Martial Races: the Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914 (review)

It is well known that within the British Empire there were peoples who, because of their supposed military traditions and cultures, regularly supplied recruits to the British army. Better known as 'martial races', these groups, in particular the Sikhs of Punjab and the Gurkhas from Nepal, provided the empire with its elite soldiers. Until now, littlework has been done to explain why the British regarded these men as especially martial. However, Heather Streets has finally carried out this necessary investigation and, in a stimulating, cogently argued and well-written book, has laid bare British notions of what constituted a martial race and its importance to Britain's imperial standing. Importantly, Streets explains that military efficiency was not the sole reason forthis policy: the need for martial races within the army was necessary to offset fears regarding masculine and racial degeneration within both imperial and British society and culture.

Although the book focuses primarily on Britain's Indian forces, and essentially on the Sikhs and Gurkhas, it also examines the role played by the Scottish Highlanders. Highland regiments were often linked to the Sikhs and Gurkhas, especially after the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58. Together, these troops were considered the best examples of manhood Britain and India had to offer. These were the shock troops of empire, the go anywhere, do anything men who kept the 'watch and ward' on the imperial frontiers, particularly the North-West Frontier of the Indian Empire. This association of the Highlanders with the Sikhs and Gurkhas is well-known, but their links to martial race ideology has not been studied. Thus, Streets attempts to show, and I think successfully, 'that the historically specific context in which martial race ideology became dominant was neither a "metropolitan" nor an "imperial" matter, but one that transcended both' (3).

At the time of the Indian Mutiny, the Highlanders already stood out as much for their military capabilities as for the distinctive uniforms, and already had a reputation as elite troops, especially since the Crimean War (1854-56). When Highlanders and Sikhs were successfully paired they became the object of fervent admiration. The Gurkhas too had played their part during the Mutiny, their loyalty evident. In response to the massacres of British women and children by the mutineers, the enormous press coverage, with many reports provided by army officers, stressed the bravery and loyalty of the Sikhs and Gurkhas, as well as the martial skills of the Highlanders.

Following the Mutiny it was decided that the Indian forces, which until the early twentieth century were divided into three armies, those of Bengal, Bombay and Madras, should never again be recruited mainly from one group. Beforehand, for the larger and more active Bengal army, the British had relied mainly on high caste Brahmins and Muslim soldiers from Oudh (Awadh), who had been based in their own regiments. It was then decided that recruiting policy should be altered, and that regiments should be of mixed castes and religions, the most obvious manifestation of the principle of divide and rule. However, these recommendations were subsequently ignored. By 1887, alongside the Gurkhas, most recruits for the Bengal Army came from the Punjab, which had remained loyal during the Mutiny and where the Sikhs dominated, although Punjabi Muslims were also prized as recruits. Indeed, by 1914, 75% of the Indian army comprised those alleged martial races. Moreover, with the growth of race ideology British recruiters were concerned they should have the right sort of troops to fight a Russian invasion of India through Afghanistan, which was expected at any time and remained the focus of British fears until 1907. Thus northern, lighter skinned Indians, believed to have originated from ancient 'Aryan' conquerors, were considered far superior troops to the darker skinned southern Indians who comprised the Madras and Bombay armies. The irony here was that the latter forces had remained loyal...