---
title: "The Gurkhas: Nepal's Legendary Warrior Class"
description: "They were among the most feared warriors of the Industrial Age, the elite shock troops of the British military for over a century. Among their weaponry is the rugged mountain physiology common among peoples of the Himalayas, a deep technical knowledge of combat, a legendary kukri blade that, as tradition dictates, must be wet with blood if it is drawn, and a firm conviction that it is better to die in battle than to live a coward. After centuries of service in both World Wars, across Southeast Asia, and in China, Tibet, and anywhere else the British or Indian Armies have ever had cause to visit, their reputation has grown to enshrine them among the fiercest military units in history. In the words of Sam Manekshaw, former Chief of Staff Field Marshal of the Indian Army, \"If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying, or he is a Gurkha.\"\n\n## Key Takeaways\n- The Gurkhas trace their origins to King Prithvi Narayan Shah's late-18th-century expansion in Nepal, recruiting from the Gurung, Magar, Rai, and Limbu peoples — and earned British respect by defeating three of four East India Company armies with as few as five thousand men during the Anglo-Nepalese War.\n- During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, roughly fifteen hundred Gurkhas helped turn the tide against three hundred thousand rebels, holding Delhi through a three-month siege while resisting bribery and fighting hand-to-hand with their kukri knives.\n- About one hundred thousand Gurkhas served in World War I, and at Gallipoli they were the only Allied unit to reach their objective at the Sari Bair ridge; two hundred and fifty thousand served in World War II across forty-three battalions.\n- Individual acts of extraordinary valor in World War II earned multiple Victoria Crosses, including Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeating 31 Japanese soldiers after losing most of his hand to a grenade, and Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly destroying a sniper, four foxholes, and a bunker with his kukri knife.\n- The 1947 Tripartite Agreement split twenty pre-war Gurkha battalions between India (twelve) and Britain (eight); today some ten thousand Nepalese men compete annually for just 200 spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas.\n\n## Origins of the Gurkha Name and the Shah Dynasty's Expansion\n\nThe Gurkhas trace their name to the town of Gurkha, nestled into the Himalayas in what is now known as Nepal. In the late 18th century, a king from that region of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, expanded his influence militarily to conquer many of the lands that make up Nepal today. King Prithvi's Shah Dynasty would establish and expand its military prowess from a number of recruitment pools, including the Gurung, Magar, Rai, and Limbu peoples scattered across Nepal, but outwardly, his legions assumed the same name as the Shah Dynasty's own region of origin: Gurkha. For the first few decades of the Shah Dynasty's rule, Nepal's leaders and armies largely kept to themselves, occupied by internal political conflicts and seemingly content with a few forays into Tibet. But when the British East India Company came calling at Nepal's borders, the Shah Dynasty was compelled to respond by force. The prior several decades had seen the East India Company extend its monopoly over Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Mysore, and the Maratha Confederacy, all across what is now the nation of India and its surrounding lands. To do so, it used a private army that drew troops from British regular forces, and established bases and well-protected shipping routes under its own control. After each conquest, the East India Company had essentially moved in with the pre-existing ruling governments of the area, which were forced to pay to host a Company garrison and cede control of their own foreign policy. By 1814, the Company had expanded its influence over a huge portion of the Indian subcontinent, and shared a border of some seven hundred miles, eleven thousand kilometers, with the Kingdom of Nepal.\n\n## The Anglo-Nepalese War and the Gurkhas' Fierce Resistance\n\nBoth Nepal and the Company had been eyeing opposite sides of that border region, with Nepal interested in expanding its influence into one of the East India Company's protectorate states, and the East India Company looking to make bank in the Himalayas. It was the Nepalese Gurkha forces who struck first, starting a series of raids to the south, and when the East India Company sent additional troops to garrison the area in April of 1814, those troops were wiped out by the same Gurkha raiding parties. The East India Company's leaders had little interest in accommodating this incursion by the Gurkhas, and feared that any half-measures, including a focus on better fortification, would just create a more intractable problem. Instead, they would embark on an offensive military action to deal with the Gurkha issue, perhaps helped along in their decision by the financial benefits that could come of taking over Nepal. But the Gurkhas proved themselves to be fierce adversaries in the following conflict, with as few as five thousand Gurkhas defending their home turf against four separate East India Company armies, with three of those armies being soundly defeated. With the mountain terrain on their side, Gurkha forces were able to make many of the East India Company's supply and logistics infrastructure fall apart, while maintaining easily defensible hilltop forts of their own. It was their mastery of guerrilla and even psychological tactics that set them apart: choosing asymmetrical engagements over open battle, whittling down the enemy instead of launching counteroffensives, living off the land, and otherwise being a menace for conventional units to try and pin down. The Gurkhas were as ruthless as they were efficient — they showed a clear willingness to poison water sources that the East India Company would soon take over, and their khukhri knives, long, curved, machete-like weapons that would later become synonymous with Gurkha units, were just as likely to mutilate the corpses of the East India Company's soldiers as they were to slash narrow paths for Gurkhas to navigate the local undergrowth. This earned them both the fear and the grudging respect of British forces; in the words of one soldier, \"I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear.