Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser

(Book Review)

Yet another book in the Flashman series.

 (See also: Flashman, Royal Flash, Flash for Freedom, Flashman at the Charge, Flashman and the Great Game, Flashman's Lady , Flashman and the Redskins, Flashman and the Dragon, and the original source material Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes.)

“Flashman on the March” is actually the 12th book in the Flashman series. Previously I’ve only read up to book 8, which means I am now reading the books out of order. (Here in Southeast Asia, English books are in short supply and I’m reduced to reading only what I can find in used book stores. This book is the only Flashman book I could find at the moment.)
Not that it really matters, because each of these books is a stand alone story, and they’re all written out of chronological order anyway.

This adventure deals with the 1867 British invasion of Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia). The mad emperor of Abyssinia, Theodore, has taken captive several British citizens as hostages, and the British government sends in an army to rescue them.
The campaign is a logistical nightmare. The British are marching into unfamiliar territory in the middle of a mountainous desert terrain were they must forage for food and water. They have to use elephants to bring their artillery up the mountains. Many observers at the time didn’t think they would come back. All of this is well portrayed in the book.
The land of Abyssinia is also very well described, and George MacDonald Fraser brings out all the wonder of the place. It is an unconquered Christian land in the middle of the Muslim empire, and thought to be the inspiration for the legend of Prester John (the mythical Christian king who supposedly reigned on the other side of the Islamic empire (W)). In the 19th Century, it still retained an unorthodox form of Christianity (apparently an older form of Christianity than the one that existed in Europe).
The Christian Emperor Theodore had visions of driving the Muslims out of Jerusalem, and one of the reasons he became hostile to the British is because he thought he was being snubbed by his fellow Christian monarch Queen Victoria.

All of these fascinating details come through in the book.

Once again, Flashman finds himself in the middle of all of it.
As always, Flashman is a reluctant participant. A series of events (starting out with Flashman as the aide-de-camp to the doomed Emperor Maximilian of Mexico) ends up with Flashman joining the British campaign to Abyssinia, despite his every attempt to weasel out of it.
As always, Flashman ends up encountering numerous real life historical figures.
And as always, much of what Flashman sees and hears are backed up by historical footnotes from George MacDonald Fraser. For instance in his footnotes, Fraser indicates that much of what Flashman hears Emperor Theodore say actually comes verbatim from other sources.

There’s not a lot for me to add to this review that I haven’t said in any of my reviews of the previous Flashman books. And by the reader gets to the 12th book in the series, no doubt they know what to expect, and they won’t be disappointed. There are plenty of colorful descriptions of exotic lands and historical figures, and Flashman has his usual series of narrow escapes from all sorts of dangers. It’s an excellent read, even if I’m not sure I agree with the politics of the book.

Which brings me to my next point…

The Politics of the Book

The early Flashman books highlighted the more shameful or bungling episodes of the British Empire (the invasion of Afghanistan, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Sepoy Rebellion, et cetera.)
Flashman’s cowardliness served as a satire on the cult of Victorian heroism. The irony was that Flashman’s shameless sense of self-preservation made him less of a danger to society than all the honorable Victorian soldiers, whose heads were filled with notions of glory for Queen and Empire and who were likely to lead men into massacres or conduct one themselves.

However starting with Flashman’s Lady, a tonal shift seemed to be evident in these books. Instead of serving as a satire on Victorian heroism, Flashman became a foil to it. The stories focused on British soldiers and generals whose heroism author George MacDonald Fraser seemed to admire, and the fictional Flashman’s own cruelty and cowardliness served as a contrast to emphasize the honor of the British officer.

I’m not entirely sure what caused this tonal shift, but I was much more comfortable with the politics of the earlier books than with the pro-Imperial theme of the latter books.

This particular book follows that same pattern, where the British expedition is portrayed in a very positive light, and Lord Napier, who led the expedition, is repeatedly praised throughout the book.

