The Legendary Warrior Gurkhas
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Hello everyone, Sakuya here. And I'm Gabi. And welcome back to the podcast, my hoes. Guys, this is his fourth time attempting to introduce the podcast because I swear his brain is off. It probably is, to be honest here. But you know what is not off? The Gurkhas? Yeah, they're always on. On point. The point being the end of a Kukri knife stabbed into the heart of their enemy. What an intro.

I thought it was pretty good. I thought that was pretty good, especially since that was off the cuff. Yeah, I mean, like, it was good. It's just, it's kind of cringe.

You know who's not cringe? The Gurkhas. The Gurkhas. I'm sorry. I had to go with it like that here. Yes, my friends, this is an episode that has been begged for quite a while. You have no idea how many comments, emails, and much more we've received to specifically talk about this group of people. And I know that I have mentioned them because I did one episode on like the Anglo-Nepalese War.

Because among all different warriors in history, and look, there are many different groups that stand out when we talk about this. When we think of badasses, you have Spartans, Samurai, Mongols, Maori, Comanche, Zulu, Romans, etc. But among the ones that still exist today, there are very, very few. And perhaps the most famous example of them would definitely be the Gurkhas. They're easily a crowd favorite.

Now for clarification, because I need to kind of explain this here, because a lot of people misunderstand exactly what a Gurkha is. The Gurkhas hail from the Himalayan region of Nepal, which is a country that is known for very rugged terrain as well as diverse ethnic groups. We're not talking about people simply being Nepalese, like that's more of a nationality. There are many more sub-ethnic groups within it. And the term Gurkha originates from the town of

Gorka, which you probably see, that's where we come from, which was the seat of power for the Gurkha kingdom in the early 18th century.

Now, this is a region that is characterized by its very mountainous landscape, which has shaped the Gurkhas very hardy and resilient nature that, to be honest, oh, dear God, like if you think of regular soldiers in comparison to Navy SEALs, the Gurkhas and what they would go through specifically in order to be able to join like the elite regiments that still to this day are a part of the British like military. Oh, oh, they go through it. They really do.

The Gurkhas have a longstanding martial tradition with various different clans and communities that are known for their warrior cultures. Now, each clan has its own unique fighting style and weapons, but they do share a very common ethos of bravery, honor, loyalty. And among all the different things they could have, there is one tool that is iconic in

And pretty much serves as the symbol of what we would associate with the Gurkhas. Crayons that they eat. No, that's Marines. That is the U.S. military with crayons. Right. The Kukri. The Kukri knife. The curved one? The curved one. It's the one that looks like a little mini machete, but it's weighted towards one end. I want you to imagine if... I feel like beheading someone with that would be...

I don't want to say satisfying, but like if you think of it from like an ASMR perspective, I fear it would be. You have made many statements in your life to me, and I will say that is probably one of the more concerning ones. No, like, you know, when you watch someone do like a soap cutting video, but like it's just that kukri beheading. Gabby, creating a new genre of content that is like the ISIS beheadings. No, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying they should. I'm just saying because they probably did, it would probably be satisfying. Like if it wasn't like a real person. Oh, like you like in the case of the ballistic gel heads of that kind of thing. Yeah. Which, OK, to be fair, have you seen the weapons videos of like testing out a spy hander on a ballistic gel head? Because those are the things they use in order to test like bullet wounds.

Like that's a thing that they do on ranges where they would test like what does this bullet do to a person's body? Don't love that. You could do the same thing, but with the knife and other stuff like that is a thing like gel head ASMR. Yes.

Interesting. You technically. But not like on a person. No. I need to. I should have led with that. Legally. Do you specify here? This is what was actually referred to. I should have led with that. I'm sorry, guys. But you know what I'm saying, though, right? Like the hooked blade. I feel like it'd be like a hook.

Yes, which also on that note, guys, I know that we're describing this here. I haven't even really begin to physically describe this. Many people are probably familiar with a Bowie knife, like, you know, the big oversized Bowie knife, that kind of thing. Imagine if a Bowie knife was crossed with a boomerang. And that's not exactly accurate, but it's probably one of the closest images that I could really describe because this is. This is why I should be on video podcast because like I could agree. I know what it is from like you've made like five videos on it.

on TikTok. Yes, a lot of the short videos. A bunch of them got taken down in 2021, but they got put back up, and that's how I learned, because I watched them all to see why owners would TikTok take that video down. I know. It's just, in general, it's a really effective tool that is very good and useful for hacking. So it wouldn't be good for beheading? Well, here's the thing. It could. Remember, the Kukri knife is not cute. It's not like a sword. It is a knife. So it's going to require force. You can't do it in one sweep. You're

You're going to hit and hit and hit because the kukri is pretty much like what would happen if you had a curved machete and you're going to have to hack through multiple times. It'd be an interesting ASMR for sure. You know how there was like those really big swords that were used for beheading in medieval Europe, which I know. OK, guys, I know sidetrack sidetracking on this. Not really. So they actually did that to human people.

Oh yeah, one of the biggest problems with beheadings was that it usually, it didn't cut off someone's head with one swing. It typically took about two to three swings in order to do it. Stop. Is that why they invented guillotine? To make it more efficient? Yes. To make it less- So weighted blade? Yes. To make it like painless. More humane. And more humane. So it was one fell swoop. Yes. I feel like it's a horrible way to die.

