Britain's Small Forgotten Wars
  • Home
  • All Conflicts
  • The Churches
  • Africa
    • Cape of Good Hope, 1806
    • The Attack on Algiers, 1816
    • Bailey's Grave & Auta's Cave: Eighth Xhosa (Kaffir) War, South Africa, 1850-53
    • (The Expedition to Abyssinia, Ethiopia, 1867-68)
    • Asante! Third Ashanti War, Ghana, 1872-73
    • Bleeding in the Dirt: Zulu War, Battle of Kambula, 1879
    • Taking on the Slavers, Zanzibar, 1881
    • The Moonlight Charge, Battle of Kassassin, Egyptian War, 1882
    • Beau Geste: Mahdist Wars, Sudan, 1881-1899
    • Far from the fells of Wensleydale: First Boer War: Ingogo/ Schuinshoojgte 1881
    • Three Graves: The Nile Expedition - Battle of Kirbekan, Sudan, 1885
    • Punishing Okurike, Nigeria 1893
    • Fight against Slavery, Zanzibar, East Africa, 1895
    • Fight Against Slavery, Madina Creek, Gambia, 1894
    • The Fight at Mguni's Stronghold: 2nd Matabele War, Rhodesia, 1896
    • Battle of Talana Hill, Second Boer War, 1899
    • War of the Golden Stool, Ghana, 1900
    • Battle of Atbara, Sudan, 1898
    • Accident & Ambush: 1st Somaliland Campaign, 1901
    • Gumburru and Daratoleh, 1903 Somaliland Campaign
    • The Sokoto Caliphate, Nigeria, 1903
    • Third Somaliland Campaign, 1904
    • The Silent Ones: Asaba Hinterland Operation, Nigeria, 1904
    • The Satiru Uprising, Nigeria, 1906
    • (Abyssinia, 1935-36)
    • The Kolloa Affray, Kenya, 1950
    • (Mau Mau Uprising , Kenya, 1952-60)
  • Americas
    • (American Revolution 1780)
    • Lost Colours: Rio de la Plata, Argentina and Uruguay, 1805-06
    • Farewell, Queen Charlotte - The British-American War 1813
    • (Venezuelan War of Independence, 1811-21)
    • The Franklin Coppermine Expedition, North-East Canada, 1819-22
    • (American Civil War, USA, 1861-65)
    • Cut Knife Creek, North-West Rebellion, Canada, 1885
    • Battle of Coronel, Chile, 1914
  • Asia
    • Farewell to a Fireworker: Invasion of Java, 1811
    • One Shot More: The Anglo-Nepalese War, Nepal, 1814
    • The Pirates of Borneo, 1844
    • Fighting Dacoits, Burma, 1887
    • Storming of Namtow, China, 1858
    • Chin Lushai Expedition, Burma, 1890
    • The Kachin Hills, Burma, 1893
    • Siege of Tientsin, Boxer Rebellion, China, 1900
    • Siege of the Legations, Peking, China, 1900
    • The Younghusband Expedition, Tibet, 1904
    • The Lost Lieutenant: Russo-Japanese War, Manchuria/ China, 1905
    • The Singapore Mutiny, 1915
    • The Wahnsien Incident, China, 1926
    • (Hsaya San Rebellion, Burma, 1930)
    • (The Malayan Insurgency, Malaya, 1954-57)
    • (Yangtze River Incident, China, 1949)
    • Battle of Happy Valley, Korea, 1951
  • Australasia
    • The Flagstaff War, New Zealand, 1845
    • Struck in the Middle: Waikato War, New Zealand, 1863-64
    • Heni Te Kiri Karamu: Tauranga War, New Zealand, 1864
    • (Titokowaru's War, New Zealand, 1868-69)
  • Europe
    • the Glorious First of June, 1794
    • And he marched them back again: The Invasion of North Holland, 1799
    • The Walcheren Campaign, 1809
    • Waterloo, 1815
    • Call in the Marines: The First Carlist War, Spain, 1834-39
    • Hail the Messiah: The Battle of Bossenden Wood, England, 1837
    • International Occupation of Crete, 1897
    • The Dover Patrol, English Channel, 1914-18
    • Q Ships, Bay of Biscay, 1917
    • Irish Independence, Limerick, Ireland, 1922
    • Corfu Channel Incident, 1946
    • Someone Has To Be The First, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1972
  • India
    • First British-Mysore War, 1768
    • Building Bombay: the Seizure of Salsette 1774
    • "So I may die like one brave soldier": 4th British-Mysore War, 1799
    • Battle of Assaye, 2nd Maratha War, 1803
    • Battle of Deeg, India, 1804
    • The Vellore Mutiny, 1806
    • A Symbol of British Dominance, Nagpur, 1817
    • Arrow in the Skull: Conflict with the Bheels, 1833
    • Siege of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, 1826
    • (The Retreat from Kabul, 1842)
    • The Gwalior Campaign, Madhya Pradesh, 1843
    • First Sikh War, Punjab, 1845-46
    • (Second Sikh War, Punjab, 1848-49)
    • Matale Rebellion, Sri Lanka/ Ceylon, 1848
    • The Kohat pass, North-West Frontier, 1850
    • Let The Killing Begin, Meerut, India, 1857
    • Independence or Mutiny? Oudh, India, 1857
    • "A Mutinous Sepoy", Vellore, 1858
    • Attack on Wana, Waziristan, 1894
    • Malakand Field Force, North-West Frontier, 1897
    • (Tirah Expedition, North-West Frontier, 1897-98)
    • Third Afghan War, North-West Frontier, 1919
    • (Waziristan, North-West Frontier, 1936-37)
  • Middle East
    • Storming Sidon: The Oriental Crisis, Egyptian-Ottoman War, 1840
    • (Anglo-Persian War, 1856)
    • (Aden Hinterland, 1905)
    • The Palestinian revolt, Palestine, 1939
    • (Oman, 1971-75)
  • (Battle of Omdurman, Sudan, 1898)
  • (Siege of Azimghur, India, 1858)


BRITAIN'S FORGOTTEN CONFLICTS - AND THE STORIES OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THEM. A LOOK AT BRITAIN'S MILITARY PAST THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF WAR MEMORIALS

After all the media coverage of World War One it is easy to think that war was all about trenches and the Somme, but Britons have been fighting for their country for hundreds of years, all over the world, and their deaths did not end with World War Two.

NEW: THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE, FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS, 1794


This site is an attempt to look at Britain's plethora of military campaigns using memorials to those who died in them as a starting point. I am avoiding the more obvious conflicts, or at least their most obvious aspects, as they are so well covered already, and am trying to identify instead the more obscure campaigns. Having said that, there are some World War 1 stories here, as it appears to be easy to ignore the naval side of that conflict, and fighting was not restricted to Western Europe and Gallipoli.

Some of these stories are of heroism and fortitude, of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty that can only be admired. Others are about bad luck, the moments of sheer chance that allow one person to live while another dies. But as I have written these stories two features stand out for me as recurring themes. One is the ineptitude, ignorance and arrogant foolishness of so many of the so-called leaders in these stories - the famous phrase "lions led by donkeys" comes to mind; the other is the brutality of the British Empire, dominated by a dreadful combination of arrogance, viciousness, cupidity and self-righteousness. As a child and young man I was proud of the Empire, entranced by the pink-dominated globes and the magic tales of the Raj and the Dark Continent. Now, I am ashamed. We can still honour those who died, but for the cause for which they fought  I have, with a few exceptions, nothing but anger and contempt.


Jon Dewhirst
November 2024





 © Jonathan Dewhirst 2020

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