Before I read this book I thought of the nineteenth century as a static time where the British ruled the world comfortably in their corsets and suits. George MacDonald Fraser’s ‘Flashman’ brings the nineteenth century British Empire to life in all of its gory details.

The series of the Flashman papers, of which the book ‘Flashman’ is the first that Fraser wrote out of 12 written from 1969 until his death earlier this year, are the fictional memoirs of Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman, VC, KCB, KCIE, etc. looking back upon his life of roguery, and cowardice. As an old man he no longer has any reason to hide what he has done, and so he explains his life in extraordinary detail from the start of his career.

Flashman was involved in basically every military failure of the mid-nineteenth century. The book starts with his misadventures in the First Great Afghan war, but later books chronicle him in the India Mutiny, the Crimean War, the Taiping Rebellion, the Civil War (in which he was on both sides), and Custer’s Last Stand.

Despite what his heroic reputation would suggest he did not want to be involved in any of these actions, and he was forced into them to save his life and protect his reputation. Flashman is the ultimate anti-hero, and will do whatever it takes to make his way to the top, out of his current predicament, or to have fun.

‘Flashman’ starts out with him being kicked out of Rugby College for drunkenness, and subsequent expulsion from the eleventh Hussars to India. He was expelled from the eleventh Hussars because he tumbled the daughter of a Scottish factory owner who he was supposed to be protecting, and could not extricate himself from the shotgun marriage, despite begging and pleading something shameful.

Flashman has only three skills that make a difference in his life. He’s a good rider, he can learn foreign languages very quickly, and he is quite the ladies’ man because of his impressive physique and manly whiskers. Most importantly though Flashman is just out to save his own skin and benefit himself. He’s honest like that, and that’s what makes him such an interesting character.

After he rapes the dancing girl of an Afghan warlord, the warlord sends four warriors to kill Flashman. Luckily for Flashman he is with a bodyguard of his named Iqbal and as the warriors charge him, Iqbal rushes into battle calling for Flashman to join him. Flashy of course turns his horse the other way and runs, but soon the horse trips on a rock and Flashman is thrown off. Fortunately Iqbal at this time has killed three of the assassins, and has mortally wounded the fourth just in time for Flashy to stab the last one in the back.

“‘Soor kabaj,’ [Iqbal] gasped. ‘Ya huzoor! Soor kabaj.’ Then he groaned and fell back, but as I knelt over him his eyes opened for a moment and he gave a little moan and spat in my face as best he could. So he died, calling me ‘son of a swine’ in Hindi, which is the Muslim’s crowning insult. I saw his point of view, of course.”

No one was around though, and so when everyone shows up here is brave old Flashy having slain four Afghan hill warriors. This impresses everyone who shows up and this earns him the nickname “Bloody Lance”. This is very typical of how Flashman acquires his reputation for battlefield heroics.

I believe that Flashman, despite his being an unbelievable bastard, is quite an enjoyable character, but that still isn’t the best part of the book to me. Fraser did an incredible amount of historical research behind all of his books, and they are annotated with footnotes. Flashman is always brushing against the famous people, some closer than others. The books truly portray the time period, by giving many of the historical characters more depth than a straight telling of the facts could offer.

So if you want to look at the nineteenth century as it was, with the good and the bad, pick up a copy of Flashman.