Probably. Yeah. But also, that's also one of the reasons why the guillotine repeatedly. Yeah, they had to hack repeatedly. The executioners, you wouldn't know this, but do you think the executioners got affected by that? Yes. And I actually do know all about this because I've studied extensively. OK, we're now sidetracking for executioners in here. No, I'm going to have to go on a rant on this. Executioners were people that they were one of the most well-paid people in society. But they needed therapy and therapy didn't exist. Well, not only that.

The big problem is they were ostracized from society. In fact, here's the thing. You could be well paid as an executioner, but the townsfolk would not deal with you. Executioners in towns were oftentimes forbidden from going to the church. They were forbidden from buying from like certain markets. They were forbidden from participating in other activities. Did they have wives? They were kept as others. Sometimes they would literally be forbidden from being married. Like they would not be allowed to have families because you couldn't get, because if you couldn't get married in a church, you weren't married.

That's really sad. Yeah. So that's what would happen. And so they were just alone and they had to kill people. So this is one of the reasons why being an executioner was in many cases, especially throughout the Holy Roman Empire, a job for criminals. If you were a criminal that you got released from prison, let's say you were branded or something. It's like a thief. Well, not many places are going to want to

work with you because you were a criminal. It's kind of like what happens when you are a felon nowadays. That's harder to get a job. Their rehabilitation work program was execution. Give them a job that no one else would want to do because you will actually be ostracized. Yeah.

I don't know if that's smart or evil. I think it's a bit of both. I can't remember the story. And we're going to go. I'm sure I'm going to tell us there's a story of a famous executioner who is like one of the best executioners to ever exist, who is actually in general just a really nice guy. But yeah, anyway, we're going to move on from that. That needs to be a future episode in and of itself. Undesirable jobs. We're going to do that. Undesirable jobs as an episode. And we'll make that a whole list so I can actually talk about that. So this thing that I'm talking about with the kukri,

Dear God, when I say this thing was effective, I mean, oh, dear God, the people who knew how to use this thing were crazy to the point that one famous Gurkha back in the year 2010 managed to fight off 30 to 40 armed bandits in order to save a girl on a train and became an international sensation. I'm not making this up. That really happened. And yes, I am going to tell that story, of course. But how do we get there?

Well, for that, I'm going to need to tell the history of the Gurkhas and how they became such an invaluable asset for both the British and Indian military. And we are going to tell the story of the first Anglo-Nepalese war in order to do that, a.k.a. the Gurkha War. So since we're going back in history with Britain and India, naturally, we are going to have to talk about the East India Trading Company because that, of course, is... Well, you can't really talk about India in history in Britain without...

going into the whole East India Trading Company. I feel like you've already done a Gurkha episode. I had done an episode that is specifically on the Anglo-Nepalese war. Okay. That was the one I did in full detail. This focuses more on the Gurkhas itself, along with some other details. So like training, lifestyle. Kind of like that, along with more of the specific history of

the Gurkhas and Nepal rather than here's the story of this war. Just wanted to clarify. Because I had that same thought. I had forgotten I had done an episode. So I was like a quarter of the way through this when I then realized, oh, wait, hold on. I already did that episode. Yeah, it was 2023. Yeah. It's been two years. So I then had to go back. No, it was 2023 December because you were at your parents' house for Christmas. Dear God. I mean, people talk about my memory. I remember...

day to day. You remember useless facts. It's different. I have to remember the important stuff that keeps life going. And you remember that. You heard it here, folks. Welcome to the History of Everything podcast. It's like the heavy clouds. This is my knowledge. I can tell you what happened in 1862.

Second year of the American Civil War. Right. But you have to tell me that I have three appointments. I have to pay bills and where my shoes are. So like, that's my part. Your part is the 1862. I don't have to remind you about appointments. The only thing I do have to remind you on is where your shoes are. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Oh, I get that. I get that. So as I said, we're going to be going back and talking about specifically the East India Company and the origins behind this whole thing.

The East India Company was founded in the year 1600, and by the mid-18th century, it was benefiting from its trade monopoly in India to make its shareholders stupidly rich. Oh my god, this thing was so insane. The company was effectively the colonial arm of the British government in India, but it protected its assets using its own private army and hired troops from the regular British army. And by the 1750s, the company was very keen to expand its trade network and begin a more active...

territorial expansion plan, we will say in the subcontinent.

Now, the one who would arguably make that possible was a guy by the name of Robert Clive, who won a famous victory for the East India Company against the ruler of Bengal, Nawab Siraj Dhaula, at the Battle of Plassey in June of 1787. Now, the Nawab was replaced by a puppet ruler, and the state's massive treasury was confiscated, as well as the systemic exploitation of Bengal's resources and people would begin.

Now, because, of course, remember, this is a freaking company taking over a country. That's exactly how this would go, which we can talk about the whole East India Company and what ended up happening with India in the future and why it is that the East India Company was disbanded and India was taken over by the British Crown as a crown colony instead. That is a whole other story by itself.

Either way, the East India Company would win another key contest in October of 1764 with the victory at the Battle of Bukhsar against the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. The Emperor then awarded the EIC the right to collect land revenue, Bani, in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.

Which, mind you, remember, this is a major development because it meant that the company wasn't just trading. They now had more resources to expand and protect its traders, bases, armies, and ships as a de facto state that was collecting tax. This was not a company that was making money off of trading anymore. They were literally taxing people, meaning the company was a state.

