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PRESS OPINIONS ON THE FIRST VOLUME
OF "THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR"
The Times.—"Now that opinion in regard to Indian frontier policy has undergone a marked change, Colonel H. B. Hanna's careful study of the events which led up to the Second Afghan War is distinctly opportune.... From first to last, the book will well repay study by every one who cares to understand how wars can be made—and avoided."
The Observer.—"We know of no one better qualified to deal with events in Afghanistan than Colonel H. B. Hanna."
Pall Mall Gazette.— "Colonel Hanna's tremendous care, completeness and clearness, with his intense conviction, make him a very powerful writer."
Athenæum.—"The ability with which his case is presented is considerable, and it is probable that in his main line his view is a well-founded one.'
Morning Leader.—"Colonel Hanna is peculiarly well fitted to handle the multiplicity of questions—political, military, financial, and social—that arise in connection with the Second Afghan War."
Manchester Guardian.—"Colonel Hanna calls his book, of which the first volume has now been published, The Second Afghan War; but its scope is wider than the title.... The present volume justifies the hope that the work when completed will possess the highest political value. Colonel Hanna brings to his task a mind imbued with Liberal principles, as well as an almost unrivalled knowledge of the frontier-problem in its military and political aspects."
Leeds Mercury.—"Colonel Hanna's work promises to be the standard authority on the history of the Second Afghan. War. It is written with conspicuous ability, and with a uianifost desire to state the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, regarding one of the most senseless wars of aggression recorded in the annals of the British Empire."
Advocate of India.— " Colonel Hanna shows clearly and forcibly, and with the aid of unimpeachable authorities, that on the brink of war the army was found thoroughly incapable of effectual warfare."
United Service Magazine.— " This is a remarkable, an excellent, and a most interestingly instructive work; and the second volume when it appears will be eagerly seized upon by all readers of that which has now been published. . . . The volume before us is a most masterly exposition of the subject with which it deals, and cannot be too strongly recommended."
Manchester Courier.— "The present volume ends at the moment of the advance, and we shall therefore look eagerly for the continuation of the story. If it is continued in the same exhaustive and judicial manner as it has commenced. Colonel Hanna will have made a notable and valuable contribution to modern Indian history,"
Investors' Review.— " Nothing is set down in it haphazard, nothing from mere impulse or passion. It is a calm and almost colourless . . . narrative of facts based upon documents accessible to all."
Glasgow Herald.— "The author writes with a very thorough knowledge of the subject; his facts are marshalled with remarkable skill, and his argumentation is exceptionally vigorous. These qualities mark his book as a valuable contribution towards the adequate understanding of a question which has not yet lost its importance.'
Western Mail, Cardiff.— "Colonel Hanna tells his story in a style that makes interesting reading, whilst the sidelights are of a character that one would not miss willingly. As it is, we think there should be a hearty welcome for the volume issued because of its general interest."
The Army and Navy Gazette.—" Colonel Hanna's book, the first volume of which was published on ThuriSday last, has come opportunely. It fairly shows that we have, as regards Afghan affairs, consistently done what we ought not to have done, and left undone or left unsaid many things that belonged to our peace."
The Literary World.—" A work like Colonel Manna's appeals specially to the student, particularly to the political and military student."
Sheffield Daily Telegraph.— "All who take an earnest and continuous interest in British operations on the North-West Indian Frontier . . . will do well to get Colonel Hanna's book."
Western Mercury.— "This bulky volume is a, crushing and remorseless exposure of the ' Forward Policy.' Colonel Hanna . . . has, in addition to military knowledge, tireless industry and a firm grip of facts."
Public Opinion.—" We heartily recommend this very able history of events that have proved so costly to England in lives and money. The work is well written, and should be widely read."
Newcastle Leader.— " Such a task as Colonel Hanna has undertaken requires not only the faculty of the historian, but the special training of the soldier for its effective treatment; and Colonel Hanna has with this historic ability and this special training."
The Champion, Bombay.— " Colonel Hanna has already won his spurs as a writer and publicist of no mean renown, on questions relating to the Afghan and North-West I'Yontier politics, and he has well been described by one leading London journal as ' peculiarly fitted to handle the multiplicity of questions—political, social, and military — in connection with the Second Afghan War," and by another as bringing to his task ' care, clearness, completeness and conviction. We entirely concur in these views."
The World.—"The first volume ... is now published, and contains a full and interesting account of the various events which led to the genesis and growth of the Forward Policy, and so to the outbreak of war, which the next volume is to chronicle."
Liverpool Post.— " Especially valuable is Colonel Hanna's analysis of the circumstances attending the Russian Mission to Kabul, under General Stolietoff, which have been put forward by apologists of Lord Lytton and the Beaconsfield Government as an ample justification of the Afghan War."
PRESS OPINIONS ON THE SECOND VOLUME
OF "THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR"
Pall Mall Gazette.—" Colonel Hanna may be congratulated on an extremely accurate, painstaking, and clear account of a very unsatisfactory war. His criticisms . . . are, we believe, generally sound."
Morning Post.— "No one could be more capable of writing a history of it than Colonel Hanna."