\"\n\n## Peace of 1816 and Service Under the East India Company\n\nThe East India Company's first advance into Nepal was soundly outclassed by their Gurkha adversaries, and a second attempt, this time with a larger and less foolhardy fighting force, worked in large part because its leaders learned from Gurkha tactics. In the first half of 1815, the East India Company captured enough targets of value that they felt they could open negotiations, but the Gurkhas rejected the idea of subordinance out of hand. Over the following fall and winter, the East India Company would begin using local guides to help avoid the Gurkhas' defenses, including their inner ring of fortifications around the Valley of Nepal. Eventually, they had adapted enough that the Gurkhas' numerical inferiority began to show, as the East India Company's supply lines likewise became far more robust. When the Gurkhas agreed to peace talks in 1816, they were ready to concede to a laundry list of demands: permanent Company representatives in their leadership, territorial concessions, and subordination to British hegemony. But uniquely, the East India Company was also willing to make some concessions: Nepal would not be forced to pay subsidies to the Company, and they had won the Company's respect in a way few fighting forces ever would. Perhaps the East India Company's overtures to hire their warriors were a tacit recognition that it was far better to be the Gurkhas' friends than their enemies; perhaps it was a way to ensure that Nepal would not retain enough of a fighting force to take back its sovereignty in the future. But either way, the peace of 1816 would last for the remainder of the East India Company's existence, and Gurkha units would likewise lend their military services to the Company and the British state. Over the following half-century, the Gurkhas would be major players in a number of conflicts on the Indian subcontinent, including the Pindari War, the Sikh Wars in Punjab, and the Indian Mutiny of 1857. In all of these conflicts, the Gurkhas would side with the East India Company, where their continual support would earn them a reputation for loyalty as well as combat prowess. They were described by British leaders as a \"martial race,\" naturally inclined to be aggressive and courageous in battle. In the Indian Mutiny, the Gurkhas' entry into the conflict had an outsize effect, after the East India Company had initially been overwhelmed by a large popular uprising. Unlike the British forces, the presence of Gurkhas on the battlefield had a notable psychological effect on the civilians participating in the uprising, and the Gurkhas made good on that public perception. Accounts of Gurkha soldiers electing to drop their firearms and enter hand-to-hand combat with the rebels, often armed only with their khukhri knives, became commonplace. So did accounts of the rebels' behavior once they realized those same Gurkhas were present, and decided it was probably wiser to fall back or scatter than to fight. In one instance, Gurkha forces held the city of Delhi through a three-month siege, accompanied by heavy rebel bombardment. During the entire affair, Gurkhas became known not just for their affinity for combat, but their willingness to resist bribery and overtures based on the religion they shared with rebel forces. This was despite their being outnumbered, often outgunned, and taking heavy casualties, with even wounded Gurkha soldiers often choosing to continue to fight rather than seeking medical care.\n\n## Gurkhas in the First World War: From the Trenches to Gallipoli\n\nUltimately, it wasn't the Gurkhas but the British who put the finishing touches on their suppression of the mutiny, but the conflict was yet another opportunity for Gurkha forces to prove their ability to change the course of a war, despite making up a numerically negligible part of it. In the case of the Indian Mutiny, some fifteen hundred Gurkhas stood compared to fifty thousand British troops and three hundred thousand rebels. After the East India Company's rule of the subcontinent was transferred to the British Empire under Queen Victoria in 1858, the Gurkhas moved into service alongside the British Army. In Burma, Afghanistan, India, Malta, Cyprus, Malaya, China, and Tibet, Gurkha soldiers would distinguish themselves time and time again, serving with bravery and distinction in every conflict they encountered. During this time, their ranks were reorganized to fit the needs of the British Crown, where leaders grew concerned over allowing the Hindu caste system to merge into their western military structure. The British Empire preferred Gurkha recruits from the Gurung and Magar tribes of Nepal, which they believed would offer insurance against adopting a caste-based system, and the ethnic and religious makeup of the Gurkha regiments changed accordingly. About a hundred thousand Gurkha troops fought in battalions alongside the British Army in the First World War. Their deployments in Europe presented Gurkha troops with not just cold, rainy, and otherwise miserable trench conditions, which in themselves were deeply unfamiliar from what they had been used to in South Asia, but also language, cultural, and technological barriers. But their presence in the trenches proved to be invaluable, and they became a stabilizing factor to the British on the front lines. Once the Western front reached a point of equilibrium and British conscripts could fill in in the trenches, the Gurkhas were dispatched to battlefields where their shock-trooper style of combat could be most useful. In the Gallipoli campaign, Gurkha soldiers were the only Allied unit to fulfill their objective, reaching high ground at the Sari Bair ridge before eventually having to give it up because the other forces involved in their assault couldn't do the same. On the war's Eastern front, Gurkhas served in Egypt, Turkey, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, finishing the war before pivoting into a role as peacekeepers for several years. Of the troops who fought in the war, some six thousand were killed, with another twenty thousand wounded or missing. Three among their number received the Victoria Cross, some of the first ever awarded to anyone other than British regular soldiers or officers. In the following years, Gurkha troops would return to India, where they would work mostly as frontier peacekeepers in the highlands as a check on local warlords. They would also participate in the Third Afghan War and a number of small-scale offensives on India's North-West Frontier, which was characterized by persistent and widespread unrest during those years.\n\n## World War II: Forty-Three Battalions and Acts of Extraordinary Valor\n\nJust as the Gurkhas surged into action on Britain's behalf during the First World War, so too did they serve in the Second, eventually raising a total of forty-three battalions for service and sending many other men to fill specialized roles in non-Gurkha British units, like paratroopers and military police. Two hundred and fifty thousand Gurkhas served on Britain's behalf during the war, joined by their countrymen in the Nepalese Army. Although the bulk of their work would take place in North Africa, Italy, and Far East regions like Burma, Gurkhas would have at least some level of a presence in nearly every theatre of war. Often, they would take particularly heavy casualties, spearheading attacks or doing their best to hold out under siege. Although World War II was certainly not the only time that individual Gurkha soldiers went above and beyond the call of duty, it was a time when those acts of bravery were celebrated freely by their British comrades, often in the form of a Victoria Cross as a fitting honor. The soldier Agansing Rai earned a Victoria Cross for leading his Gurkha platoon up an open ridge, directly into the face of machine and anti-tank gunfire, taking the ridge despite heavy losses. Rifleman Ganju Lama earned his Cross by destroying three tanks as a lone soldier, crawling prone on a battlefield in Burma while both arms and one leg had already been injured. Sergeant Gaje Ghale led his platoon to take an enemy position, also in Burma, engaging in direct hand-to-hand fighting despite having sustained injuries across much of his body. Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeated 31 Japanese soldiers immediately after having lost most of his hand and sustaining severe face and body injuries in a grenade blast. And Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly defeated a sniper, four foxholes' worth of soldiers, and a bunker with no support, using his khukhri knife to take the bunker in close combat. For every story known, there are likely to be many that will never be heard. But it is crystal-clear that over the course of the war, Gurkhas proved yet again that they stood among the elite of their battlefields.\n\n## Post-War Division and Continued Service from Borneo to Afghanistan\n\nWhen World War II came to a close, the Gurkhas were swept up in the same sea changes of geography and sovereignty as the rest of the world. Nepal had already gained its independence from the British state, but when India and Pakistan gained their own sovereignty, it left the open question of what exactly was to be done with the remaining Gurkha battalions. Of the twenty pre-war battalions, India assumed command of twelve while Britain retained command of eight, as established by the Tripartite Agreement, of which Nepal was also a party. On the occasions that Gurkha soldiers had the option to choose where to serve, most chose to remain in South Asia under Indian command, and as such, India's Gurkha contingent has grown larger in the post-war years while Britain's has grown far smaller. Those who do remain under British leadership have formed the modern-day Gurkha Brigade. In the years since World War II, Gurkha forces have seen continued service alongside British troops in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, the Falklands, and Kosovo, and played a role in UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those conflicts have also been marked by stories of heroism on the part of individual Gurkhas. During a 1965 conflict in Borneo, Captain Rambahadur Limbu earned the Victoria Cross by crossing a hundred-meter field of heavy fire three times: first to alert his comrades of an ambush, again to rescue a wounded member of his unit, and a third time to retrieve the body of a soldier who had been killed in the initial ambush. In Afghanistan, a 2008 ambush of a Gurkha squadron saw three soldiers carry a wounded counterpart over a hundred meters of terrain under heavy fire, one of them returning fire by essentially two-fisting his own rifle and the rifle of the wounded soldier. Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun earned the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for fighting off thirty Taliban soldiers, all armed with rifles and rocket launchers, using the ammunition and grenades on his person. He did this alone, and when he ran out of ammunition, he defeated one of the Taliban fighters by chucking a machine-gun tripod at his head. In addition to their work alongside British forces, the Gurkhas have served alongside Indian troops, including in many engagements against Pakistan, their 1962 conflict with China, and in peacekeeping and relief operations worldwide. Gurkha units on loan to Sri Lanka sustained heavy casualties while helping to suppress the Tamil Tigers, a militant separatist movement. The Gurkhas have also fought alongside Tibetan refugees in the secretive, high-altitude Indian Special Frontier Force, which is responsible for preparing covert actions that would be carried out if another war broke out between India and China. In Brunei, a force of some 500 Gurkha troops form an elite royal guard and shock-trooper unit, spending considerable time and manpower keeping the Sultan of Brunei's palace safe. And in Singapore, some two thousand Gurkha troops work at any given time as riot police and military reservists.\n\n## Treatment, Pensions, and the Future of Gurkha Service\n\nDespite the Gurkhas' continued record of top-tier military service abroad, the twenty-first century has seen the Gurkhas' quality of treatment by their host governments become a much more open question. In Singapore, Gurkha troops receive far less pay than Singaporeans doing similar work, and their wives are forced to either avoid working in Singapore or stay behind in Nepal. Upon retirement, they receive minimal medical resources or benefits, with no support if they choose not to remain in Singapore, where the cost of living is often untenably high. Pension and benefits, including in cases of medical discharge or accidental injury, are unheard-of. In the United Kingdom, the situation is better, but not excellent. At present, Britain's Gurkha force stands at some 3,500 troops. In 2009, those soldiers were guaranteed the right to live in the United Kingdom after retirement, with the expectation that they can serve up to thirty years, and receive a pension after fifteen. However, Gurkha troops who ended their service prior to the first of July, 1997, are ineligible for these pensions, and are instead taken care of with whatever donations the members of the Gurkha community can supply by themselves. This is not enough, and while a favorable outcome is hoped for, there is no good news on that front right now. The Gurkha program still represents a crucial path out of poverty for young Nepalese men and their families, who have a reasonable chance at selection for service alongside the Indian Army. Although recent contract changes have led to concern by Nepal over whether India's Gurkhas will still be cared for after retirement, India remains the world's largest home for Gurkha troops by a wide margin. The coveted spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, however, are a bit harder to come by. Every year, some ten thousand 18-and-19-year-old Nepalese men try their very best to earn one of just 200 available spots. To earn one, they must pass language and maths exams, perform 75 bench jumps and 70 sit-ups in two minutes, and run the doko, an uphill, 4.2-kilometer race in which each young man carries 25 kilograms of sand on their backs. Those who fail can still try their hand with India, Brunei, or Singapore, but failing that, they are forced to remain in Nepal under economically difficult conditions. In the future, the role of the Gurkha soldier on the world's battlefields is likely to look just as different as any other soldier, with autonomous weapons systems and advanced military tech beginning to supplant soldiers from all nations. The Gurkhas are in an especially precarious position, as their status, essentially as mercenaries, is likely to put them on deck for budget cuts long before a country's indigenously recruited infantry. But for as long as Gurkha contracts do exist, in Britain, India, and anywhere else around the world that might ask for their services, it seems fair to reason that Gurkhas will continue to answer the call. When they do so, it will be with the same tenacity, the same courage, and the same lethal expertise that has marked them among the elite, in any conflict where they may take part.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### How did the Gurkhas first come to serve the British East India Company?