It's just insane. Now, the East India Company kept on expanding through diplomacy and military conquest. Victories would come against the Southern King of the Pesaur across the three Anglo-Pesaur Wars from 1767 from 1799. Along with these conflicts, there were the three Anglo-Maratha Wars from 1775 to 1819 against the Maratha Confederacy of Hindu princes in central and northern India. And once again, the EIC came out as the winner.

The company had extended its control of the subcontinent not only through direct territorial possessions, but also through a policy of subsidiary alliances. And this is where it gets devious. And this is the whole thing for like when people talk about indirect rule is, yeah, this is how it happens. People wonder how the hell the British managed to control a place with a vastly bigger population than their own.

Well, quite simply, a lot of the territory had Indian princely states who would have a EIC resident at their court where they would host and pay for an East India Company garrison. And then they would hand over the direction of foreign policy to the British. But they still technically ruled the country. They were puppet partners, if you will. Which, again, at this point that we're describing this, it sounds like an extension of the old feudal system, but with a company that is in charge.

So now with large parts of India now in its grasp, the ever hungry and desiring to grow East India Company and its new governor general, the Marquis of Hastings, began to look to the north for more opportunities for conquest. And also as a result of that, profit, which was the big, big thing, because after all, it's a little bit of a company. As a result, the next target was Nepal, which this had its own fun going on, to say the least.

You see, for centuries, Kathmandu, Bataan, and Bagadon, the three kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley, had quarreled amongst themselves. They were so consumed by internal rivalry to take anything serious from the outside, like any kind of dangerous outside the border. And that insularity had, by 1769, enabled Prithvit Narayan Shah, the king of Gurkha, to go and conquer the valley, forming the foundations for modern Nepal.

In 1767, the traditional valley kings, under threat from Gurkha expansion, had requested the Great Britain's help. A certain Captain Kinloch would respond quickly, failing to make adequate preparations for the campaign, which would ultimately lead to complete and utter disaster. He would lead 2,500 soldiers against a superior Gurkha army, suffering heavy casualties from combat, malaria, and desertion. It was...

A crushing blow, and Britain's defeat gave the Gurkhas a decent supply of captured firearms as wolves boosted their confidence. From there, further conquest would follow.

The conquest of the Kathmandu Valley would mark the beginning of the rise of the Gurkhas as a state and would really showcase their power throughout the region. They would manage to conquer all of eastern Nepal by 1773. By 1788, Gurkha forces had also annexed western portions of Sikkim. In the west, all rulers as far as the Kali River had submitted or been replaced by 1790.

Even further west still, the Kumon region and its capital, Almora, had also succumbed to the Garkas. As they expanded, they came into conflict not only with their immediate neighbors, but also the British, who were exerting influence on said neighbors. And so this is what brings us to the breaking point.

The Nepalese were particularly keen to enlarge their southern border territory, which was controlled by the state of Awad, a protectorate of the East India Company since it had signed a subsidiary alliance treaty back in 1901. The Nepalese and the British, therefore, shared a border that was around 700 miles long, which is pretty big.

Into the 19th century, the Gurkha raids into their southern neighbor's territory were relentless, and a small East India force that was sent to better garrison the area was wiped out in April of 1814. Now, Governor General Hastings believed that only a large-scale military action could settle the issue, and he noted, quote, To be foiled by the Gurkhas, or so make a discreditable accommodation with them, would have led to incalculable mischief.

Okay, I'm butchering that in the first place here, but like, I want you to imagine the most hoity-toity British official that you can possibly say, right? Hoity-toity. Like things if I spoke like Nixon and Futurama, blah, blah, blah. To be foiled by the Gagas, or so to make a discreditable accommodation with them, would have led to incalculable mischief. Again, that is probably one of the most British ways imaginable.

You could possibly say something like this, Gabby. What do you think? What do you think? Does that give the image of a British gentleman? No, it gives the image of a horse. It's just focused on...

Thanks. I was trying to do an impression. I don't know. It wasn't very British. You said Nixon. You said British and then you said Nixon. I know. And then I said, like, I imagine doing it like Richard Nixon from Futurama, but with a British accent. You have to like channel, not even the clean. Think of someone more pretentious with a British accent. Who's the most pretentious Brit that we know? Like, think of a celebrity. No.

I won't. I shan't. You shan't. I shan't. I shan't. There's a whole thing that Gabby has already said here in the first place from this week and we're going to make a video on it. Oh gosh. She is going to make a formal apology to all British people. Like people from the UK and then people from Ireland are like some of the meanest commenters like on the internet. Like I'm not even joking. My block list is like probably 200 people long on Instagram. And like if you go to it, it's literally just people from like

D.U.K. and Ireland, because y'all are assholes, cunts, as you put it. And I have been here for a week of just nonstop rain. And I get it. I get it. I, too.

would be an asshole on the internet if i was just subject to this weather all the time so i feel like it's a formal apology to all of you i'm not gonna unblock you i'm probably gonna block you more but um you can move i just get it now like i understand should i be the subject of your anger no go yell at the sky bro this is between you they can't they can't see it

They can't see it. What do you mean? This guy doesn't exist. Apology for not getting it. I get it now. I myself have been tempted to leave a hate comment on your videos though, Steve, but you know, so like, Oh my God, shut the fuck up. Like, what do you mean? I feel like I could be, I could be a hater. I could be like your number one hater. I'll go from like your number one supporter to like, just, I know you can. I know you can do that. Thank you for believing in me and my dreams.

