Queen Victoria S Wars

Offers a revised and updated history of thirteen of the most significant British conflicts during the Victorian period.

From 1837 to 1901, in Asia, China, Canada, Africa, and elsewhere, military expedition were constantly being undertaken to protect resident Britons or British interests, to extend a frontier, to repel an attack, avenge an insult, or suppress a mutiny or rebellion. Continuous warfare became an accepted way of life in the Victorian era, and in the process the size of the British Empire quadrupled.But engrossing as these small wars are--and they bristle with bizarre, tragic, and often humorous incident--it is the officers and men who fought them that dominate this book. With their courage, foolhardiness, and eccentricities, they are an unforgettable lot.

A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted the most international power and influence: as a matchmaking grandmother. As her reign approached its sixth decade, Queen Victoria's grandchildren numbered over thirty, and to maintain and increase British royal power, she was determined to maneuver them into a series of dynastic marriages with the royal houses of Europe. Yet for all their apparent obedience, her grandchildren often had plans of their own, fueled by strong wills and romantic hearts. Victoria's matchmaking plans were further complicated by the tumultuous international upheavals of the time: revolution and war were in the air, and kings and queens, princes and princesses were vulnerable targets. Queen Victoria's Matchmaking travels through the glittering, decadent palaces of Europe from London to Saint Petersburg, weaving in scandals, political machinations and family tensions to enthralling effect. It is at once an intimate portrait of a royal family and an examination of the conflict caused by the marriages the Queen arranged. At the heart of it all is Victoria herself: doting grandmother one moment, determined Queen Empress the next.

In the early part of Queen Victoria�s reign, the British Empire almost quintupled in size. It was well on the way to becoming the greatest empire the world had ever seen. This is the story of how it happened and the people who made it happen. In a fast-moving narrative that ranges from London to the harsh terrain of India, Russia and the Far East, Saul David shows how Britain ruthlessly exploited her position as the world�s only superpower to expand her empire. Yet little of this territorial acquisition was planned or sanctioned by the home government. Instead it was largely the work of the men on the ground, and to those at home it really did seem that the empire was acquired in a �fit of absence of mind�. Saul David creates a vivid portrait of life on the violent fringes of empire, and of the seemingly endless and brutal wars that were fought in the name of trade, civilization and the balance of power.

Michael Barthorp's entertaining and authoritative study includes key commanders such as (India 1837-56) Charles Napier, Hugh Gough, Harry Smith; (Crimean War) Lord Raglan, James Scarlett, George Cathcart, John Pennefather; (Indian Mutiny) John Nicholson, Henry Havelock, Hope Grant, Colin Campbell; (India 1860-98) Frederick Roberts; (Africa) Robert Napier, Garnet Wolseley, Herbert Stewart, Evelyn Wood, Redvers Buller, Hector Macdonald and Herbert Kitchener – among others.

Presents a revisionist narrative account of the Crimean War (1854-56). This book claims that after the Crimean War the British Government kept secret the real objectives of the War and the reasons for its failure.

Drawing upon feminist, anthropological, and postcolonial approaches, Munich searches out the myriad, often contradictory incarnations of Queen Victoria in the minds of her subjects.