\n\nThe Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816) began when Gurkha raiding parties wiped out East India Company garrisons near Nepal's border. As few as five thousand Gurkhas defended against four separate Company armies, soundly defeating three of them using guerrilla tactics, mountain fortifications, and psychological methods such as mutilating enemy corpses. The Company's second, better-adapted attempt eventually forced a peace in 1816, and rather than treating Nepal as a conquered territory, the Company offered to hire Gurkha warriors — recognizing it was far better to have them as allies than enemies.\n\n### What made the Gurkhas so effective in asymmetrical combat during the Anglo-Nepalese War?\n\nThe Gurkhas chose asymmetrical engagements over open battle, whittled down the enemy through attrition, lived off the land, and used their mastery of the mountain terrain to neutralize the Company's logistical advantages. They also made deliberate use of psychological tactics — including poisoning water sources and mutilating enemy soldiers — and their long, curved kukri blades became synonymous with their ferocity. One British soldier wrote: \"I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear.\"\n\n### What were some of the most notable individual acts of valor by Gurkha soldiers in World War II?\n\nRifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeated 31 Japanese soldiers immediately after losing most of his hand and sustaining severe face and body injuries in a grenade blast. Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly destroyed a sniper, four foxholes' worth of soldiers, and a bunker using only his kukri knife. Agansing Rai led his platoon directly into machine and anti-tank gunfire up an open ridge and took it despite heavy losses. Ganju Lama destroyed three tanks as a lone soldier while crawling prone with injuries to both arms and a leg.\n\n### How were the Gurkha battalions divided after World War II?\n\nThe 1947 Tripartite Agreement, with Nepal as a party, split the twenty pre-war Gurkha battalions between India (twelve) and Britain (eight). When soldiers were given the option to choose where to serve, most chose to remain in South Asia under Indian command, and India's Gurkha contingent has grown larger in the post-war years while Britain's has shrunk considerably. Those remaining under British command form the modern-day Brigade of Gurkhas.\n\n### What is the current selection process and pension situation for Gurkhas serving Britain?\n\nEvery year, roughly ten thousand 18-and-19-year-old Nepalese men compete for just 200 spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, requiring language and maths exams, 75 bench jumps and 70 sit-ups in two minutes, and a grueling 4.2-kilometer uphill race carrying 25 kilograms of sand. Those who serve under British command since July 1997 are guaranteed the right to live in the UK after retirement and receive a pension after fifteen years; however, Gurkhas who ended service before that date receive no pension and must rely on community donations — an arrangement that has been widely criticized as inadequate given their service record.\n\n## Related Coverage\n- [The Origins of Naval Special Warfare: Unconventional Warfare from World War II to the Present](https://warfronts.pub/military-history/origins-of-naval-special-warfare)\n- [The Birth of a Legendary Force: Navy SEALs Origins and Evolution](https://warfronts.pub/special-operations/navy-seals-origins-and-evolution-rylog3qe)\n- [Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires](https://warfronts.pub/analysis/afghanistan-the-graveyard-of-empires)\n- [The Art of War: Guerrilla Warfare](https://warfronts.pub/analysis/the-art-of-war-guerrilla-warfare)\n- [Forged in War: The Evolution of US Naval Special Warfare](https://warfronts.pub/special-operations/us-naval-special-warfare-evolution)\n\n## Sources\n1. <https://www.worldhistory.org/Anglo-Nepalese_War/>\n2. <https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2015/04/09/gurkhas-in-the-indian-mutiny/>\n3. <https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-the-first-world-war/>\n4. <https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-ww2/>\n5. <https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g2173/10-amazing-gurkha-stories/>\n6. <https://www.gwt.org.uk/about-the-gurkhas/gurkhas/>\n7. <https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-25-mn-200-story.html>\n8. <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54464189>\n9. <https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2021/12/28/plight-of-the-singapore-gurkhas>\n10. <https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04375/>\n11. <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/bravest-of-the-brave-who-are-the-fierce-gurkhas/9839746>\n12. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gurkha-people>\n13. <https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-savage-soldier-2016-6>\n14. <https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/18/archives/ayo-gorkhali-the-gurkhas-are-upon-you-is-the-battle-cry-of-one-of.html>\n15. <https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nepal-seeks-pause-recruitment-gurkhas-into-indian-army-under-agnipath-plan-2022-08-29/>\n16. <https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Gurkha-Rifles/>\n\n[1]: https://www.worldhistory.org/Anglo-Nepalese_War/\n[2]: https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2015/04/09/gurkhas-in-the-indian-mutiny/\n[3]: https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-the-first-world-war/\n[4]: https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-ww2/\n[5]: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g2173/10-amazing-gurkha-stories/\n[6]: https://www.gwt.org.uk/about-the-gurkhas/gurkhas/\n[7]: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-25-mn-200-story.html\n[8]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54464189\n[9]: https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2021/12/28/plight-of-the-singapore-gurkhas\n[10]: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04375/\n[11]: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/bravest-of-the-brave-who-are-the-fierce-gurkhas/9839746\n[12]: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gurkha-people\n[13]: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-savage-soldier-2016-6\n[14]: https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/18/archives/ayo-gorkhali-the-gurkhas-are-upon-you-is-the-battle-cry-of-one-of.html\n[15]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nepal-seeks-pause-recruitment-gurkhas-into-indian-army-under-agnipath-plan-2022-08-29/\n[16]: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Gurkha-Rifles/\n\n<!-- youtube:XjiJEGdxnks -->"
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They were among the most feared warriors of the Industrial Age, the elite shock troops of the British military for over a century. Among their weaponry is the rugged mountain physiology common among peoples of the Himalayas, a deep technical knowledge of combat, a legendary kukri blade that, as tradition dictates, must be wet with blood if it is drawn, and a firm conviction that it is better to die in battle than to live a coward. After centuries of service in both World Wars, across Southeast Asia, and in China, Tibet, and anywhere else the British or Indian Armies have ever had cause to visit, their reputation has grown to enshrine them among the fiercest military units in history. In the words of Sam Manekshaw, former Chief of Staff Field Marshal of the Indian Army, "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying, or he is a Gurkha."