Anyway, so accordingly, Hastings would go and send four separate armies into Nepal, but three of these columns were repeatedly defeated in several hard-fought battles. Now, here's the thing you need to understand. The Gurkha army, whose commander-in-chief was Amar Singh Thapa, only numbered between 5,000 and 8,000 men over the course of the entire war, but crucially, they were fighting on familiar home territories.

Their tactics would involve guerrilla warfare, which best exploited the difficult rugged mountain and forest terrain for ambushes. They would avoid open battles or large offensive operations, which meant the East India Company could rarely use its cavalry in order to actually maneuver. The terrain made it difficult for the EIC armies to transport their artillery and give the general logistical support armies in the field any kind of real support.

One siege, as an example, had to be abandoned because they simply didn't have ammunition for their cannons. Like they lugged these cannons the entire way and they were like, well, damn, we don't have any way to resupply these things and actually utilize the cannons in the first place. Which I don't know if anyone knows this, but cannons are best utilized by Napoleon Bonaparte. Actually, yeah. This is around the same time frame. Yeah. But also it helps when you have ammunition.

To actually fire them. Yeah, you got me there. So the forts the Gurkhas were treated within were also very tough to attack because many were put on hilltops, which made assault by artillery and infantry difficult because if you're firing at a hill, the artillery shells kind of bounce off of them. It doesn't really work very well.

The Gurkhas also had the advantage they could forward to her fish for food and they could easily return to the mountain villages between encounters, whereas British logistics were severely tested because their home base was back in Bengal. That's a lot of distance to travel. They were further hampered by Gurkhas going and poisoning certain water sources, which tactic was noticed when several elephants and horses that were used by the ICS transport just randomly died because they would just do this. R.I.P.

Ultimately, Hastings... Wait, what died? Elephants and horses. I was so casual with my RIP and now I want to cry. Okay, no, no. See, this is one of those things. Elephants are used for clearing roads in like northern India and like Southeast Asia and stuff, even to this day, where you have terrain that you can't move a truck into, right? Like each day won't work. So have you ever seen any of those videos of like, oh yeah, here's an elephant moving a log out of the way. They bring elephants as their own kind of living...

basically to go in and remove rubble and stuff out of locations. Yeah. So the East India Company did that for lugging certain things. And then they got poisoned by the Nepalese.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry to bring you down like that. No, I just see animals. I feel bad. We don't give a shit about the trading company. I gotta say, in war, that is actually one of the most horrible things is whenever I would read about stuff with animals. It's like, oh, yes, here are thousands of people died, but these animals had to suffer needlessly because of people. And that was...

obviously there's a lot of sadness to go around but that's one of the things that always was like damn that really sucks in history like i feel bad for everyone involved i mean the good people involved but anyway you know that one quote from community where she's like um racism i can tolerate but i draw the line at animal cruelty or something like that yes i feel like unfortunately when it comes to elephants i feel like

I get it. Like, I don't support that at all. But like, they're elephants and they're so smart. I know. I know. And they don't deserve to be part of this bullshit. No, it's in the same way. It's like I felt bad every time that I would read something about, oh, yeah, and the pigs got set on fire in order to scare the camels or in order to scare the elephants or the camels were set on fire to scare the elephants, which, again, a lot of this stuff is like anti-elephant tactics. Yeah.

That is elephants. Just really get a bad rap when it comes to stuff for war. No, they get abused. Yeah, they really do. Humans who could just duke it out with their fists. We take all the weapons. We put them in our ring. They settle in there. I think that's how we solve some things. We could solve something if we just like, you know, just put the world leaders all together on like a stage for like boxing matches and stuff.

Probably, yeah, because they'd be doing too much. So, yeah. Where was I? Oh, yeah, yeah. Elephants. Elephant poisoning. Right. And I said RIP, and then I got really sad because I said RIP, and then I realized there were elephants involved. So, yeah, the whole thing didn't really work very well. Hastings had to send a bigger and better-led army to the frontier, and this led to more fighting in 1815. In the Far West, Gurkha cooperation with the British would begin soon.

somewhat covertly because remember these people are kind of divided here in the district of Simur major general David Akertaloni I believe is the name his 6,000 men and camp followers which he had 6,000 fighting men he had about 18,000 people in total would be going they chased a 5 to 7,000 man Gurkha army as it was just jumping from one strong point to one strong point to another just hiding

They first beat the enemy at Nalagar, then at Remgar, and other forts. Then they chased them all the way to a place called Mangu, and finally to the provincial capital, Malang. Now, what is so funny about this is that in comparison to the failures of the East that Governor General Hastings had expected, with this kind of cat-and-mouse warfare, he had advised his commanders to take only lightly equipped troops.

Now, ironically, the chase had only been possible because Cotrolone had ignored him and actually taken substantial amounts of artillery support. So with this, he was able to blast the Gurkhas out of one stronghold after another and build his own stockades to block any of their counterattacks. So those lightly equipped troops that, yeah, they would have potentially been able to keep up a little bit better. That meant that

By the time the Gurkhas were treated to a stronghold, they wouldn't have been able to do anything because they had no artillery support or anything whatsoever. In the end, it would be his victory over the main Gurkha army that won the day, saving Hastings and his colleagues who were still failing further to the east from ultimate defeat. Now, once again, as with the British forces in Gawal under Major General Martindale, Okertaloni had a little bit of help from the Gurkhas themselves.

