Someone Has Blundered: Calamities of the British Army in the Victorian Age

by Denis Judd

During Queen Victoria’s reign, British power and Empire were at their zenith. Yet almost every year English troops saw action in some part of the globe, from Ghana’s equatorial rainforests to New Zealand’s green hills. They usually wonbut this fascinating history, now with a new introduction, considers those times when the Queen’s soldiers suffered calamitous defeats. Evocative contemporary eyewitness accounts, along with incisive analysis, combine to create a wonderfully readable and informative look at a rarely-considered aspect of Victorian military history. The blunder-filled battles covered include the Retreat from Kabul in 1842, the Charge of the Light Brigade, and the 1879 Invasion of Zululand.

Genres: History, Military Fiction

187 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2007

About the author

Denis Judd was born in Northamptonshire in 1938 and educated in a village primary school before passing the 'Eleven Plus' and entering the local grammar school. He won a State Scholarship to Oxford, where he took his first degree in Modern History at Magdalen College, going on to study for a PhD at London University, on: 'A. J. Balfour and the evolution and problems of the British Empire 1874-1906.' He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

He has been Head of History, and is now Professor Emeritus of Imperial and Commonwealth History, at the London Metropolitan University. In his research, writing and broadcasting he has specialised in the British Empire and Commonwealth, especially South Africa and India. He has also written extensively on British history, on aspects of the monarchy, and among his biographies is the authorised life of the children’s author Alison Uttley.