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## Key Takeaways
- The Gurkhas trace their origins to King Prithvi Narayan Shah's late-18th-century expansion in Nepal, recruiting from the Gurung, Magar, Rai, and Limbu peoples — and earned British respect by defeating three of four East India Company armies with as few as five thousand men during the Anglo-Nepalese War.
- During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, roughly fifteen hundred Gurkhas helped turn the tide against three hundred thousand rebels, holding Delhi through a three-month siege while resisting bribery and fighting hand-to-hand with their kukri knives.
- About one hundred thousand Gurkhas served in World War I, and at Gallipoli they were the only Allied unit to reach their objective at the Sari Bair ridge; two hundred and fifty thousand served in World War II across forty-three battalions.
- Individual acts of extraordinary valor in World War II earned multiple Victoria Crosses, including Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeating 31 Japanese soldiers after losing most of his hand to a grenade, and Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly destroying a sniper, four foxholes, and a bunker with his kukri knife.
- The 1947 Tripartite Agreement split twenty pre-war Gurkha battalions between India (twelve) and Britain (eight); today some ten thousand Nepalese men compete annually for just 200 spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas.

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## Origins of the Gurkha Name and the Shah Dynasty's Expansion

The Gurkhas trace their name to the town of Gurkha, nestled into the Himalayas in what is now known as Nepal. In the late 18th century, a king from that region of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, expanded his influence militarily to conquer many of the lands that make up Nepal today. King Prithvi's Shah Dynasty would establish and expand its military prowess from a number of recruitment pools, including the Gurung, Magar, Rai, and Limbu peoples scattered across Nepal, but outwardly, his legions assumed the same name as the Shah Dynasty's own region of origin: Gurkha. For the first few decades of the Shah Dynasty's rule, Nepal's leaders and armies largely kept to themselves, occupied by internal political conflicts and seemingly content with a few forays into Tibet. But when the British East India Company came calling at Nepal's borders, the Shah Dynasty was compelled to respond by force. The prior several decades had seen the East India Company extend its monopoly over Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Mysore, and the Maratha Confederacy, all across what is now the nation of India and its surrounding lands. To do so, it used a private army that drew troops from British regular forces, and established bases and well-protected shipping routes under its own control. After each conquest, the East India Company had essentially moved in with the pre-existing ruling governments of the area, which were forced to pay to host a Company garrison and cede control of their own foreign policy. By 1814, the Company had expanded its influence over a huge portion of the Indian subcontinent, and shared a border of some seven hundred miles, eleven thousand kilometers, with the Kingdom of Nepal.