And initially, this came in the form of collusion. See, Gurkhas who had surrendered to the British at the strong point in Ramghar were permitted to rejoin the main Gurkha army at Milan, upon which Akurtaloni was slowly closing in on. But when the Gurkhas arrived, the supreme Gurkha warlord, Barakaj Amar Singh Dapa, had their ears and noses sliced off as punishment for surrendering at Ramghar.

Yeah, when news of this filtered out to other Gurkha garrison at Chambra near Ramgar, they arranged for the British to continue with her functionary artillery fire, even after they had surrendered themselves. So basically what they did is they just pretended like, OK, guys, guys, guys, we're going to surrender to you. But what I want you to do is to keep on firing and acting like you're fighting us. We've actually surrendered, but we got to put on a show. And so they did that.

They would do this to show, oh no, we had fought, and that way it allowed the British to trick the enemy and be able to move in even faster. They didn't want to become targets of Amar Singh Thapa's wrath next. Now, a large part of what drove the Gurkha warlords extreme cruelty was at first his anger about an unnecessary war as he saw it. Now, this anger, his ire was stoked further by his government's inclination to surrender after the fall of Kalanga.

Now, he saw himself as being the sole guardian of the Gurkha Empire west of Nepal, and that he would go to extreme lengths in order to be able to defend it. Which is okay. You know, I get it. But remember, he was incredibly cruel, and that cruelty may have been a double-edged sword because it drove his own men away from him. As the months had passed and the campaign continued, more Gurkhas would end up on the British side, as well as the surrender of the garrison at Chamba. There were, by early April 1815, other Gurkhas in the British camp.

Now, some of these were prisoners of war, others were simply deserters, and the blockade of Milan would explain a lot of this, since the lack of food and water would leave many with no choice but to leave. Though, presumably, they may have also been driven away by Amar Singh Thapa's extreme brutality because they just did not want any part of it. So now, whereas O Curtaloni had formerly held a very elitist and contemptuous view of enemy soldiers,

He was being won over by these Gurkhas that were in his camp. They were cheerful. They were diligent. They were, in general, pretty awesome, he came to realize. And so he suggested that the 324 men that he had there be formed into three companies of East India Company Gurkha troops.

Ocurtaloni would agree, and this formation would eventually become the first Gurkha rifles, the first and most important of the regiments that would end up serving the British. So when they first went into battle on April 15th, 1815, it was officially the first time the Gurkhas did so as mercenaries of the British.

Now, Pemble, who's the author that is going and describing all of this, he doesn't really indicate that they played a vital role necessarily in this big climactic battle. But the British were impressed with their tight formations and their excellent discipline. And they were awesome at being part of the larger machine of a Curtulani's division.

And so gradually, the British would force their way closer and closer to Milan. And it was actually a less defensible position than the fort that had been in the case at Mangu. But Al-Qurtaloni had tricked Ammar Singh Thapa into moving himself and his army there. They may wonder, OK, wait, why? Why? Why would you do this? Why would you go to a place that was less defensible? Well, well.

Spies had informed the Major General that the provincial capital was where the Gurkha warlord's family as well as his treasure were located. And by appearing to threaten Milan, but without actually blockading it yet, that meant there was still a path to get to it and it forced his enemy to rush to go and defend it.

Now, though in many ways, the old Major General may have gotten more than he bargained for since Amar Singh fought tooth and claw and nail and everything for Milan, at one point, a vicious back and forth fight would erupt and one British officer, a Captain Charles Showers, was stabbed to death. And in this instance, far from mutilating his body, Amar Singh Thapa's men actually showed their respect for Showers, who had displayed bravery, fighting prowess, and ability. And to them, remember,

They are a warrior culture. So that is something that was truly impressive to them. So they wrapped his body in cloth, lay it on leaves and didn't mutilate it. What's the other thing for like sacrilege? There's another word. Why can I not remember what the word is? When you desecrate, desecrate is the word. They didn't desecrate his body. And so here things were about to get kind of difficult for the Gurkhas too.

Inside the fort of Milan, Amar Singh's best officer, Bhakti Thapa, had prepared to make what would be a last stand. He left his son with the Gurkha warlord and swore that he would bring either victory or die in the attempt. He left his son? Yes. Is that going to end well? He left his son behind because he didn't want him to be a part of what he was about to do.

I guess good parenting. Yeah, especially considering that I wouldn't want my own child to be a part of what it is that he was about to do because this was a desperate last ditch effort. Remember how we've talked about the attack of the dead men? Yeah. I want you to imagine something of that scale. He took the elite core of the army, 2,000 men, and launched a massive early morning raid on April 16th.

On a prearranged signal of trumpets and Gurkha war cries, Akhti Thapa's men would spring out of the darkness and they ran straight at the British artillery to try and take them out. It didn't matter how many of them would be sacrificed as long as they could take out the artillery, which was the key thing that was threatening the fortress in the first place. How do you convince that many men to run at artillery? Because I don't know, but maybe it's because I'm not a man, but you couldn't pay...

Pay me to? Uh-huh. The payment didn't matter here. These were the Gurkhas. Remember I've talked about martial warrior culture. Everything about this. This was a huge thing for honor, victory, glory, death. Yeah, but they're going to die for sure. Yeah. It's artillery. Here's the thing. If it was just artillery, it wouldn't necessarily matter as much if it was like solid shot.

The British did what you would do when being charged by mass groups of enemies. Scattershot? They used scattershot. They used grapeshot, which for anyone who's not familiar, that meant that they turned their artillery pieces into giant shotguns. Basically, once it shoots, it's little tiny pebbly things that... Have you guys ever gone hunting? You shouldn't use scattershot while hunting, but if you're a child, you would, I guess.

