Herat. The Granary and Garden of Central Asia

Цитата:
George Bruce Malleson (8 May 1825 - 1 March 1898) was an English officer in India and an author, born in Wimbledon.

Educated at Winchester, he obtained a cadetship in the Bengal infantry in 1842, and served through the second Burmese War. His subsequent appointments were in the civil line, the last being that of guardian to the young maharaja of Mysore. He retired with the rank of colonel in 1877, having been created C.S.I. in 1872.

He was a voluminous writer, his first work to attract attention being the famous "Red Pamphlet", published at Calcutta in 1857, when the Mutiny was at its height. He continued, and considerably rewrote the History of the Indian Mutiny (6 vols., 1878-1880), which was begun but left unfinished by Sir John Kaye. Among his other books the most valuable are History of the French in India (2nd ed., 1893) and The Decisive Battles of India (3rd ed., 1888).

Цитата:
With the second Afghan war not quite over, Malleson is arguing for the British takeover of the city of Herat and its surrounding area. Predominately peopled by citizens of Persian and Turki extraction, it was captured by the Afghans in 1717 and under their rule had deteriorated from its position of importance as a great commercial centre at the crossroads of Central Asia. 'Khorasan is the oyster shell of the world and Herat is its pearl'. Malleson quotes this old proverb and believes that under British proctection Herat would be great again. He relates the city's history and strategic position, drawing on the work of those travellers and spies who have passed through the area.

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