The First Anglo-Sikh War

I am very thankful to Mr Amarpal Singh Sidhu for giving us a valuable historical document. There are very few authors who write books on Anglo-Sikh wars. All books wrote by foreign authors, I am not against them but somewhere they hide the real story behind the wars and they also hide some important incidents of war. But Mr Sidhu give us detail information on each and every battle with full proofs. I have also read another book written by Mr Sidhu "The second anglo sikh war". After writing two books on Anglo Sikh wars Mr Sidhu also write his third book " The Seige of Delhi " which is based on incidents happened on revolution of 1857 in Delhi. I give my best wishes to Mr Amarpal Singh Sidhu for writing more historical books for us so that our next generation will get able guidance from our ancestors, and we got more awere from the real history.

Its a short book to describe an entire war, however that's what makes it worth a read. Without writing too many things, the author has focused exactly on the tactics, strategies and the fallacies of the first Anglo-Sikh war, which the the Sikhs lost due to inept leadership and corrupt generals. The author has done some incredibly meticulous research on how the battles unfolded in present day Punjab and the importance of those sites in today's context. A large part of the book is dedicated to understand numerous maps and war strategies, which is really helpful. To put in context, this is exactly how every history book should be written and the author has done exceptionally well to keep the content crisp and easy to understand.

One word - 'METICULOUS'Mr Singh has done some immaculate research for the book. I personally love reading about various historical military campaigns but seldom does any author include such plethora of information when it comes to battle insights like maps, statistics etc. Mr Singh provides all this in a very consolidated manner which makes it very easy to comprehend the entire campaign. Moreover, he has also provided a lot of memoirs for the readers.The Battlefield guide was a bit unnecessary but again this perception will vary from reader to reader.Overall, the first 180 pages are gripping and riveting !P.S - the reader should try to read this book patiently and try to comprehend the battlefield by looking at the maps simultaneouslyLooking forward to reading the second Anglo-Sikh war.

every should read this book..

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Helpful.

The book is a marvelous effort by the author to bring the first Anglo Sikh war to light.It describes how the Sikhs fought British.A must read for history buffs.

Mr. Singh's study of the First Anglo-Sikh War is necessary reading for anyone interested in this conflict. Singh blends primary and secondary sources to present a critical narrative history of the war. Beyond his excellent prose and presentation of the motivation behind the British and Sikh leaders, Singh includes a useful section of 'Battlefield Guides' where he shows how the battlefields look today, which greatly helps to ground the events of the war in the physical places that they took place.I cannot recommend both this and Amarpal Singh's other book on the Second Anglo-Sikh War enough!

This is a well-researched book that entails a very significant event of history not just for military historians but also for students of political history who want to understand how the result of Anglo-Sikh wars would not just result in annexation of a Sikh state but an eventual decimation of Sikhs and their political annhilation as a British policy of supression. The decimation of Sikhs would eventually change the political borders of Punjab and South Asia for times to come. The result of Anglo-Sikh wars will turn the history of Punjab against Punjab.The book starts with the description of the turmoil in the Lahore court which is unable to find a suitable and stable successor after the death of the Sikh emperor in 1839. The events become more tumultuous in the court as the court is ridden with opposite camps and fighting factions against each other and a mutinous military giving an opportunity for treacherous traitors to exploit the situation for their own end who would now devise a plan with the enemy for the decimation of the Sikh state by the destruction of Sikh Military.Three trusted Hindu Commanders unbeknownst to the brigades of Sikh Military would lead a modern, well-equipped, well trained and experienced Sikh military of Punjab that is perfectly capable of destroying the British supremacy in India into a great military disaster. The enemy within would lay a siege on the Sikh military by deliberately holding Sikh offensive back, conveying the Sikh positions to the enemy and holding up supplies of the Sikh military to aid the enemy in their slaughter.Despite the trap of treachery, the Sikh units founded themselves in, no Sikh soldier preferred to surrender to the enemy and fought with utmost level of skillfullness for which he was trained to begin with. No mercy was offered and the soldiers didn't ask for it either. The book is an elaborate description of inspiring courage shown by humans who finding themselves and their country at the edge of facing sure death wouldn't die easy. The Sikh soldier will fight honorably till his last breath for Punjab.The book dissects the strategies, tactics, the battlefield topography and shows the actual battle formations itself laid out with maps, the GPS coordinates and satellite imagery of the land. As the reader is lead through the battles of Mudki, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, Bhudhowal and Sabroan the events of battles actually come alive in front of the reader. What sets apart this book from others is this precise elaboration of battlefield archeology that is hardly found anywhere else.The book is an honor well restored to the Sikh soldering that was the one and only indigineous force in history of Punjab to succesfully defend the integrity of Punjab and its frontiers from decimation for half a century until bisieged from within.A job well done!

Amarpal S. Sidhu's First Anglo-Sikh War is a superb book. Anyone with an interest in C19th military history, in India, in Sikhism, in the British Army, in the Indian Army and its historic roots in British India should read it. Sidhu writes clearly and well, his account is balanced and very well researched. The publisher has served Mr Sidhu well, with beautifully clear plans of the battlefields showing the deployments superimposed on present-day features. I would have liked the book to be sewn but that is too much to hope for in what must be quite a small print run, at least the perfect binding is robust and the plates do not pop out at the first opening.A large proportion of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of what remains to be seen today. I have visited these battlefields and without local knowledge or language did not see a tenth of what Mr Sidhu lists. (I did see the curious museum of the Sikh Wars, in which over-enthusiastic and unsupervised workmen had splashed whitewash over all the exhibits. Paintings, weapons, artefacts - all splattered. The poor curator must have cried when he or she went back into their exhibition hall.) I want to go back armed with what will be a very well-thumbed copy of 'Sidhu'. Very helpfully he gives GPS coordinates so that you can maximise your time on site but also follow the campaign virtually, on Google Earth or a similar online resource. This is huge fun and very very informative. (Remember you get height readouts whenever you require them, e.g. checking how far one river bank dominates the other.)And if all that were not enough, there is a superb collection of illustrations, extremely well chosen, nicely reproduced, and in colour!A wonderful, beautiful book. When I see Sidhu and fine publisher Amberley advertising the follow-up on the Second Sikh War I shall be placing my advance order sight unseen. I hope that Mr Sidhu has a long life as he has a very rich military history to explore in the Indian subcontinent and personally I can't get enough of books of this quality. A 'Sidhu' on each of the Afghan Wars, those will be books to read!The book has not been well publicised - I am very keen on this subject and I am surprised to have come across it by chance, normally I would have picked up a flyer in a specialist journal like that of the Victorian Military Society, or been notified by one of a number of specialist booksellers. Presumably there won't be more if this one doesn't sell, so I would suggest anyone who shares my enthusiasm should make sure their friends know of it.Let us hope that Mr Sidhu now does for India's campaigns what Mike Snook has been doing for Africa - clear modern accounts intelligently reappraising Victorian campaigns with plenty of information for those keen enough to visit the locations, and for those who wish to follow them on the computer.Five stars? Not enough. You will love this book!

This book is truly a gem, the vast details of the whole war! My dad and I loved the book can't wait to read the second book.

Thorough research.