Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Triumph: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803

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Cornwell takes us back to India in this book and the action is as intense as the novels set in Spain and France. These novels focusing on Sharpe's early career are especially interesting because the show him without the support of his Riflemen and without the officer's rank that is the source of much of his pride and many of his problems.

But this is the novel where Sergeant Sharpe suddenly realizes that his ambitions go far beyond his non-commissioned rank. And in making the decision to try to rise to officer he knows that he is consigning himself to an almost certain death, because his only chance to become an officer is through an act of suicidal bravery on the battlefield that is noticed by a senior officer.

The decision to attack at Assaye by Sir Arthur Wellesley gives Sharpe his opportunity. Longtime readers of the Sharpe novels know what he did to get himself promoted at Assaye, and Cornwell does his usual masterful job in describing this horrific, heroic deed.

This book has everything Sharpe fans have come to love, and anyone who has never read this series should gather up their pennies and carve out a few weekends to devour them all. You'll find yourself addicted.

Readers of Cornwell's Sharpe series have long been tantalized by references to infantry Sergeant Sharpe being raised (promoted) from the ranks of the enlisted men to the gentleman's officer corps by Lord Wellington in gratitude for having saved his life on the battlefield at Assaye in India, back in 1803. In this volume, we finally get the full story behind that seminal event in Sharpe's career, one that is mentioned in every volume in the series. At the time, a number of Indian princes (the Mahratta confederation) had banded together to resist further British incursion into their territory, and assembled a massive army of European-led units along with local and Arab mercenaries. As in many of the other books, Sharpe is sent on a small mission and ends up meeting the main villain of the piece, here a renegade English officer who is part of the Mahratta forces. Sharpe is later detailed to help capture the rogue officer, leading him to Wellington's first major set piece battle, at Assaye. And while the book is ostensibly a Sharpe book, it is this battle which Cornwell is clearly most interested in, and with good reason. In defeating an army some 10-20 times its number and equal equipment, Wellington's victory is one the great feats of military history (one which he ranked above his more famous win at Waterloo). Cornwell's recreation of the battle makes it eminently clear that two Scottish Highlander regiments (the 74th and 78th won the day for the British.

Many of the usual Sharpe elements are there, bloody fighting, foul villains (including the odious Sgt. Hakeswill), treachery, and climactic massive battle. What's more interesting about this book, however, is how different this younger Sharpe is from the scarred veteran we meet in the Peninsular Wars. He has yet to be in a real battle, and is clearly tentative and bewildered by the fog of battle. He's on his own, with no men of his own to command, and without a sidekick to add any dram of levity to the tale (although the dour, Bible-thumping, vegetarian, Scottish Colonel he's attached to is a somewhat comic figure at times). There is a woman he beds, but shes much more peripheral to the plot compared with the ladies of Spain and Portugal Sharpe later encounters. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is when he is tempted by the offer to become an officer in the Mahratta army, with men to command, and riches to follow. He is clearly wavering but his true dream is to be able to return to his gutter origins wearing a British officer's uniform, the only one that counts.

This is the second novel of Sgt. Sharpe's early service (following TIGER), set in exotic India with places, battles, and currents of empire-building of which most American's haven't the faintiest idea. Here we finally see the enigmatic event (long alluded to in the original Sharpe series set later in Spain) that forever indebts the future Duke of Wellington to Sharpe; that icy young general in not one but two brilliant actions; Sharpe at his most ferocious ever; Sgt. Hakesbill at his absolute evil worst, consumed with jealousy and private revenge; and Sharpe receiving his first promotion to officer. After a meandering buildup, which includes a convincing Temptation of Sharpe by private pay, the climactic battle scene is horrendous, a vast set piece in front of Assaye where we witness the extreme heroism of the steadfast Scottish 78th under shot, shell, and shrapnel, 600 men (at the start) who rout 100,000. Just incredible. The battle that made the reputation of imperturbable Wellington. As usual, Cornwell brings the era alive through his details of everyday life, without the excessive technical fascination of techno-novels.