Edinburgh Evening News.— " Few books have ever given a better description of mountain warfare and its perils, and how a rough country tends to dislocate military movements, while there are some life-like passages descriptive of the frequent raids on the British lines of communications by the wild tribesmen."
Scotsman.— " This volume effectively brings up a valuable military history which has already in its first half gained a high reputation among the studious soldiers best capable of weighing its merits."
India.— "A searching, uncompromising and illuminating piece of historical work."
Sheffield Daily Independent.— " To give a lucid account of <his tangled campaign is no easy matter; but Colonel Hanna has been successful."
Morning Leader.—" The tale is told, both from the military and the political points of view, with a moderation, a strict impartiality^ and a scrupulous regard for accuracy which win and hold the confidence of the reader."
Manchester Courier.—" The story is clear and sufificient and no extraneous matter is included."
Sheffield Telegraph.—" Most chapters of the narrative close with 'Observations' or criticisms, which, whether justified or not, cannot but make a soldier think out carefully the problems set before him. This is a work which could only be done by one who is himself a scientific soldier, and is well acquainted with the country about which he writes."
Huddersfield Examiner.— " The combination of soldier and historian, still more of the soldier and liberal-minded historian, is one that is only too rare in the armals of publication."
Literary World.—" Colonel Hanna writes clearly and effectively, and, more especially in the descriptive parts of his narrative, we are impressed by the fact that he writes with sufficiency and knowledge."
The Speaker.—"For soldiers the volume is full of instruction. Besides containing a clear account of each action and expedition, to most of the descriptive chapters is appended a series of observations, each of which is a carefully considered criticism on the events discussed in the preceding pages,"
The Saturday Review.—" Military students will thank Colonel Manna most for his analyses, and will enjoy his sound and judicial weighing and comparison of means to an end. . . . Colonel Hanna has written a very able book and has the courage of his convictions, a welcome trait in these days when robust opinions are largely out of fashion.'
PRESS OPINIONS ON THE THIRD VOLUME
OF "THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR"
Pall Mall Gazette.—" That the author, an actual participator in the long-protracted struggle of thirty and more years ago, has been pared to complete the work to which he has devoted his great abilities and his ' infinite capacity for taking pains,' is an event upon which Colonel Hanna himself, but also his countrymen in general, must be heartily congratulated. ... In any case, the volume itself requires to lie read, word for word, in order to be properly appreciated. It will, moreover, fully repay the most careful study. "
Manchester Guardian.—" Colonel Hanna, the ablest and the soundest of military writers on the Indian Frontier, has now . . . completed his work on the 'Second Afghan War.' For its political wisdom and the sureness of its technical judgments the book will take a high place in English military literature, and the last volume is the most interesting and absorbing of the three. . . . Few passages in our military history are so full of instruction and varied interest as the events between the first occupation of Kabul and the evacuation of Kandahar. There are several fine victories, some lucky ones, and the one serious defeat of Maiwand, a battle often described, but never so well as by Colonel Hanna now. . . . But Colonel Hanna's work is not merely a piece of military history. It has, as good military history should have rich political meaning. It is a deliberate and detailed dissection of the fallacies of the ' Forward Policy ' and the search for the ' Scientific Frontier.' "
Scotsman.—"In the third volume of his historical study of the events of the ' Second Afghan War,' Colonel Hanna successfully carries on, upon its established lines, a book already accepted as an authority by close students of the history of British India, and of the development of Indian Frontier Policy. "
The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury.—" In Colonel Hanna the country possessed a soldier, and now possesses an historian the ablest and soundest of them all. Technical judgment, political wisdom, and utter fearlessness characterise every chapter of this vivid work, and although very many years are sped since the Afghan campaign was undertaken, the public are as liable to accept the rose-coloured official reports as ever; and men like the author are, indeed, the only safeguard they possess against political intrigues having for their object the subjugation of races we should do all in our power to strengthen and convert into friends and allies."
Daily Graphic.—"The impression made by the first two volumes, that the work would be a valuable contribution to the history of British rule in India, is confirmed by this, the concluding volume, which shows, as did the others, that Colonel Hanna was well fitted to deal with the complex problems, political and military, which beset our relations with the great and always perturbing Power on the North-west Frontier of India,"
Sir Henry Cotton in "India."—" Colonel Hanna is no mere historian of the events he describes. He took his part in them as an officer on the staff, and writes, therefore, from first-hand knowledge. We have in these pages a minute account of the vicissitudes of the campaign, illustrated by strategical maps of perfect lucidity and accuracy, and illuminated by observations recorded by the author from a military point of view, which award praise or blame with an almost icy impartiality."
Westminster Gazette.—"For the student of British military history there is in these three volumes a wealth of invaluable information, and if the work finds readers to anything approaching the number it deserves, it may be that the bitter experiences of the second Afghan War will not be wasted. . . . Every statesman, every soldier, and every politician owes it to his country that he should study with the utmost care Colonel Hanna's admirably written and most convincing pages."
