority, here in this book, without any political correctness to temper what we still know to be true, is the racist attitude we still hold over these people, what he refers to as "... the prestige of the dominant race ". We may not say so in that language today, but that ancient racism, that terrible misunderstanding and division between cultures is what fuels this fight and will continue to do so for another 100 years.

For as glorious as the battle seems in this book, for all the bravery he writes here and all the moral high-ground he believes he rides his polo ponies on, this is a very sad book. It's a sad book because it exposes how little we all understand each other, how much hatred and ignorance fuels our imagination just as much as romantic visions of glorious heroism can. There are no winners here.
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Gary Upshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars A troubled land, still today
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2023
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The book by Winston Churchill published in 1898. The book describes a military campaign by the British army on the North West Frontier now western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan in 1897. Churchill took part in the war. Churchill is such a good writer, I enjoy all his books. Another book he wrote was The River War about the Sudan war that he participated in just after his time in Afghanistan.
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Peter Beacom
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Adventure told by an Exceptional Witness
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2014
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The more Winston Churchill I read the more I am inclined to believe his works should be given prominence in history curriculum. This book may not rank as his greatest work, but it is nothing short of a remarkable accomplishment when it is remembered that the book was written at the age of 22. The book recounts military operations in what is part of modern day Pakistan. It is a story of mostly local soldiers led by mostly British officers against violent religious fanatics. In that regard the book bears a striking similarity to Churchill's subsequent book The River War. However the setting, pace, manner, and scope of the action are quite different in both. Churchill provides a pleasant read, or as close to one as can be had on the subject of war, by his willingness to heap praise on friend & foe alike for bravery and gallant action. The book is an informative read about a part of the world that still commands the military attention of nations thousands of miles away.
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Mr. Lynn Barber
5.0 out of 5 stars Churchill at his Finest Reporting
Reviewed in Canada on August 7, 2021
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Always had to read this. Much as expected
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Antonio de miguel
5.0 out of 5 stars Rapidez en la entrega
Reviewed in Spain on June 23, 2019
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Lectura en ingles
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andrea
5.0 out of 5 stars the story of the makaland field force
Reviewed in Italy on June 24, 2017
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IL LIBRO NARRA LE GUERRE AL CONFINE TRA AFGHANISTAN ED INDIA ALLA FINE DEL XIX SECOLO. L'IMPERO INGLESE DOVEVA DIFENDERE I SUOI CONFINI CON UNA POLITICA AVANZATA CIOE' AGGRESSIVA NEI CONFRONTI DELLE TRIBU' CHE ABITAVANO AL DI LA DEL CONFINE CON L'INDIA. VI FURONO SCONTRI DURISSIMI IN CUI GLI INGLESI PERSERO MOLTI UFFICIALI E UOMINI DI TRUPPA SIA INGLESI CHE INDIANI LA Validità DELL'OPERA STA NELLA SPIEGAZIONE DELLE CAUSE DEL CONFLITTO, NELLA EMOZIONANTE DESCRIZIONE DEGLI SCONTRI CHE RIESCE A FAR RIVIVERE I TERRIBILI MOMENTI PASSATI DAI PROTAGONISTI INGLESI E INDIANI DI FRONTE ALLA DUREZZA E ALLA DECISIONE DEGLI AFGHANI CHE AVEVANO IL VANTAGGIO DELLA CONOSCENZA DEI LUOGHI ED ERANO ARMATI CON MODERNI FUCILI CHE SAPEVANO USARE BENISSIMO
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Forlornehope
5.0 out of 5 stars From the nineteenth to the twenty first century how little has changed!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2015
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I bought this out of curiosity as it was his first published book. His description of the conditions, the nature of the conflict and the best way of dealing with the problems of the frontier have a highly contemporary ring (if you put aside some of the inevitable assumptions of a nineteenth century British cavalry subaltern). Had his advice that silver is cheaper than bullets when dealing with the tribes of the north west frontier been followed in the twenty first century it might have saved a lot of blood and money.
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James Squires
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Thank You
Reviewed in Canada on April 8, 2020
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Beautiful Thank You
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