Cornwell does it again with another installment in this highly readable series. This novel deals with probably the most amazing battle of the entire series, Wellington's early "Triumph" at Assaye. Cornwell's writing overall has gotten progressively better as the series has progressed. Here his prose crackles with energy in the battle scenes (especially Sharpe's long fabled and finally recreated rescue of Wellington) and gives us some of Sharpe's best personal moments when he is offered a position as a mercenary. Will he leave the British enlisted ranks to seek his fortune as a soldier for hire? Long time readers know the answer but it still makes for good reading. Of course I would be remiss not to mention the appearance of Obidiah Hakeswill. Cornwell knows he has a classic villian on his hands and he plays it to the hilt making his evil Sergeant worse than ever. This is a must read for fans of the series and an interesting historical novel about Wellington's most amazing military feat.

This is the second of the Sharpe books I have read and the second in the series chronologically even though they were not published in this order. Already I am picking up on what I suspect may be a recurring formula for these books: an amicable working relationship with a somewhat disinterested senior officer, another senior officer who acts as a mentor, an ephemeral love interest, the sub-plot of the antagonist character (Hakeswill) dogging Sharpe's every step, the obscure battle (Ahmednugger) that acts as a precursor for the main conflict, the climactic battle in which Sharpe proves himself to his superiors, and the temporary resolution of tension while leaving enough loose ends for the next novel. This is exactly what I usually dislike about serialized novels.

However, Cornwell does such an excellent job of creating realistic characters as Sharpe, McCandless, Hakeswill, as well as putting a human face on the true life characters of Wellington, Wallace, Pohlman, etc., that this novel stands far above the usual formulaic novels of the genre. Sharpe is not a monofaceted hero without flaws and, like most of us, experiences conflicting emotions and motivations. The malignant Hakeswill, a coward at heart, is obsessed with Sharpe's demise even to the detriment of his own career.

But what truly makes this a first rate novel (and series for that matter) is historical accuracy. While concurrently reading Jac Weller's "Wellington in India", one can trace every detail of the battles of Ahmednugger and Assaye in Sharpe's Triumph. Indeed, Cornwell himself praises Weller's trilogy on Wellington and uses it as his primary historical reference. So even though plot development may be a bit predictable on the fictional side, the historical aspects of this novel are so solid and absorbing that the result is a perfect piece of historical fiction.

In this latest chapter in the life of Richard Sharpe, Bernard Cornwell takes us back to 1803 and Sharpe's life as a seargent in Wellsley's army. In Triumph, Cornwell gives readers more of the great historical fiction they have come to expect, while showing them a different side of Richard Sharpe. Having already written the end of the series, chronologically, Cornwell does a masterful job of showing us the young Richard Sharpe and relating experiences that help shape this character into the bold rifleman we know him to be. As always, the battle descriptions are excellent, and the attention to detail, within the fictional context, makes it all the more fascinating. Sharpe readers may find this book a little different than the others in the series in that a good portion of the book does not specifically involve Sharpe. I would recommend this book to any Shape reader and I would also suggest ordering Sharpe's Fortress, currently out in Britain, from Amazon.comUK. Once i found out these books were available in England I just couldn't wait to get them.

Sharpe`s Triumph is set in India around 1803. Richard Sharpe is a Sargent in one of the latest of the series by Bernard Cornwell. In this book he meets his ruthless enemy again, Sargent Oberdiah Hakeswill, who is intent on ruining Sharpe`s career and life, but Sharpe has other amitions and fulfills them in an act of suicidal bravery at the battle of Assaye, where he saves the life of the then Major-General Authur Wellesley, who was soon to become the famous Duke of Wellinton. I really enjoyed this book because it is of the usual high standard that Bernard Cornwell insists on working in, and that is a good thing. I think that people who enjoy Bernard Cornwell`s books would definately enjoy this book, the only regrets that I have about this book are that there was no cheerful, grinning Sargent Harper (see Sharpe`s Rifles), and that, as allways, the books never seem to go on long enough.

Richard Sharpe is the definitive Bernard Cornwell hero -- poor, uneducated, intelligent, strong, witty, and ruthless. "Sharpe's Triumph" is the second book in Cornwell's "India Trilogy," which kicks off Cornwell's epic Richard Sharpe series that clocks in at well over 10 books. Fans of Cornwell's other books will see nothing to surprise them here, and that's a compliment. If you haven't read any of Cornwell's books, you should start with "Sharpe's Tiger," the first novel in the India Trilogy.