Granted, this is one episode of imperial history where the British did seem to be in the right. They were defending their own citizens, they were provoked, and they were putting down a ruthless African tyrant.
But then, part of the interpretation of history is knowing which incidents to selectively emphasize. Fraser could have chosen to write about many other historical incidents in which the British army was not in the right. (For example at the same time that the Abyssinian expedition was happening, the Maori Wars were going on in New Zealand.)

Also the invasion of Abyssinia may have had political as well as humanitarian motivations.
I’m far from an expert myself. The only other places I’ve heard about the Abyssinian expedition is from “The Decline and Fall of the British Empire” by Piers Brendon (A) and “This Sceptred Isle: Empire” (A). Both of these sources emphasize that British army was sent not purely to rescue the hostages, but also to bolster British prestige world wide at a time when there was growing concern that the British Empire might soon be eclipsed by their European rivals. Also it was necessary that British prestige be upheld in Africa in order to discourage revolts in India.

This perspective is largely absent from Flashman on the March. Or at least, not emphasized.
Flashman does briefly acknowledge the wider political implications of the venture. (On p. 26. Being typically irreverent, racist and always politically incorrect, Flashman expresses himself in language I daren’t quote here.)

But this wider context is often forgotten in favor of rhetoric about soldiers doing what is right, and a government’s sacred duty to protect its citizens. As George MacDonald Fraser states in his introduction:


“…and it may be that along with the light he [Flashman] casts on a unique chapter of imperial history, he invites a comparison with a later and less glorious day.
For Flashman’s story is about a British army sent out in a good and honest cause by a government who knew what honour meant. It was not sent without initial follies and hesitations in high places, or until every hope of a peaceful issue was gone. It went with the fear of disaster hanging over it, but the British public in no doubt that it was right. It served no politician’s vanity or interest. It went without messianic rhetoric. There were no false excuses, no deceits, not cover-ups or lies, just a decent resolve to do a government’s first duty: to protect its people, whatever the cost. To quote Flashman again, those were the days.” (p. x)


On the other hand:
This book was published in 2005, when the Iraq War  was in full swing. The “later and less glorious day” Fraser is talking about is no doubt Britain’s participation in the Iraq War. In fact if you re-read the above paragraph, it looks like all the things Fraser is saying the Abyssinian campaign was not, he’s implying that the Iraq War was. In the Iraq War there were false excuses, deceits, and cover-ups and lies.

To which I can only add: “Hear Hear!”

Connections with Other Books I’ve Been Reading Lately
(Just for my own benefit I always like to draw connections between some of the various books I’ve been reading.)

The Abyssinian incident is sometimes described as a prelude to “The Scramble for Africa.” It takes place 10 years before the start of Thomas Pakenham’s excellent history on the Scramble, but some of the dramatis personae are the same. For example Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who played such a big part in Thomas Pakenham’s book, was one of the newspaper correspondents assigned to the Abyssinian campaign, and pops up a few times in “Flashman on the March.”

Another newspaper writer who is briefly featured as a character on this book, G.A. Henty, later went on to cover the Sudan Wars in the 1890s, and is featured in the excellent “Three Empires on the Nile” by Dominic Green.
(The British campaign to end slavery in the Suez, one of the major themes in Dominic Green’s book, also briefly features in “Flashman on the March,” when Flashman finds himself on the boat of an overly zealous anti-slavery British naval officer.)

Richard Burton’s quarrels with fellow explorer John Speke, about who discovered what on the Nile river, are also mentioned briefly in this book.

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I don’t know if everyone caught this, but Flashman was in the news a few months back:
Why Labour are calling David Cameron 'Flashman' [LINK HERE]

And so just for fun, here’s a few more Flashman links.

Christopher Hitchens on the subject of Flashman can be found here [LINK HERE] . (Hitchens actually has a much longer essay on Flashman in his latest book, “Arguably” (A), but I can’t find an on-line version at the moment.)

And here’s John Updike’s review of Flashman [LINK HERE].

Link of the Day
The Imperial Way: American Decline in Perspective

Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser: Book Review (Scripted)