Nation.—" But though we entirely agree with Colonel Hanna's political criticism . . . still his history is in the main a military work, and it will certainly become a text-book for the training of officers. . . . The present volume of this remarkable work is, on the whole, the most generally interesting, since it contains exact and dramatic accounts of the destruction of the Cavagnari Mission to Kabul, the siege of the cantonments of Sherpur just outside the city, the overwhelming disaster of Maiwand, and the marches between Kabul and Kandahar already referred to."
The Calcutta Englishman.— "Colonel Hanna certainly possesses the courage of his convictions and a thorough knowledge of his subject. His ' observations ' are almost always pertinent and instructive. The historical part of the narrative is lucidly told, and perhaps nobody is better able than himself to handle the Afghan question. . . . The printing of the book is beautifully clear. The maps—there are nine of them in this volume alone—will contribute not a little to the value and importance of the work, and what also goes much in its favour is the fact that there are good indexes to each of the three volumes."
Edinburgh Evening News.—"Colonel Hanna's history of the Afghan War is worth a whole series of books which claimed to tell the story of the more recent South African campaigns. It is lucid, informed, convincing, and plain to the ordinary reader in a sense that military books often are not. There are many plans and maps, while the clearness of the printing merits a word of appreciation."
Church Guardian.—" Colonel Hanna— a soldier of the intellectual type— can wield his pen exceedingly well, and his history of the ' Second Afghan War '—which now reaches its completion with this third volume—will undoubtedly lake high rank in our military literature."
India.—"The book (writes an Indian correspondent) is as interesting to a layman as to the military expert. It is full of lessons for the statesman in England no less than for the administrator on the Indian frontier. . . . Apart from the military and political interest of the book, its human side is full of pathetic lessons. The style throughout is admirably vigorous, and the personal narrative touching."
Manchester Courier.—" Colonel Hanna has, indeed, made a notable and valuable contribution to modern Indian history in the three volumes which tell the story of the 'Second Afghan War, 1878-79-80.'"
Investor's Review.—" Colonel Hanna has now completed his excellent and authoritative history. . . . The third volume, now published, is the largest of the three, and in some respects the most fascinating; but the whole book is well and conscientiously written, packed with information, and suffused with political wisdom—a book, therefore, not only to be read, but to be bought and kept for reference."
Western Press.—" The skill and intelligence which Colonel Hanna lias shown in compiling such a masterful and heavy work stamps him as a man of brilliance, and the work should prove a valuable asset to political and military students.
Morning Leader.— "The third and final volume of Colonel Hanna's masterly history of the 'Second Afghan War.' . . . This well-planned and well-executed history (furnished, we may add, with excellent maps)should be the standard work on its subject,"
Daily News.—"Colonel Hanna's work is one which reveals singular mastery of his subject, both on the military side and on the political."
New Age.—"Written in good English, printed on good paper, and containing clear and adequate strategical maps ., . it is a book for all readers, from the soldier to the politician."
Freeman's Journal.— " The history has run into three volumes, and this is the last. It has been done with great elaborateness of detail. . . . This is a valuable book."
United Service Gazette.—" Colonel Hanna is an officer with considerable Indian experience. ... He has been a determined opponent of the forward policy in India, and certainly the discouraging experience we have always met with in our trans-frontier wars shows that Colonel Hanna's premises are based on something more than theory, and that he is one of those keen, far-seeing soldiers who were capable of correctly gauging the results of our interference with Afghanistan, and of indicating that we were laying up a store of future trouble for ourselves. "
Times.—"This work, an elaborate account of the operations for the strategist and military student, is now complete."
Military Mail.—"The opinions of the author, as expressed in the final chapter, are instructive and illuminating, and he ends a great work by the words, ' Progress founded on Peace.' "
Observer.—"The concluding volume of a lucid, able, and authoritative work."
INDIAN PROBLEMS
No. I. Can Russia Invade India ?
No. II. India's Scientific Frontier— Where is it ? What is it?
No. III. Backwards or Forwards?
Opinions of the Press
Manchester Guardian.— "Colonel Hanna has given in a comparatively small space, and with admirable clearness, such a conspectus of recent frontier policy in India as can hardly be found elsewhere, and such a demonstration of its real meaning and too probable consequences as should have an effect, even at this eleventh hour, on every mind not obstinately closed against conviction."
Saturday Review.—"These problems are all of the highest interest and importance; they dominate our foreign policy, both in Europe and Asia; while for our Indian Empire, their proper interpretation and decision involve the gravest issues of prosperity and safety, bankruptcy and ruin."
The Scotsman.—" Colonel Hanna's Indian Problem, ' Backwards or Forwards ? ' is quite as remarkable as his first and second for its strength of conviction, thorough knowledge of his subject, and force of reasoning. There seems to the inexpert reader no escape. He not only advances an opinion, but proves it almost like a proposition in Euclid."
The Daily Graphic. — "Colonel Hanna has certainly collected a striking number of weighty utterances in favour of his main contention. That contention, briefly stated, is, that the Indian Government ought never to have advanced beyond the Indian Frontier at the foot of the mountains, and ought, as speedily as possible, to retire to that frontier."
Broad Arrow. — "Colonel Hanna may be satisfied that he has accomplished excellent and enduring work."
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