Did you get to use Skyler shot while hunting? Gabby, I was never allowed to go hunting. My parents never did that. Right. Well, you know, I mean, yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about. Your dad took you to get like birds and stuff, right? Like, or not birds, but for, uh, didn't you describe to me like shooting snakes or was just your dad that shot snakes? No, my dad didn't hunt. My dad wouldn't kill anything. It was like uncles and such. Oh. Oh yeah. My dad would never hunt. Are you kidding me?

Our property, my dad would forbid hunters from coming onto our property. And he took it personal. If anyone did, he would chase them off. He goes, how dare you shoot at the animals on his property? Wasn't there also a big problem because obviously your dogs were out patrolling and the hunters would come in with their own dogs? Yeah, but our dogs were guard dogs. A hunting dog is no match for a massive German Shepherd. Purebred, pedigree, guard dog.

So that helped keep the hunters away. No, I totally get that. Yeah. But yeah, grapes. Yes. But grape shot. Yeah. It cut them down. Like, oh, dear God, turned into fine red mist. Gone. A lot of them. That's what he said. Basically. But it wasn't over. Right. The Gurkhas.

Did over time wear down the British with some sniping. Wait, they kept going? Oh, they kept going. After they saw the grape shot. They kept going. Yep. So obviously they had to retreat back, but then the Gurkhas would go and they would start sniping. So they started shooting at the British gunners. This is like a badasses of history. So they started shooting at them with their snipers, slowing down the reloading of their guns because they needed to be able to apply pressure to them so that the guns couldn't reload. Because if the guns couldn't reload, then that meant they were useless. Right? Right.

And so hoping this time to overwhelm the battery before the gunners could open fire, Bakitapa's men charged a second time. It didn't work. They got blasted again. Another round of grape shot straight to the face. Very soon, the British discovered why they retreated after this and why they only did a second round and that's it. Bakitapa was the commander of the whole thing, was torn to shreds in that first or in that second one. So they didn't go for it a third time.

If he had survived, they would have done a third charge. Absolutely. That's sad. Yeah. So his body was given the same respectable treatment that Captain Shower's corpse had been given. It was sent back to Milan, wrapped in shawls, and Bhakti Thapa would be cremated later that night with his widows. Then, remember Sati? No, they cremated them too. They burned them on the pyre. His widows weeping threw themselves onto the fire.

I get that. I can relate. So, they did that. I mean, as long as they did it willingly. They were not coerced. The records say that they did. Willingly. That they were, like, weeping, that they were crying, and that they threw themselves onto it. Do we trust the records? That's...

Am I not allowed to ask that? You are allowed to ask that. We don't know because the thing is, if they weren't, it would make things look a lot worse than they are. Well, maybe. How many widows are there? I don't know how many, actually. It just stated that his widows. All of them? Yeah. There wasn't one widow that was like, maybe these sister wives got this one.

All of them? Yeah. Damn. Those were some dedicated gals. Love that. I feel like if I had sister wives, I wouldn't be dedicated enough to throw myself on a tire and die. Someone else can do it. If it was just me, though, I'd be like, oh, no, it's so sad. I get it. There is a case, and I'm talking about this, the whole thing for wives ending up being sacrificed is so messed up. There's a whole thing with...

the ancient Chinese emperors. Now, until... I'm trying to remember the exact year that this stopped being a practice. There was a practice within the Chinese harem, the imperial harem, that the wives of the emperor would take their own life or be killed to go and serve the emperor in the afterlife, no matter how long they had actually been together. And there was records of a girl...

who had, I'm trying to remember the exact year this is happening, it's going to bother me, but she had only been in the harem for a week. She had just arrived. She had just been assigned to it. The emperor died and she crying was killed in order to go and serve him. See, that doesn't really work because you have no emotional connection to that person. Not that you would if you're in a harem, that's your job. Yeah.

Like, that's just your job, right? It wasn't just a job. It was a lot more than a job. But still, because you were a wife at that point or a concubine. I think in context, within context, if that is what you were raised with, it was perfectly normal to have multiple wives. And maybe some of them would come to care for him deeply. Like, I guess it makes a lot of sense. But if you just showed up, bro...

I'd be pissed. I'm going to try and pull this up here. I know this is someone that is so related. See, this is why we do this whole thing for tangents. Chinese concubine killed after a week. I know this was happened to this. I'm going to try and pull this up. That's like, remember when we did the mystery of everything episode on human sacrifices and they would have the king and then

Was it Egypt? I don't remember exactly where. It's been so long. But, you know, they would kill. It was China. And they would kill like all of the all of the people who served him and everything and bury them all. So they were like all of these massive like tombs just full of people who were supposed to serve in the afterlife. I'd be pissed. Like, imagine you just got hired, you know, and then he just kicks the bucket. And now you're SOL. You're dead too. Did they apply for jobs or were they appointed?

I don't know. I just wouldn't sit right with me. I'd be pissed all the way to the afterlife. I'd be like, guess what? Employee of...

What is the opposite of employee of the year? Worst employee of the year. That would be me. Oh, here it is. I'm just trying to talk so that you can find what you're talking about. No, no, I appreciate it. Oh, God, I need to pull up this thing. Did you find it or not? I did. I did. I did. I did. I did. It's midnight. Okay, I understand that. So it was the Hongxi Emperor and...