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<!-- aeo:section start="the-anglo-nepalese-war-and-the-gurkhas-fierce-resistance" -->
## The Anglo-Nepalese War and the Gurkhas' Fierce Resistance

Both Nepal and the Company had been eyeing opposite sides of that border region, with Nepal interested in expanding its influence into one of the East India Company's protectorate states, and the East India Company looking to make bank in the Himalayas. It was the Nepalese Gurkha forces who struck first, starting a series of raids to the south, and when the East India Company sent additional troops to garrison the area in April of 1814, those troops were wiped out by the same Gurkha raiding parties. The East India Company's leaders had little interest in accommodating this incursion by the Gurkhas, and feared that any half-measures, including a focus on better fortification, would just create a more intractable problem. Instead, they would embark on an offensive military action to deal with the Gurkha issue, perhaps helped along in their decision by the financial benefits that could come of taking over Nepal. But the Gurkhas proved themselves to be fierce adversaries in the following conflict, with as few as five thousand Gurkhas defending their home turf against four separate East India Company armies, with three of those armies being soundly defeated. With the mountain terrain on their side, Gurkha forces were able to make many of the East India Company's supply and logistics infrastructure fall apart, while maintaining easily defensible hilltop forts of their own. It was their mastery of guerrilla and even psychological tactics that set them apart: choosing asymmetrical engagements over open battle, whittling down the enemy instead of launching counteroffensives, living off the land, and otherwise being a menace for conventional units to try and pin down. The Gurkhas were as ruthless as they were efficient — they showed a clear willingness to poison water sources that the East India Company would soon take over, and their khukhri knives, long, curved, machete-like weapons that would later become synonymous with Gurkha units, were just as likely to mutilate the corpses of the East India Company's soldiers as they were to slash narrow paths for Gurkhas to navigate the local undergrowth. This earned them both the fear and the grudging respect of British forces; in the words of one soldier, "I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear."

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<!-- aeo:section start="peace-of-1816-and-service-under-the-east-india-company" -->
## Peace of 1816 and Service Under the East India Company

The East India Company's first advance into Nepal was soundly outclassed by their Gurkha adversaries, and a second attempt, this time with a larger and less foolhardy fighting force, worked in large part because its leaders learned from Gurkha tactics. In the first half of 1815, the East India Company captured enough targets of value that they felt they could open negotiations, but the Gurkhas rejected the idea of subordinance out of hand. Over the following fall and winter, the East India Company would begin using local guides to help avoid the Gurkhas' defenses, including their inner ring of fortifications around the Valley of Nepal. Eventually, they had adapted enough that the Gurkhas' numerical inferiority began to show, as the East India Company's supply lines likewise became far more robust. When the Gurkhas agreed to peace talks in 1816, they were ready to concede to a laundry list of demands: permanent Company representatives in their leadership, territorial concessions, and subordination to British hegemony. But uniquely, the East India Company was also willing to make some concessions: Nepal would not be forced to pay subsidies to the Company, and they had won the Company's respect in a way few fighting forces ever would. Perhaps the East India Company's overtures to hire their warriors were a tacit recognition that it was far better to be the Gurkhas' friends than their enemies; perhaps it was a way to ensure that Nepal would not retain enough of a fighting force to take back its sovereignty in the future. But either way, the peace of 1816 would last for the remainder of the East India Company's existence, and Gurkha units would likewise lend their military services to the Company and the British state. Over the following half-century, the Gurkhas would be major players in a number of conflicts on the Indian subcontinent, including the Pindari War, the Sikh Wars in Punjab, and the Indian Mutiny of 1857. In all of these conflicts, the Gurkhas would side with the East India Company, where their continual support would earn them a reputation for loyalty as well as combat prowess. They were described by British leaders as a "martial race," naturally inclined to be aggressive and courageous in battle. In the Indian Mutiny, the Gurkhas' entry into the conflict had an outsize effect, after the East India Company had initially been overwhelmed by a large popular uprising. Unlike the British forces, the presence of Gurkhas on the battlefield had a notable psychological effect on the civilians participating in the uprising, and the Gurkhas made good on that public perception. Accounts of Gurkha soldiers electing to drop their firearms and enter hand-to-hand combat with the rebels, often armed only with their khukhri knives, became commonplace. So did accounts of the rebels' behavior once they realized those same Gurkhas were present, and decided it was probably wiser to fall back or scatter than to fight. In one instance, Gurkha forces held the city of Delhi through a three-month siege, accompanied by heavy rebel bombardment. During the entire affair, Gurkhas became known not just for their affinity for combat, but their willingness to resist bribery and overtures based on the religion they shared with rebel forces. This was despite their being outnumbered, often outgunned, and taking heavy casualties, with even wounded Gurkha soldiers often choosing to continue to fight rather than seeking medical care.

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<!-- aeo:section start="gurkhas-in-the-first-world-war-from-the-trenches-to-gallipoli" -->
## Gurkhas in the First World War: From the Trenches to Gallipoli

