Books by Mark Simner
The Lion and the Dragon: Britain’s Opium Wars with China, 1839-1860
During the mid-19th century, Britain and China would twice go to war over trade and opium in particular. The Chinese had become addicted to the narcotic, a habit that British merchants were more than happy to feed from their opium poppy fields in India. When the Qing dynasty rulers attempted to supress this trade – due to the serious social and economic problems it caused – the British Government responded with force. The first conflict, known as the First Anglo-Chinese War or First Opium War (1839-42), ended in British victory and the Treaty of Nanking. However, this treaty was heavily biased in favour of the British, and it would not be long before there was a renewal of hostilities, taking the form of what became known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Second Opium War (1856-60). Again, the second conflict would end with an ‘unequal treaty’ that was heavily biased towards the victor. The Lion and the Dragon: Britain’s Opium Wars with China 1839-1860 examines the causes and ensuing military history of these tragic conflicts, as well as their bitter legacies.
Publisher: Fonthill Media (June 2019)
Chitral 1895: An Episode of the Great Game
In 1895, a small Indian Army garrison, commanded by Surgeon-Major Sir George Scott Robertson and Captain Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, was besieged by a joint Chitrali and Pathan army at the fort of Chitral. Despite the odds being heavily stacked against them, Robertson’s beleaguered little garrison held out for forty-eight days until a relief expedition was able to fight its way through to the rescue. The siege and subsequent relief is a story of valour and sheer determination in the face of a stubborn adversary and extreme weather conditions, all played out on the often-mountainous terrain of the north-western border of British India. Robertson described events in Chitral as a ‘minor siege’, but the siege and subsequent relief should be viewed as an important episode in Britain’s ‘Great Game’ with Russia, which would have serious consequences for the British several years later. Indeed, the retention of Chitral by the Indian Government would be a contributing factor to the mass uprisings along the North-West Frontier of India during late 1897. In reality, it was anything but a minor siege.
Publisher: Fonthill Media (July 2017)
The Sirdar and the Khalifa: Kitchener’s Reconquest of Sudan, 1896-1898
Perhaps one of the most dramatic events of the late Victorian period was the death of General Charles ‘Chinese’ Gordon at the hands of the Mahdi’s fanatical warriors as they finally broke their way into the Sudanese city of Khartoum. The story is well known, recounted in numerous books and celebrated in the film ‘Khartoum’ starring Charlton Heston. However, what is perhaps less well known is the subsequent-and far more successful-campaign fought by the British against the Mahdi’s successor, the Khalifa, by General Kitchener, the Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, over a decade later. ‘The Sirdar and the Khalifa’ examines Kitchener’s belated campaign to re-conquer the Sudan and avenge the death of General Gordon: a war that began in 1896 and ended less than two years later with the epic Battle of Omdurman. The true story of the Omdurman campaign is a classic tale of British soldiers battling a fanatical Dervish enemy in the harsh terrain of the desert. It is also the campaign that made Kitchener a household name, one that would last to this very day.
Publisher: Fonthill Media (May 2017)
Pathan Rising: Jihad on the North West Frontier of India, 1897-1898
Pathan Rising tells the story of the large-scale tribal unrest that erupted along the North West Frontier of India in the late 1890s; a short but sharp period of violence that was initiated by the Pathan tribesmen against the British. Although the exact causes of the unrest remain unclear, it was likely the result of tribal resentment towards the establishment of the Durand Line and British ‘forward policy’, during the last echoes of the ‘Great Game’, that led the proud tribesmen to take up arms on an unprecedented scale. This resentment was brought to boiling point by a number of fanatical religious leaders, such as the Mad Fakir and the Hadda Mullah, who visited the various Pathan tribes calling for jihad. By the time the risings ended, eleven Victoria Crosses would be awarded to British troops, which hints at the ferocity and level of bitterness of the fighting. Indeed, although not eligible for the VC in 1897, many Indian soldiers would also receive high-level decorations in recognition of their bravery. It would be one of the greatest challenges to British authority in Asia during the Victorian era.
Publisher: Fonthill Media (November 2016)
An Illustrated Introduction to the Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 1815 some 200,000 men fought in what would be the most important land battle Europe had ever seen, the Battle of Waterloo. It was not the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, nor would it actually be the last, but it ultimately brought to an end almost a quarter of a century of virtually uninterrupted conflict. The result of the battle, which the Duke of Wellington would later describe as a ‘near-run thing’, changed the course of history, and Europe – indeed much of the world – would never be the same again. An Illustrated Introduction to the Battle of Waterloo tells the dramatic story of the battle, from Napoleon’s escape from exile on Elba to the final desperate attempt of the Imperial Guard to turn the tide against the Allies. A truly fascinating battle, in an equally fascinating period of history, is explored in full colour.
Publisher: Amberley Publishing (May 2015)
