Nepal is Famous for its Soldiers

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer 

The two major earthquakes that recently devastated Nepal brought massive destruction to the country. Some of it was centred around Gorkha, some 75 kilometres northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

A former monarchy, the Gorkha region became the nucleus of what is now Nepal. Prithvi Narayan Shah unified the rival kingdoms of the area into a single cohesive nation in 1769, and his successors ruled Nepal until 2008. Under the Gorkha dynasty, Hinduism became the state religion of Nepal.

Gorkha gave its name to one of the most famous of British army formations, the Gurkhas; this year marks two centuries of their service to the British Crown. 

Their history goes back to a war between the British East India Company and the Gorkhas. Robert Clive’s decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 firmly established British supremacy in eastern India. 

As the British expanded north from their base in Bengal, they faced repeated raids from the Gorkha kingdom. As a result, the Company declared war in 1814, but was surprised by the martial qualities displayed by their adversaries.

After two long and bloody campaigns, in which the British suffered heavy casualties, a peace treaty was signed at Sugauli in 1815. Under its terms Gurkhas were permitted to volunteer for service in the East India Company’s army and, after Britain took direct control of India in 1857, the British Indian Army. 

The British referred to all those who enlisted as Gurkhas regardless of their ethnic heritage or geographical origin in Nepal. Their ranks have been dominated by four ethnic groups, the Gurungs and Magars from central Nepal, and the Rais and Limbus from the east.

Some of the villages occupied by the Gurungs, the clan which provides the backbone of the Gurkha regiments, were almost destroyed in the first earthquake in April.

After 1857, Gurkha regiments saw service in Burma, Afghanistan, the North-East and North-West Frontiers of India, Cyprus, Malaya, China, and in various theatres of the First and Second World Wars.

During the 1914-1918 conflict more than 200,000 Gurkhas served with the British, while in 1939-1945 a total of 250,000 fought for Britain. Some 43,000 lost their lives.

As the distinguished American foreign correspondent John Gunther wrote in his 1939 book Inside Asia, they were “among the best troops in the Indian army.”

Following Indian independence in 1947, under a tripartite agreement between Britain, India and Nepal, the Gurkha regiments were split between Britain and India. Six Gurkha regiments joined the post-independence Indian Army, while four joined the British Army. 

There are also Gurkhas in the Malaysian army and the Singapore Police Force, both bodies formed from ex-British Army Gurkhas.

Since 1947, Britain’s Brigade of Gurkhas, who today number 3,640 soldiers, have been deployed in the Falklands, Kosovo, and in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They also took part in UN peacekeeping operations in East Timor and Sierra Leone in 2000. 

Last year they were again sent to Sierra Leone to help contain Ebola.

On April 30, four contingents from the Brigade of Gurkhas gathered in London to remember those who sacrificed their lives for Britain over the past two centuries.

The soldiers marched from the Wellington Barracks past Buckingham Palace and along the Mall before arriving at the Gurkha memorial statue in Whitehall.