Ultimately, it wasn't the Gurkhas but the British who put the finishing touches on their suppression of the mutiny, but the conflict was yet another opportunity for Gurkha forces to prove their ability to change the course of a war, despite making up a numerically negligible part of it. In the case of the Indian Mutiny, some fifteen hundred Gurkhas stood compared to fifty thousand British troops and three hundred thousand rebels. After the East India Company's rule of the subcontinent was transferred to the British Empire under Queen Victoria in 1858, the Gurkhas moved into service alongside the British Army. In Burma, Afghanistan, India, Malta, Cyprus, Malaya, China, and Tibet, Gurkha soldiers would distinguish themselves time and time again, serving with bravery and distinction in every conflict they encountered. During this time, their ranks were reorganized to fit the needs of the British Crown, where leaders grew concerned over allowing the Hindu caste system to merge into their western military structure. The British Empire preferred Gurkha recruits from the Gurung and Magar tribes of Nepal, which they believed would offer insurance against adopting a caste-based system, and the ethnic and religious makeup of the Gurkha regiments changed accordingly. About a hundred thousand Gurkha troops fought in battalions alongside the British Army in the First World War. Their deployments in Europe presented Gurkha troops with not just cold, rainy, and otherwise miserable trench conditions, which in themselves were deeply unfamiliar from what they had been used to in South Asia, but also language, cultural, and technological barriers. But their presence in the trenches proved to be invaluable, and they became a stabilizing factor to the British on the front lines. Once the Western front reached a point of equilibrium and British conscripts could fill in in the trenches, the Gurkhas were dispatched to battlefields where their shock-trooper style of combat could be most useful. In the Gallipoli campaign, Gurkha soldiers were the only Allied unit to fulfill their objective, reaching high ground at the Sari Bair ridge before eventually having to give it up because the other forces involved in their assault couldn't do the same. On the war's Eastern front, Gurkhas served in Egypt, Turkey, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, finishing the war before pivoting into a role as peacekeepers for several years. Of the troops who fought in the war, some six thousand were killed, with another twenty thousand wounded or missing. Three among their number received the Victoria Cross, some of the first ever awarded to anyone other than British regular soldiers or officers. In the following years, Gurkha troops would return to India, where they would work mostly as frontier peacekeepers in the highlands as a check on local warlords. They would also participate in the Third Afghan War and a number of small-scale offensives on India's North-West Frontier, which was characterized by persistent and widespread unrest during those years.

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<!-- aeo:section start="world-war-ii-forty-three-battalions-and-acts-of-extraordinary-va" -->
## World War II: Forty-Three Battalions and Acts of Extraordinary Valor

Just as the Gurkhas surged into action on Britain's behalf during the First World War, so too did they serve in the Second, eventually raising a total of forty-three battalions for service and sending many other men to fill specialized roles in non-Gurkha British units, like paratroopers and military police. Two hundred and fifty thousand Gurkhas served on Britain's behalf during the war, joined by their countrymen in the Nepalese Army. Although the bulk of their work would take place in North Africa, Italy, and Far East regions like Burma, Gurkhas would have at least some level of a presence in nearly every theatre of war. Often, they would take particularly heavy casualties, spearheading attacks or doing their best to hold out under siege. Although World War II was certainly not the only time that individual Gurkha soldiers went above and beyond the call of duty, it was a time when those acts of bravery were celebrated freely by their British comrades, often in the form of a Victoria Cross as a fitting honor. The soldier Agansing Rai earned a Victoria Cross for leading his Gurkha platoon up an open ridge, directly into the face of machine and anti-tank gunfire, taking the ridge despite heavy losses. Rifleman Ganju Lama earned his Cross by destroying three tanks as a lone soldier, crawling prone on a battlefield in Burma while both arms and one leg had already been injured. Sergeant Gaje Ghale led his platoon to take an enemy position, also in Burma, engaging in direct hand-to-hand fighting despite having sustained injuries across much of his body. Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeated 31 Japanese soldiers immediately after having lost most of his hand and sustaining severe face and body injuries in a grenade blast. And Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly defeated a sniper, four foxholes' worth of soldiers, and a bunker with no support, using his khukhri knife to take the bunker in close combat. For every story known, there are likely to be many that will never be heard. But it is crystal-clear that over the course of the war, Gurkhas proved yet again that they stood among the elite of their battlefields.

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<!-- aeo:section start="post-war-division-and-continued-service-from-borneo-to-afghanist" -->
## Post-War Division and Continued Service from Borneo to Afghanistan

When World War II came to a close, the Gurkhas were swept up in the same sea changes of geography and sovereignty as the rest of the world. Nepal had already gained its independence from the British state, but when India and Pakistan gained their own sovereignty, it left the open question of what exactly was to be done with the remaining Gurkha battalions. Of the twenty pre-war battalions, India assumed command of twelve while Britain retained command of eight, as established by the Tripartite Agreement, of which Nepal was also a party. On the occasions that Gurkha soldiers had the option to choose where to serve, most chose to remain in South Asia under Indian command, and as such, India's Gurkha contingent has grown larger in the post-war years while Britain's has grown far smaller. Those who do remain under British leadership have formed the modern-day Gurkha Brigade. In the years since World War II, Gurkha forces have seen continued service alongside British troops in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, the Falklands, and Kosovo, and played a role in UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those conflicts have also been marked by stories of heroism on the part of individual Gurkhas. During a 1965 conflict in Borneo, Captain Rambahadur Limbu earned the Victoria Cross by crossing a hundred-meter field of heavy fire three times: first to alert his comrades of an ambush, again to rescue a wounded member of his unit, and a third time to retrieve the body of a soldier who had been killed in the initial ambush. In Afghanistan, a 2008 ambush of a Gurkha squadron saw three soldiers carry a wounded counterpart over a hundred meters of terrain under heavy fire, one of them returning fire by essentially two-fisting his own rifle and the rifle of the wounded soldier. Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun earned the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for fighting off thirty Taliban soldiers, all armed with rifles and rocket launchers, using the ammunition and grenades on his person. He did this alone, and when he ran out of ammunition, he defeated one of the Taliban fighters by chucking a machine-gun tripod at his head. In addition to their work alongside British forces, the Gurkhas have served alongside Indian troops, including in many engagements against Pakistan, their 1962 conflict with China, and in peacekeeping and relief operations worldwide. Gurkha units on loan to Sri Lanka sustained heavy casualties while helping to suppress the Tamil Tigers, a militant separatist movement. The Gurkhas have also fought alongside Tibetan refugees in the secretive, high-altitude Indian Special Frontier Force, which is responsible for preparing covert actions that would be carried out if another war broke out between India and China. In Brunei, a force of some 500 Gurkha troops form an elite royal guard and shock-trooper unit, spending considerable time and manpower keeping the Sultan of Brunei's palace safe. And in Singapore, some two thousand Gurkha troops work at any given time as riot police and military reservists.

