Buy used:

$6.48

FREE delivery May 16 - 17. Details

Or fastest delivery May 10 - 14. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by ThriftBooks-Seattle

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Other sellers on Amazon

New & Used (29) from $6.48 & FREE Shipping

Follow the author

Richard Holmes

+ Follow

More books from this author

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750–1914 Paperback – April 3, 2006

by Richard Holmes (Author)

4.4 186 ratings

See all formats and editions

From bestselling author of ‘Tommy’ and ‘Redcoat’, the rich history of the British soldier in India from Clive to the end of empire considered to be the jewel in Britain’s imperial crown.

‘Sahib’ is a broad and sweeping military history of the British soldier in India, but its focus, like that of Tommy and Redcoat before it, will be on the men who served in India and the women who followed them across that vast and dusty continent, bore their children, and, all too often, mopped their brows as they died.

The book begins with the remarkable story of India's rise from commercial enclave to great Empire, from Clive’s victory of Plassey, through the imperial wars of the 18th-century and the Afghan and Sikh Wars of the 1840s, through the bloody turmoil of the Mutiny, and the frontier campaigns at the century’s end. With its focus on the experience of ordinary soldiers, ‘Sahib’ explains to us why soldiers of the Raj had joined the army, how they got to India and what they made of it when they arrived. The book examines Indian soldiering in peace and war, from Kipling’s ‘snoring barrack room’ to storming parties assaulting mighty fortresses, cavalry swirling across open plains, and khaki columns inching their way between louring hills. Making full use of extensive and often neglected archive material in the India Office Library and National Army Museum, ‘Sahib’ will do for the British soldier in India – whether serving a local ruler, forming part of the Indian army, or soldiering with a British regiment – what ‘Tommy’ has done for the ordinary soldier in World War I.

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘For anyone interested in the Raj this book is a must.’ Observer

‘Richard Holmes’s mastery of the British Army is unequalled…A worthy memorial of one of the extraordinary experiences in British history.’ Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph

‘Holmes is a passionate and richly entertaining champion of the rank and file.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Insightful, colourful, relevant and pithy.’ The Times

Praise for ‘Redcoat’:

‘It would be hard to exaggerate the excellence of this book. vivid, comprehensive, well writtten, pacy, colourful.’ Simon Heffer

About the Author

Richard Holmes was one of Britain’s most distinguished and eminent military historians and broadcasters. He was the author of many best-selling and widely acclaimed books including Redcoat, Tommy, Marlborough and Wellington, and famous for his BBC series. He served in the Territorial Army, and was Colonel of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment from 1999 to 2007. Richard Holmes died suddenly in April 2011 from pneumonia. He had been suffering from non-Hodgkins’ Lymphoma.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; 0 edition (April 3, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0007137540
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007137541
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.54 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,680,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #319 in Dutch History
- #1,499 in India History
- #15,568 in World War II History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 186 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Richard Holmes

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Richard Holmes was one of Britain's most distinguished and eminent military historians and broadcasters. For many years Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science, he also taught military history at Sandhurst. He was the author of many best-selling and widely acclaimed books including Redcoat, Tommy, Marlborough and Wellington, and famous for his BBC series such as War Walks, In the Footsteps of Churchill and Wellington. He served in the Territorial Army, retiring as a brigadier and Britain's most senior reservist, and was Colonel of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment from 1999 to 2007. Richard Holmes died suddenly in April 2011 from pneumonia. He had been suffering from non-Hodgkins' Lymphoma.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

186 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Thomas M. Sullivan

Another Gem from the British Soldier's Biographer

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2012

Verified Purchase

It's relatively easy to write an account of the life of a prominent general or other wartime leader, especially if one comes late to the composition party after sufficient time has passed to allow the accumulation of encomiums, accounts of battles, maybe even the subject having written an autobiography or other reminiscence. Not so with the common soldier, you know, the poor devil who served as the pawn to the hero's chess master. But Richard Holmes has found the way, to our delight and edification.

`Sahib' is the final work in Holmes' trilogy describing the life of the British soldier in three periods: `Redcoat' during the `age of horse and musket,' `Tommy,' his life on the Western Front in the First World War, and `Sahib' in India during the ascendancy of the East India Company and the Raj. Having read the first two, I can happily report that `Sahib' is every bit their equal.

There's no particular secret to Holmes' methods. For each volume, he collected innumerable first-person accounts of the actors' lives and experiences in their respective periods, that alone being quite an accomplishment. Then he merely interweaves them into a masterfully crafted narrative recounting, in the case of `Sahib,' a comprehensive and unfailingly entertaining history of the principal events in which these actors played their parts. Pretty simple, it seems to me, though I wouldn't try it at home.

Given the other very thoughtful reviews of `Sahib,' let me add my two cents in the form of recommended reading on the British Raj in India and related subjects. First, Holmes specifically disavows presenting a comprehensive history of the variously denominated Mutiny of 1857, though of course it plays a pivotal role in the story of both `his' soldiers and the Raj. For those interested in learning more about the Mutiny, I suggest Christopher Hibbert's relatively brief but entirely satisfying `The Great Mutiny: India 1857.' For a more expansive view of the British experience in India, check out David Gilmour's `The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj,' an excellent account of both the military and political components of the period. Finally, and in the same general time frame, but with a wider scope, try Byron Farwell's `Queen Victoria's Little Wars,' which includes absolutely fascinating, and frequently hilarious, depictions of the unique eccentricities of many of the principal military players who nonetheless largely succeeded in `getting the job done.'

If you don't have the luxury of time for these related works, then at least resolve to take on the `Redcoat,' `Tommy,' `Sahib' threesome, if only to understand what we Holmes fans relentlessly rave about. You won't regret it for a reading minute.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

HMS Warspite

A Long Deployment....