Yes, it shows all of his concubines who are getting killed or being killed. There is a... Yeah, no, she was hung. She was hung for this. Oh, because she cried? No, all of them were being hung. There it is. Wait, why would they hang them? Can they find a humane...

Way to kill them? Ming Shi Guai, also called Shanti, was from Fanyang. Talented and virtuous, she entered the palace and died. Okay, it wasn't a week. I was wrong about a week. It was 20 days later. Okay, okay. She was there for less than three weeks. But why would they hang them? Oh, you don't want to cut them with a knife or anything. Going into the afterlife, you hang, bodies are still perfectly intact. That is the worst thing. Can they poison them?

Humanely? Theoretically, but it was part of the sacrifice. And it was after this, I think, that a lot of the emperors stopped doing that. Yeah. We went over this in my Mystery of Everything episode. But hanging is just a little extreme. I get they want him to be intact, but there's other ways you could probably do it. Like, not that. Yeah.

We went really off topic for that here. Yeah, I don't know how... The three, the three wives, the multiple, sorry. The wives. Yeah. So yeah, that happens, the funeral goes on, and at that point, what remains of Amar Singh Thapa's force gradually begins to trickle away. When his main officers came to him and demanded either food or decisive action, they also deserted when they got

Neither of them, because they didn't have any food and he wasn't going to sacrifice the remaining forces. So they started to leave en masse, taking 1,600 of their men over to the British. And the Gurkhas started signing up with the British in massive numbers. Although Omar Singh would stubbornly hold out until early May with 250 men that he had left, the war was basically over. The East India Company would attempt to negotiate a peace settlement, but the Nepalese were not willing to give up the territories or their independence. And so they continued to fight on.

There would be an interim lull in hostilities that would allow them to briefly heavily fortify all three passes to the Valley of Nepal, and the East India Company, not for the first time in its wars, would end up using trickery and subterfuge to get the better of their enemy. Employing local smugglers as guides, an East India Company of 15,000 men, the largest used in the conflict yet, made its way through the hills bypassing the usual fortified passes.

And so on 28th of February in 16 at the Battle of Maklapur, a Kurtuloni would orchestrate the most decisive East India Company victory in Nepal. More battles and sieges would follow with the Kurtuloni taking the time to build roads and get his heavy cannon to better position to blast Gurkha forts. And the Gurkhas were, of course, a constant threat to the East India Company supply line. But overall, their strategy, which favored defensive action over offensive ones, meant that the British were able to take the initiative and eventually win.

Because eventually, with Kathmandu under direct threat from Okrotuloni and faced with relentless campaigning by the East India Company with superior resources, meant that the East India Company could replenish their losses. Nepal could not. And in the end, they were forced to sue for peace.

Now, under the terms of the 1816 Treaty of Sugali, I think is what it would be, the Nepalese rulers were obliged to have a permanent British resident at their court. They had to withdraw from Sikkim and give up a large swath of their territory to the East India Company, which included the kingdoms of Kaman and Karwal. In effect, Nepal became a British protectorate. But at least, unlike many Indian princely states, they did not have to pay an annual subsidy to the East India Company.

Unlike countless other such treaties, this one actually lasted and there were no further hostilities between Nepal and the East India Company. Instead, when the East India Company passed on to become, you know, just Britain and the British Raj ruling, Nepal was one of the most steadfast allies that the British could possibly have.

During the war, a deep feeling of mutual respect and admiration had actually developed between the British and their adversaries. The British were impressed by their fighting and other qualities that the Gurkha soldiers had. And so under the terms of the peace treaty, large numbers of Gurkhas were then permitted to volunteer for service in the East India Company's army.

And from these volunteers were formed the first regiments of the Gurkha Brigade. And from this time stems Britain's friendship with Nepal, all centered around Gurkhas and fighting military men. Which, mind you, almost every other relation that the British Empire would have with other people were, oh yes, they have a valuable good that we like, therefore we're going to trade with them.

Nepal's valuable good was, damn, these guys really know how to fight. Hey, you should fight with us. And they did. So yeah, at that point, I could go on and on about the different stories of Gurkhas. But with this time, what we're going to focus on is the one to really showcase this. Vishnu Shritsa.

Now, Vishnushrita was born in 1975 in the Parbat district of Nepal, emerging from a family that was steeped in military tradition. I need to stress this from the beginning before I go any further. Like even to this very day, Nepal is not a wealthy place and a lot of people in it. I'm even doing a geopolitics video on this here. It's it's not a great position.

You know how, Gabby, a lot of people from poor communities in the United States will go and join the military for adventure or to get out or get a steady job and that kind of thing? Yeah. If you are in Nepal, the peak thing that you can do to succeed is to become a Gurkha for the British military. Like, that is the ultimate goal.

Really? Yes, it is. It is. It is something that or if you have any kind of military background or ability or anything that is, you can get a job that pays so much more than you ever could back home. And so only I forget the exact number, but not many every year are accepted and are able to then become British citizens.

by virtue of this program, which still exists to this day, even with the British not having any colony in India or anything like that anymore. So his father served with distinction in the Gurkha regiment during the Vietnam War, which from that inspiration, that would guide Schmitz towards a career in the Indian army. With their motto, this is the thing, when you said that you would just give up, their motto is quite literally, it is better to die than to be a coward. Sounds like you, but...

