The Savage Empire: Forgotten Wars of the 19th Century

This text recounts the darker side of some of the forgotten colonial wars. These include the Opium War (1839-42) which shamed Britain and was fought to maintain the opium trade. Thousands died as British technology and warships hammered Chinese warriors on land and at sea. Also explored is the Benin Massacre (1897) wherein the murder of an unarmed British mission by a fetish king who practiced human sacrifice led to terrible retribution as an expeditionary force used machine guns to bloody effect. These are some of the stories from Britain's colonial past, which Ian Hernon reappraises. His narrative is interspersed with eyewitness accounts of the events described and with line drawings and illustrations from the Illustrated London News.