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2008

Verified Purchase

2005's "Sahib" is the third volume of British military historian Richard Holmes' remarkable narrative of the British soldier, along with "Redcoat" and "Tommy." This volume is the story of the British soldier in India, 1750-1914.

The British conquest of its Eastern Empire of India, Burma, and Ceylon would not have been possible without the British Army, which performed remarkable feats of arms in defeating a variety of numerically superior native armies across a huge subcontinent. The long British domination of that subcontinent also would not have been possible without the adaptation of the British soldier to a variety of military and political tasks and to a complex mixture of cultures very different from the British Isles. The British Army in India in fact took on its own unique existance there, the story here celebrated in Richard Holmes' extensive narrative.

British infantry, cavalry, and artillery units of the era generally did well in combat, especially under commanders who understood its unique opponents in India, whether the mass armies of various rajas or the wild and tough tribesmen of the Northwest Frontier. The British Army interacted, usually successfully, with the hired soldiers of the East India Company who were first on the ground, and with the Sepoys, the Indian units seconded to the Army who actually made up the bulk of British forces. The company soldiers were eventually absorbed into the regular forces. The Indian contingents, despite the painful exception of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny which forms a key part of Holmes's narrative, generally performed well under British leadership and training.

"Sahib" is less a chronological history of battle than a series of vignettes in which Holmes examines how the British soldier adapted to local circumstances. British regiments were often stationed in India for years to decades, following a six month deployment by sea. The individual soldiers and officers often went native to one degree or another during their long stays. Holmes explores the resulting customs in marriage, recreation, living arrangements, promotions, discipline and indiscipline. Holmes quotes extensively from letter, diaries and memoirs to provide individual perspective on various customs.

India was a land of opportunity for the British Army. For the average soldier, increased pay and the chance for prize money meant a opportunity for personal betterment. Officers who might have been overlooked in Britain found opportunities to shine in the tough, unforgiving military climate. Those who mastered India's unique logistical, combat, and political challenges, such as Arthur Wellesley, Fred Roberts, and Garnet Wolesley, often went on to greater things. India was also a dangerous place. Tens of thousands of British soliders did not survive, killed by native warriors, wild animals, strange diseases, and extremes of climate.

Holmes highlights the experience of the families who went out with their soldiers to a strange land. Of these, some came to be at home, some never found a home, and many never went home. British families learned to live with different languages, food, servants, marriage customs and religions, traces of which are still visible in British regiments today.

The British regulars went home at Indian independence in 1947, and as Holmes notes, the whole subject has become politically incorrect in this post-colonial era. Again as Holmes notes, this lack of attention is unfortunate in that it fails to do justice to the long and remarkable service of the British soldier in India. American readers may find echoes of the United States Army's long overseas tenure in places such as Germany and South Korea.

"Sahib" is an exhaustive (and exhausting) read at over 500 pages. As with other books in his trilogy of the British soldier, the time span covered in "Sahib" is a challenge for a single volume. The cross-cutting topics produce some duplication of material. On the other hand, Holmes' extremely accessible writing style will entertain both the general reader and the specialized militay student. "Sahib" is therefore highly recommended to both.

26 people found this helpful

Helpful

Joseph R. Calamia

SAHIB

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2009

Verified Purchase

"Sahib" The British Soldier in India by Richard Holmes is a "microscopic view" of British incursion into India from 1750 to 1914. This book will give you two years worth of college courses in British military history and tactics condensed in some 506 pages of print. There is such a great deal of information presented that sometimes; the reader may seem almost overwhelmed at times. There are some areas that may "bog-down" and appear a bit dry and "text-bookish", but these are actually few and far between.

Holmes brings the British regiments "a-foot" marching right up to you so close that you can smell the sweat, see the dust of India, and even feel the flies on your face. Many of incidents that occurred are enhanced by numerous letters and diary entries from the actual participants in this magnificent and yet tragic area of history.

This is a history of not only Nations in conflict but, the very real dramas of life and death of literally thousands of human beings who met their fate with the same determination and toughness... as the land in which they lived and died.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sjmike

Good military history

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

I thought this was a well written synopsis of the British imperial period in India. Told from the British perspective, lots of interesting anecdotes, it paints a good picture of life as a soldier in India in the 1800s

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

fast shipping

Reviewed in Canada on May 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great book with lots of info.

VIVEK SHIVDASANI

Very interesting for India buffs

Reviewed in India on July 31, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book can be rated as a masterpiece on one aspect of life in British India namely life in the Indian Army. A very well written and interesting book. In order to truely appreciate this book it must be remembered that uptill 40 years ago India was geographically speaking one of the most environmentally beautiful countries in the world. It was a land teaming with wild life, jungles,swollen rivers and diverse cultures untouched by the Mcdonaldisation and Coco Colaisation of the 21st century.
This is the arena that the army officers of that era played out their lives.

3 people found this helpful

Ferg

Raj writing at its finest!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

Superb book, truly an incomparable history of this period, and an indispensible guide for anyone looking to learn more about the British empire. (Especially for those who, like me, have a family connection with the sub-continent that remains undiscovered).

I bought this book for the second time, having misplaced it at an airport on the way to my grandmother's (the Raj connection!) funeral. As always, the buying process was smooth, and delivery was much faster than expected (four days, instead of the ten - fourteen given as a guide...)

Highly recommended, and a perfect seller!

Anthony C. english

audeman

Reviewed in France on April 28, 2011

Verified Purchase

Brilliant fascinating wonderful book. anyone
interested in India and the British is in for a treat.
Holmes SAHIB is indeed pukker! well done.

Leigh Shankland

Sahib

Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Still reading it. And enjoying as I always do Richard Holmes books.