[.ca] The British Invasion of Tibet: Colonel Younghusband, 1904 (ISBN 0117024090)

An odd but interesting collection of original documents:
This is an odd but interesting book from the UK Government Stationery Office -- part of a series aimed at opening access to the Stationery Office's London archive. This volume is an abridged version of hearings published in 1904 following Britain's ill-considered invasion of Tibet. The best recent account of the 'mission to Lhasa' as it was known at the time is Patrick French's wonderful biography of the mission's leader, Francis Younghusband. With reluctant backing from London, Younghusband and around 2000 British and Indian troops marched into Tibet in 1903, determined to counter what was (wrongly) thought to be growing Russian influence over the Dalai Lama. After one of the most uneven military actions in the history of British expansionism, Younghusband destroyed the Tibetan 'Army', marched on Lhasa and imposed a 75-year treaty on the Dalai Lama, forcing Tibet to pay reparations and defer to London on foreign relations. Already embarrassed by the killing of so many Tibetans at the battle of Gyantse, London effectively repudiated the treaty. Younghusband's military career was severely retarded. In the long term the mission arguably served the interests only of China, which slowly extended its control over Tibet at a time when London wanted nothing to do with the place. For those interested in strategic issues and how governments make policy, this is a fascinating case study. It's doubly unfortunate that this book gives only the smallest glimpse of the story. There is no introduction to provide historical context to the documents that make up the volume. The reader is simply plunged into the diaries, letters and official correspondence between the mission as it moves into Tibet and the UK Government's India Office. Mysteriously the book ends shortly after the battle at Gyantse, with Younghusband sending conflicting cables about the number of Tibetans killed. So the story of the arrival of the force at Lhasa and negotiations with the Dalai Lama are left out altogether. All of this is a great pity because one doubts the Stationery Office will publish another volume on this, Britain's last attempt to expand the Empire in South Asia. For all its faults, though, the documents offers a glimpse into the experience of what it must have been like to mount a horse-back invasion of the world's most isolated country. Read in conjunction with Patrick French's 'Younghusband' biography, these documents give the reader some added insight into one of the strangest episodes of the history of the British Empire.