Four years have passed since Sharpe first won his sergeant's stripes in "Sharpe's Tiger." Rationing the wealth he took off the dead Indian warlord, the Tippoo, Sharpe is living a pretty darn good life. All that is shattered by two events. The first occurs when Sharpe runs afoul of William Dodd, a British turncoat who now fights for profit for the Mahratta warlords. Dodd slaughters a British post and nearly does in Sharpe in the process. Soon, Sharpe is riding alongside the Scottish intelligence legend Colonel McCandless to track Dodd down and bring him to justice.

The second event is largely unknown to Sharpe, and that is the hatching of a revenge plot by Sharpe's nemesis, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill. Sharpe left Hakeswill to die with the tigers in the last novel, but like so many fictional heroes he didn't stay around to witness Hakeswill's demise. So Hakeswill escapes, and has concocted a scheme wherein he will use the draconian system of British military law to lay Sharpe low.

All this boils in the seething cauldron of General Wellesley's 1803 Indian Campaign that sees Wellesley lead the Brits in two of the Empires most famous battles - one a lightning attack on a walled city, and another a field battle while vastly outnumbered at the village of Assaye. These real-world events helped the young General grow into Lord Wellington, future foe of Napoleon, and in the hands of Cornwell, it's easy to see why they made the young man's reputation.

As Cornwell's fans will attest, the man has no equal when it comes to describing a battlefield in understandable, riveting prose. He never loses control of the battlefield, tactics and strategy are clear, the carnage is undeniable, and he even injects a classic British sense of pageantry and honor into the maelstrom. In "Sharpe's Triumph," not only do we get to see Sharpe dealing death the way only Sharpe can, we also get treated to extended passages focusing on how the dreaded Scottish infantry marches into, and through, certain death to win the battle. Cornwell never loses control or perspective, yet it is clear that the British army had more than its share of supermen in its anonymous infantry ranks.

Clocking in at under 300 pages, "Sharpe's Triumph" is a concise, lean tome, even by Cornwell's standards. For thrills, for laughs, and for a sense of place and time, you must read the Sharpe Series, and "Sharpe's Triumph" is a fine entry into that saga.

This is number two in the series and is typical of Bernard Cornwell with detailed accounts of historical events that support the storyline of his work. Action packed throughout. Easy reading but hard to put down.

Sharpe's triumph tracks the adventures of Richard Sharpe during the Mahratta campaign, which had its climax at the battle of Assaye.

In later years The Iron Duke, Lord Wellington, was to say that this was his favorite battle. And no wonder. In those days he was simply Arthur Wellesley and yet had to make himself a reputation.

He began to do so with the siege of Ahmednuggur, where he ordered a rapid esclalade of the walls with ladders instead of a protracted siege of the city. This was to become a trademark move for Wellington. He has often been criticised for the waste of life of his troops at sieges such as Badajoz and Salamanca. But such critics seem to forget that Wellington did not have the luxury of the time needed for protracted sieges during the peninsular campaign. He needed to strike fast and win fast before the French could concentrate against him.

He may have learned from Ahmednuggur that a brash opportunist can quickly seize a city through sheer surprise, when the enemy expects a cautious siege.

But Ahmednuggur was only the prelude to Assaye, where Wellington faced a combined Mahratta force outnumbering his army many times. With an eye to the lay of the land that was to become another of his trademarks, Wellington realised that he could outflank the Mahratta army if he could cross the river in front of their position. Locals assured him that there was no ford of the river, but Wellesley reasoned that two Indian villages would not be sited just across the river from each other if they could not communicate. He personally led the reconnaissance and found the ford he needed.

However, the Mahratta army, well led by European Officers, performed a smart turning manoeuvre and managed to counter Wellingtons master stroke. But in the process they lost any room for their huge cavalry force to operate.

In narrow confines the superior fighting qualities of the british infantry proved too much for the Indians, who fell back. Wellington also made brilliant use of his own small cavalry force to smash his enemies, to win a battle that immediately catapulted him to the forefront of the military.

Sharpe fans will love how our old friend Richard (now a mere Sergeant) is able to see both sides of the conflict. The senior Mahratta European officer, Anthony Pohlman, offers him a life of wealth and luxury for his services when he visits the enemy camp on a spying mission with Colonel McCandless. But Sharpe resists and finds himself holding spare horses for Wellesley at Assaye.

With a vengeful Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill on his tale Sharpe knows that only a promotion to officer will save his bacon, and the only sure route to promotion is bravery on the field. The rest is history (or at least it seems so at this stage)

A great and exciting read and another wonderful Sharpe adventure.