RAWLINSON IN INDIA

Mark Jacobsen (Editor)

ISBN 10: 0750931418 / ISBN 13: 9780750931410

Published by Sutton Publishing Ltd for the Army Records Society, Stroud, 2002

About this Item

This copy is in new, unmarked condition bound in red cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square. The unclipped dust wrapper is lightly sunned to the spine and has a tiny 'nibble' to the bas of the spine but is still in fine condition. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. General Lord Rawlinson commanded the Army in India from 1920 until his death in 1925.He went to India in late 1920 hoping to reshape the Indian Army along lines indicated by the Great War. Rawlinson hoped to introduce tanks and armoured cars in India and to provide for the Royal Air Force. Armed with the Esher report, which sought to integrate the Indian military with Imperial forces, Rawlinson had good reason to be optimistic. The Mesopotamian campaign had demonstrated the Army?s shortcomings in sustained operations even east of Suez. To those accustomed to ?thinking imperially? a properly constituted and led India Army offered immense advantages in policing the new territories now to be administered. Instead, he encountered political and financial obstacles that baulked him at nearly every turn. His arrival coincided with the advent of limited representative government under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and the irruption of Gandhian civil disobedience. The aftermath of the third Afghan War (1919) kept the North-West Frontier on the boil until 1923, and the establishment of the Soviet Union brought back the Russian threat. Internally, the Indian Army faced serious disaffection as a result not only of Gandhi but of the Akali (?true-path?) Sikh movement in the most heavily recruited districts of the Punjab. During the Great War the Indian Army had recruited heavily among the favoured 'martial races' but afterwards had to demobilize these soldiers in unsettled conditions. Ultimately, the need to accommodate Indian political opinion and to maintain forces to meet potential threats internal and external scuttled Rawlinson's ambitions. This collection of Rawlinson?s Indian documents uses his papers at the National Army Museum and also makes abundant use of Rawlinson?s letters and correspondence with General Sir Archibald Montgomery, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, and the Earl of Derby. The book contributes to our understanding of the Indian Army but also sheds new light on the political difficulties faced by India's British rulers in the twilight of the Raj. Ref A5 6.

Seller Inventory # 034862

Bibliographic Details

• Title: RAWLINSON IN INDIA
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd for the Army Records Society, Stroud
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0750931418
• ISBN 13: 9780750931410
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

For those wishing to understand current events in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Professor Jacobsen presents this work. Rawlinson was appointed political agent at Kandahar in 1840. In that capacity he served for three years, his political labours being as meritorious as was his gallantry during various engagements in the course of the Afghan War; for these he was rewarded by the distinction of Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1844. Serendipitously, he became known personally to the governor-general, which resulted in his appointment as political agent in Ottoman Arabia. He was now able, with considerable difficulty and at no small personal risk, to make a complete transcript of the Behistun inscription, which he was also successful in deciphering and interpreting. Having collected a large amount of invaluable information on this and kindred topics, in addition to much geographical knowledge gained in the prosecution of various explorations (including visits with Sir Austen Henry Layard to the ruins of Nineveh), he returned to England on leave of absence in 1849. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February 1850 on account of being "The Discoverer of the key to the Ancient Persian, Babylonian, and Assyrian Inscriptions in the Cuneiform character. The Author of various papers on the philology, antiquities, and Geography of Mesopotamia and Central Asia. Eminent as a Scholar". During 1851 he returned to Baghdad. The excavations were performed by his direction with valuable results, among the most important being the discovery of material that contributed greatly to the final decipherment and interpretation of the cuneiform character. Rawlinson's greatest contribution to the deciphering of the cuneiform scripts was the discovery that individual signs had multiple readings depending on their context. While at the British Museum, Rawlinson worked with the younger George Smith.