Exclusive interview with author Con Coughlin about lessons learned on leadership and war from Churchill’s Afghan campaign of the 1890s
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“When researching the American military’s new counter-insurgency doctrine, both General Petraeus and General Stanley McChrystal said that they had drawn on the British experience of fighting the Afghans in the Victorian era,” says Churchill’s First War author Con Coughlin.
“The idea to write this book came to me when I was interviewing senior American military officers, including General David Petraeus, about their strategy for defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan. In particular they had read Winston Churchill’s first publication, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which is his account of waging war against the great, great grandfathers of the modern Taliban movement in the 1890s. It seemed remarkable to me that this neglected but fascinating period of Churchillian history should have such a direct impact on the modern military campaign in Afghanistan.”
Before Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, he was a military officer. In 1890 he fought in the Afghan campaign on the Northwest Frontier against Pashtun tribesmen. These tribal wars provided the genesis of the Taliban. Churchill, a cavalry lieutenant, wrote about what he saw and his first book, published in 1898, is today required reading for both American and British military commanders on the ground.
Churchill’s First War grabs your attention from the first chapter. It talks about how Churchill saw the Taliban and how they were harming the local tribes. Churchill had adventures and even wrote to his mother about some of the skirmishes. Coughlin writes of adventure, potential peril and ultimately success for the British and how this helped shape Churchill to become the leader he became. Coughlin’s writing is engaging and the book will make you think.
After becoming bored with playing polo in India, in 1897 Churchill volunteered for a posting to the NorthWest Frontier, an area now situated in Pakistan. Churchill described the incredible killing power of new modern weapons after seeing Pashtun tribesmen, confident they had the numbers to overrun the British, cut down by British repeating rifles. This experience prompted Churchill to later support development of the British tank.
Coughlin says what surprised him most was that the modern battlefield is the same area where Churchill fought in the 1890s. “If you took a map of the CIA’s drone strikes against the tribal areas of northern Pakistan they would correlate directly with the same villages, tribes and valleys that Churchill fought against in the 1890s, “ says Coughlin.
Churchill’s First War is Coughlin’s sixth book. As an acclaimed author, he has been invited to the White House to meet with former President George W. Bush and to Downing Street to meet with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Britain’s current Prime Minister, David Cameron, was photographed reading Churchill’s First War on his beach holiday in England in the summer of 2013,” says Coughlin.
Coughlin travelled extensively in Afghanistan and Pakistan, visiting the areas where Churchill fought. “I also studied the Churchill archives at Cambridge University in England, as well as digging our various contemporary accounts of the military campaign,” says Coughlin.
Coughlin other books include Saddam (New York Times bestseller 2003), American Ally (2006) and Khomeini’s Ghost (2009). He’s currently the defense editor for London’s Daily Telegraph, and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal. American Ally was Publishers Weekly’s non-fiction book of the year 2006.
Churchill’s First War has been short-listed for two UK awards. The results will be announced later this year.
Currently negotiations are in progress for the adaptation of this book for film or TV. Coughlin was born and currently lives in London.
Hardcover: 320 pages, Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (January 28, 2014), Language: English, ISBN-13: 978-1250043047. $20.33
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