From the title, you’d think that this was a book about the “Great Game”
that I’ve mentioned several times over the last month or so–the
Anglo-Russian cold war of the 19th century. And it is, sort of, in an
alternate-history sort of way; but not really.

What it really is, is the story of our Harry Flashman caught smack in the
middle of the Sepoy Mutiny. The Mutiny was the watershed event in the
history of British India. Prior to the Mutiny, India was “ruled” by the
East India Company; after the Mutiny the British Government stepped in,
Queen Victoria became the Empress of India, and the classic Raj was born.

The Company had subdued the Indian subcontinent with a little scheming,
a little bribery, and the help of the Royal Army; but it had its own
armies as well, which but for a small corps of British officers were
composed entirely of native troops, both hindus and muslims. It was these
troops that mutinied, and horrible atrocities were committed upon British
men, women, and children all over India. These led to fierce reprisals
and counter atrocities, and eventually the Mutiny was put down.

The origins of the Mutiny are murky. There had been signs of unrest for
some months before the Mutiny began; indeed, these signs are the reason
Flashman is sent to India in the present book. Rumors had spread that
the British were going to require native troops to use gunpower
cartridges greased with cow or pig fat. This was untrue, but it was a
potent rumor nonetheless–anything related to pigs is anathema to
muslims, and cow fat was even more dangerous to devout hindus, as
touching it could break your caste.

Fraser works the Great Game in in two ways. First, the players of the
Great Game often traveled through Central Asia in native guise, and
though Flashman never gets anywhere near Central Asia in this particular
book (unlike Flashman at the Charge), he does spend
quite a bit of time in native guise. And second, Fraser feigns that the
Mutiny and related uprisings were fomented by Russia, and in particular
by the sinister Count Ignatiev, a Russian great-gamesman of note. And
that’s why I say this book is about the Great Game in an alternate-history
sort of way–it’s precisely the sort of thing the Russians would have done if
they could have. By this time they’d already launched a couple of
abortive strikes on India, never getting farther than Afghanistan, and in
each case their plans had included a native uprising which, with the help
of the Russian Army, would sweep the British out of India for ever.

But practically speaking, it’s not at all clear that the Russians were
involved in the run-up to actual event; and as for Count Ignatiev,
genuine historical figure that he is, I
believe he’s included in the current book mostly as a bogey-man for
Flashman, who had “met” him in Flashman at the Charge.

Anyway, this is a fascinating book, and worth reading…but I have to
admit, it’s not much fun–the Mutiny is just too grim a topic.