No. I feel like there's worse things than being a coward. Like something else. I don't know. Is it? No, I just think there's nothing wrong with being a coward sometimes. I think that is their phrase. There might have been some great cowards. We just wouldn't know because they were really good at running away. There also might have been a lot of brave men. We don't really know about them because they died and they couldn't tell their story afterwards. Exactly. I mean, I don't know any good coward. Damn it. Yeah.

Who's a good coward? You're a historian. Tell me. Who's a good coward? So that's the problem. That's not the whole thing. He didn't want to join as a protest because that's a different kind of thing. No, he was not a pacifist. He just he he he did not want to support America's foreign policy. OK. And like the whole thing in Vietnam. Do we know any great OK, guys, anybody listening? Send us your examples. Do you know any good cowards? Because I feel like

I don't agree with that quote. Being alive is, you know, good. In the comments here, whether you're getting this on Patreon, whether you're listening to this on Spotify or anything else here, send us in your examples of great cowards. Yeah. Cowards who did good things. Like, I'm sure there are some, but they're not going to be like, guys, I was scared shitless.

You know, like I feel like everybody who does something great is like, I was so brave. This is exactly what I wanted to do. Not necessarily. The big thing is, and this is what people say, true bravery is not not being afraid. True bravery is being afraid and still doing it anyway. Yeah, but that's not what they said. They said it's better to die than to be a coward. That's not what they said. It's true.

So he would manage to achieve the rank of corporal in the 7th Battalion of the 8th Corps for Rifles, and from there he would hone his skills that would later prove vital in his confrontation with an armed gang on September 2nd, 2010. Now, on that night... September 2nd, 2010? Yep. So on that night, aboard the Maria Express, Tritsa was en route to Gorkopur from Ranchi, surrounded by just everyday unsuspecting passengers.

Around midnight, the train would abruptly halt and chaos would erupt as 30 to 40 armed bandits stormed onto the carriages. Now, mind you, train robberies are still a thing. We think of them in like the United States as like, oh, this was a thing of like a train robbery, the 1800s. That shit still goes on in India and Pakistan. In fact, terrorists just like a few weeks ago ended up robbing a train or like holding a train hostage in Pakistan. That happened.

So the attackers would threaten them with weapons and demand valuables. This would, of course, send the passengers into a panic. And amidst all this chaos and turmoil, like, Sritza did not actually do anything at first. He initially chose to comply with the robbers in order to minimize any immediate danger. Like, you're not going to try and be the brave guy immediately and just put a stop to it. However, the situation escalated dramatically.

quite drastically when he observed the bandits trying to assault an 18-year-old girl who was sitting nearby him. That moment was going to change everything. He could accept losing a watch or a wallet or something like that. He wasn't going to let a woman be raped next to him. And so, armed with his kukri, the weapon that he had used throughout all of his military service, he jumped up and went to confront the criminals despite being heavily outnumbered.

He jumped into them immediately right into the fray, subdued one of the attackers, stabbed him and used him as a shield against the others. The train went to chaos immediately because remember, these guys have like weapons. They have guns. He is using one as human shield with his knife while furiously stabbing everyone else.

His military training would just completely unfold here as he would maneuver through the crowded compartment using tactical skills that allowed him to inflict serious injuries, stabbing their arms, disrupting their balance, kicking them over, stabbing them in the groin, anything and everything. And through his strategic thinking, through his physical prowess, he was able to completely

breakthrough. It's incredible what it is that he did. And from this, with the fact that he was doing this now by himself, it then inspired all the other passengers to start to rally alongside him and also fight back.

Now, despite sustaining injuries in battle, Trista's actions would galvanize the passengers to join the fight and realizing that at this point, okay, we're not just trying to rob a bunch of sheep. These guys are going to kill us for what we're doing. The bandits began to retreat as law enforcement awaited their arrival at the next station. Now, Trista...

His courage did not go unnoticed. The media would widely recognize him as a hero, and the Indian government would honor his bravery with many prestigious awards. He received the Senna Medal for his exceptional acts of bravery in the line of duty, as well as the Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, which I'm probably butchering the pronunciation of, but this was awarded for his courageous effort to save lives in a critical situation.

As you can imagine, the public reaction surrounding the incident was overwhelmingly supportive because this guy was a hero leading to extensive media coverage. And what is so insane about all this is that instead of like confidence or a humble brag or anything else like this, no, he was completely humble about the entire thing. He refused any monetary payment.

He wouldn't accept an award like he wouldn't do this because even though the family of the girl wanted to give him money, he would state. And I quote, fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being. He didn't do this for reward. He didn't do it for recognition. He didn't do it for anything. He did it.

Because it was the right thing to do. And his personal conviction and pride as a soldier and a man would not allow him to merely step aside. And that is what I want you to go and imagine the Kirkus as. Because that is a prime example here in the end.

With that, my friends, I think we're going to end things here today. There are many, many more stories. Like I mentioned this before, the Gurkhas served in Vietnam. They served in Korea. They served in so many other conflicts. And there are so many more stories that I could talk about. But at this point, we're nearly an hour in and I have to stop. We have to go to bed. With that, I'll see you next time. Goodbye, my friends. Bye. Hello, everyone. My name is Wesley Levesay from the History of the Second World War podcast.

Join me on a journey to the most destructive conflict in human history, a journey that will take us not just through the famous campaigns and cataclysmic battles, but also to the lesser well-known corners of the war that touched millions all over the world, as we try and answer not just the questions of what and where, but how and why. You can find History of the Second World War on all major podcast platforms or at historyofthesecondworldwar.com.