Someone Has Blundered: Calamities of the British Army in the Victorian Age

It is good to see that Mr. Judd's survey of 19th Century British military disasters has been returned to print. Although it has often been said that history is written by the victors, this book demonstrates it is far more true that history is written by the side with the printing press and mass media, regardless of whether it won or not. Recall all those "British abroad" type movies of yesteryear, "The Drums", "Gunga Din", "Beyond Mombasa", etc., in which it appeared that a pith helmet, the Union Jack and, possibly, bagpipes were all that was needed to tame savage races. Mr. Judd's book goes far towards refuting that Elstree/Hollywood image.The book covers six significant British military campaigns/wars from the dawn to the twilight of the Victorian era. Included are such well-known events as the Crimean War to considerably more obscure ones, such as the Zulu War of 1879. In all cases, Mr. Judd has done an excellent job of researching the subject matter and he provides many interesting insights. For example, the inital campaign of the Zulu War was lost in large part due to a shortage of screwdrivers. (You will have to read the book to learn the full story behind that!) There is also considerable discussion about the various efforts at reorganizing the British Army to rectify the errors of previous campaigns.My only complaint with the book (and hence my 4 star rating) is that it is awfully short (189 pages) for such a rich subject. I would have liked to either have more information about the campaigns/wars already presented, or more such events could have been included. For example, the Riel Rebellion of 1885 would have been an excellent choice for inclusion in a work like this. The book is, however, a terrific introduction to a largely ignored subject area of military history. If this book interests you in the Boer Wars, I would recommend that you follow up with "The Boer War" by Thomas Pakenham.