Amita Das, Aditya Das. Defending British India against Napoleon: The Foreign Policy of Governor-General Lord Minto, 1807-13. Rochester: Boydell Press, 2016. 288 pp. $120.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-78327-129-0.
Reviewed by Greg Mole (University of Memphis)
"...the book explores the drastic steps undertaken by Minto to counter the growing French threat in Asia. The result is a panoramic retelling of how Britain frustrated Napoleonic ambitions while simultaneously turning the Indian Ocean into a “British Lake.” The authors focus on three phrases of Minto’s foreign policy: the creation of a series of buffer states along India’s northwestern frontier; the conquest of the Mascarene Islands, which served as a staging ground for French privateers; and the occupation of the Dutch East Indies (France annexed Holland in 1810). In doing so, they connect two stories often told in isolation: Britain’s fight against Napoleon and the evolution of the British East India Company (BEIC) into a government agency....Defending British India against Napoleon is striking in its erudition. The writers meticulously reconstruct Minto’s policies and goals, challenging long-held assumptions about his governorship, which is often depicted as a period of “non-interference and withdrawal” (p. 228). Nonetheless, it is sometimes difficult to see the forest for the trees."