Bayonets to Lhasa

Peter Fleming's Bayonets to Lhasa, published in 1962 takes a careful look back to the British invasion of Tibet in 1903 & 1904. The invasion was largely to counter the perceived Russian move into Tibet (later disproved), to protect India from the feared Russian invasion (another move in the The Great Game), but officially to resolve border disputes between Tibet and Sikkim.

Fleming shows himself to be a more than capable historian (prior to this I had previously read only his books chronicling his own adventures), and while he writes a book supportive of Younghusband, he always provides all the background and evidence to allow the reader to make their own decision.

Famously, the two main men of the invasion - Francis Younghusband, head of the political mission and military commander James Macdonald - were rather at odds with each other. To make matters more complex high level politics in Britain were constantly in play with the Secretary of State for India, St. John Brodrick having a personal agenda against Younghusband, while supporting the (clearly limited) Macdonald. Nevertheless the invasion party made its way towards Lhasa, encountering Tibetan resistance along the way, and while the British numbers (British in this case including many Indian troops, Sikhs and Gurkha) were not high, they had adequate weaponry and were more tactically adept.

Tibet at this time was ruled by the Dalai Lama under the Ganden Phodrang government and was a Himalayan state under the suzerainty of the Chinese. The Chinese Amban (the Imperial resident appointed by the Qing emperor) however was the political force, who proved able to cleverly manipulate the situation to China's advantage, with the 13th Dalai Lama fleeing prior to the British arrival at Lhasa, taking up refuge in Mongolia. Somewhat ironically, was later to solicit assistance from Russia against the British and Chinese (ironic because perceived Russian involvement was the reason for the British invasion in the first place).

Upon reaching Lhasa, Younghusband negotiated a treaty with Tibet (although the Chinese Amban played a strong part in imposing this on the Tibetan officials) which achieved more than the British Government expected - they previously expected that the mission would fail to achieve any treaty terms. Again politics took over and Younghusband was accused of overstepping his authority, and really hung out to dry by parliament (largely through the machinations of Brodrick in trying to undermine Younghusband and strike at his enemy Lord Curzon, who supported Younghusband into his role.)

Fleming carefully steps through all those machinations and the aftermath, and wraps up with an Epilogue that sets out the more recent history of Tibet (up to 1960), including history repeating with the fleeing of the Dalai Lama from Lhasa during the 1959 Tibetan Uprising (against Chinese occupation), this time fleeing to Dharamsala in India.

Fleming has written a detailed book, in an easy style to understand the many moving parts.

4 stars.