Download or read book Martial Races written by Heather Streets and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs, and Nepalese Gurkhas became identified as the British Empire's fiercest soldiers in nineteenth century discourse. As "martial races" these men were believed to possess a biological or cultural disposition to the racial and masculine qualities necessary for the arts of war. Because of this, they were used as icons to promote recruitment in British and Indian armies--a phenomenon with important social and political effects in India, in Britain, and in the armies of the Empire.