Britain first came into contact with the men who established modern Nepal in the second half of the
18th Century. In 1757 Clive's victory at the battle of Plassey established British supremacy in India and
opened the door for the expansion of the Honourable East India Company. Ten years after the battle of
Plassey the British started to come into contact with King Prithvi's armies on the northern boundaries of its
newly won territories of Bihar and Bengal. Eventually as a result of boundary disputes and repeated raids
by Gurkha columns into British territory the Governor General of India declared war on Nepal in 1814.
After two long and bloody campaigns a peace treaty was eventually signed at Segauli in 1816.
During the campaign a deep mutual respect and admiration developed between the British and their
Gurkha adversaries. Under the terms of the peace treaty Gurkhas were permitted to volunteer for service in
the East India Company's army. The Regiments formed from these volunteers first fought for Britain in the
Pindaree war of 1817 and earned their first battle honour at Bhurtpore in 1826. In the second Sikh war of
1848, six regiments of the Nepalese army were offered to assist Britain.
However, it was during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 that the Gurkhas proved their loyalty beyond
all doubt. The Second Goorkhas (now part of 1 RGR) and the 60th Rifles (now the Royal Green Jackets)
defended the key British position at Delhi where the Gurkhas suffered 327 casualties out of a strength of
490 (including 8 out of their 9 British Officers). Also 12 Nepalese Army regiments, under the leadership of
the Prime Minister of Nepal took part in the relief of Lucknow.
After the Mutiny the East India Company's army became the British Indian Army and its Gurkha
Regiments saw service in Burma, Afghanistan, the North East and North West Frontiers of India, Malta,
Cyprus, Malaya, China (the Boxer Rebellion of 1900) and Tibet (Younghusband's Expedition of 1904). At
the outbreak of the First World War the whole Nepalese army was placed at the disposal of the British
Crown. As well as the 16,000 Nepalese troops who served in the Indian theatre, 200,000 Gurkhas served
with the Brigade in Europe and the Middle East. After the First World War, in 1919, the Brigade returned
to fighting in Afghanistan and the North West Frontier.
During the Second World War 45 Battalions and other units of Gurkha troops saw service. Almost
a quarter of a million men fought alongside their British and Indian counterparts all over the globe. Again
the whole Nepalese Army was placed at the disposal of the British Crown. Eight Nepalese regiments
served in India and a Nepalese brigade fought with distinction at the Battle of Imphal in Burma. In
addition the government of Nepal donated money for the purchase of arms and equipment and for relief for
the sufferers of the Blitz. At the end of the war there were ten Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army. With
the partition of India four regiments were transferred to the British Army to form the Brigade of Gurkhas.
Following partition Gurkha Engineer, Signals, Transport, Parachute and Police units were also raised. The
remainder of the regiments stayed in the Indian Army where they still serve today.
The period after the Second World War again saw the Brigade of Gurkhas in operations almost
wherever the British Army served. The Brigade played a major part in the Malayan Emergency and in
Borneo, and was involved in operations in Cyprus, the Falklands War and the Gulf War. The Brigade was
based in Malaya until the British withdrawal in 1971, when it moved to Hong Kong to assist with internal
security after disturbances relating to China's "Cultural Revolution". The police and parachute units were
disbanded when the Brigade departed from Malaya. 1 RGR were the first British Unit to enter Kosovo in
1999.
Source: NEPAL & THE GURKHAS
