No comments about Walter Lentaigne: Lieutenant General, Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order, Indian Army (1895?1947), Third Anglo-Afghan War.

No comments about NEW WARS OF THE WEST: Anglo American Voices on the War on Terror.

No comments about No. 31 Squadron RAF: Royal Air Force, Panavia Tornado, Third Anglo-Afghan War, North-West Frontier (Military History), RAF Laarbruch, English Electric Canberra, WE.177, SEPECAT Jaguar.

3 comments about The Savage Frontier: A History of the Anglo-Afghan Wars.

1. Here's a book pretending to be a history while written like a young boy's adventure. The only "research" seems to come from the prejudiced memoirs of "solders" bemoaning the loss of their stores of "liqueurs and cigars" while they occupied a simple people who thrashed them until they left.



2. The author's fascinating subject--brave deeds in an exotic land--succumbs entirely to his inability to make the subject come alive. The book is primarily of interest because of its bibliography



3. Drawing from the journals of generations of British soldiers and government officials who served on the infamous North-West Frontier in Afghanistan, Richards vividly communicates the danger and excitement confronting those engaged in bitter conflict. Covers the Victorian times on this border to the Russian invasion in 1970s. The writing could be better, but the information is interesting and important to understanding today's Afghanistan.

2 comments about The Anglo-Afghan Wars 1839-1919 (Essential Histories).

1. This book arrived in the mail the week Obama gave his Afghanistan speech at West Point. Talk about remarkable timing.
   
   The book deals with the three wars the British fought in Afghanistan----twice, because of the the threat of Russia, and once because some Afghans declared a jihad against India.
   
   In all three wars, the British had a terrible time of it. And one can see why. Afghanistan is a wonderful place to defend, and a hellish place to invade. Even getting into the country poses
   a problem---and supply is a monstrous difficulty.
   
   The British suffered some terrible defeats at the hands of the Afghans, who could hide in the mountains and rocks, and shoot at the British soldiers with ease. God help the poor
   British soldier who was captured alive. That fate even led to some grim lines by Kipling.
   
   On does have to wonder what, precisely, the Obama administration hopes to gain from their foray into the horrors of the HIndu Kush. Afghanistan is barely fit for human
   habitation, and what is there is a nightmare of squabbling feudal warlords, vicious tribesmen, and determined foes. This slim little book makes one think.
   
   The illustrations in the book are very fascinating . There are pictures of hiding Afghans, ready to shoot at the advancing British columns, and, of course, pictures of the
   mountains and terrain. Not a place any army really wants to be.
   
   I recommend this book to those interested in the subject. And there should be plenty, given the situation we are about to face.



2. In view of current events,this is an excellent book of not only warfare, but of the cultural facts which make this war even more brutal and cruel than what I had read previously in other history books.