Dimensions
162 x 242 x 36mm
In December 1903 a British army marched over the Himalayas to counter a non-existent Russian threat and was confronted by a medieval Tibetan army ordered to stop it by non-violent means. It was a clash between the mightiest political power in the world armed with Maxim guns and Lee-Enfields, and the weakest: a land of mystery locked behind the most formidable natural barriers on earth and governed by a reincarnate lama.
Leading what was supposed to he a peaceful political mission was the charismatic Francis Younghusband. At his side, a group of young officers who hero-worshipped him and were as eager as he to be the first Europeans in almost a century to reach Lhasa: to gaze, as one of their number put it, "with awe upon the temples and palaces of the long-scaled Forbidden City, the shrines of the mystery which had so long haunted our dreams".
But commanding the army escorting Younghusband's mission was an officer determined to do things by the book, General James Macdonald, known to his troops as "Retiring Mac". The result was conflict at every level, with a tragic outcome that both enthralled and shocked the outside world.
Younghusband returned home to a hero's welcome, and the image of a strong, silent man of action with a streak of mysticism, shamefully treated by his government, persists to this day. By contrast, if Macdonald is remembered at all it is because his cowardly behaviour frustrated Younghusband's best efforts at every turn.
Drawing on diaries, letters and hitherto unpublished first-hand accounts, Charles Allen overturns this accepted view, presenting the real story of the Younghusband Mission. In doing so, he reveals not only the true character of one of Britain's great imperial heroes but also the calamitous outcome for the Tibetan people of Britain's last attempt at empire-building.