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<!-- aeo:section start="treatment-pensions-and-the-future-of-gurkha-service" -->
## Treatment, Pensions, and the Future of Gurkha Service

Despite the Gurkhas' continued record of top-tier military service abroad, the twenty-first century has seen the Gurkhas' quality of treatment by their host governments become a much more open question. In Singapore, Gurkha troops receive far less pay than Singaporeans doing similar work, and their wives are forced to either avoid working in Singapore or stay behind in Nepal. Upon retirement, they receive minimal medical resources or benefits, with no support if they choose not to remain in Singapore, where the cost of living is often untenably high. Pension and benefits, including in cases of medical discharge or accidental injury, are unheard-of. In the United Kingdom, the situation is better, but not excellent. At present, Britain's Gurkha force stands at some 3,500 troops. In 2009, those soldiers were guaranteed the right to live in the United Kingdom after retirement, with the expectation that they can serve up to thirty years, and receive a pension after fifteen. However, Gurkha troops who ended their service prior to the first of July, 1997, are ineligible for these pensions, and are instead taken care of with whatever donations the members of the Gurkha community can supply by themselves. This is not enough, and while a favorable outcome is hoped for, there is no good news on that front right now. The Gurkha program still represents a crucial path out of poverty for young Nepalese men and their families, who have a reasonable chance at selection for service alongside the Indian Army. Although recent contract changes have led to concern by Nepal over whether India's Gurkhas will still be cared for after retirement, India remains the world's largest home for Gurkha troops by a wide margin. The coveted spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, however, are a bit harder to come by. Every year, some ten thousand 18-and-19-year-old Nepalese men try their very best to earn one of just 200 available spots. To earn one, they must pass language and maths exams, perform 75 bench jumps and 70 sit-ups in two minutes, and run the doko, an uphill, 4.2-kilometer race in which each young man carries 25 kilograms of sand on their backs. Those who fail can still try their hand with India, Brunei, or Singapore, but failing that, they are forced to remain in Nepal under economically difficult conditions. In the future, the role of the Gurkha soldier on the world's battlefields is likely to look just as different as any other soldier, with autonomous weapons systems and advanced military tech beginning to supplant soldiers from all nations. The Gurkhas are in an especially precarious position, as their status, essentially as mercenaries, is likely to put them on deck for budget cuts long before a country's indigenously recruited infantry. But for as long as Gurkha contracts do exist, in Britain, India, and anywhere else around the world that might ask for their services, it seems fair to reason that Gurkhas will continue to answer the call. When they do so, it will be with the same tenacity, the same courage, and the same lethal expertise that has marked them among the elite, in any conflict where they may take part.

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<!-- aeo:section start="frequently-asked-questions" -->
## Frequently Asked Questions

### How did the Gurkhas first come to serve the British East India Company?

The Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816) began when Gurkha raiding parties wiped out East India Company garrisons near Nepal's border. As few as five thousand Gurkhas defended against four separate Company armies, soundly defeating three of them using guerrilla tactics, mountain fortifications, and psychological methods such as mutilating enemy corpses. The Company's second, better-adapted attempt eventually forced a peace in 1816, and rather than treating Nepal as a conquered territory, the Company offered to hire Gurkha warriors — recognizing it was far better to have them as allies than enemies.

### What made the Gurkhas so effective in asymmetrical combat during the Anglo-Nepalese War?

The Gurkhas chose asymmetrical engagements over open battle, whittled down the enemy through attrition, lived off the land, and used their mastery of the mountain terrain to neutralize the Company's logistical advantages. They also made deliberate use of psychological tactics — including poisoning water sources and mutilating enemy soldiers — and their long, curved kukri blades became synonymous with their ferocity. One British soldier wrote: "I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life. Run they would not, and of death they seemed to have no fear."

### What were some of the most notable individual acts of valor by Gurkha soldiers in World War II?

Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung defeated 31 Japanese soldiers immediately after losing most of his hand and sustaining severe face and body injuries in a grenade blast. Bhanubhakta Gurung single-handedly destroyed a sniper, four foxholes' worth of soldiers, and a bunker using only his kukri knife. Agansing Rai led his platoon directly into machine and anti-tank gunfire up an open ridge and took it despite heavy losses. Ganju Lama destroyed three tanks as a lone soldier while crawling prone with injuries to both arms and a leg.

### How were the Gurkha battalions divided after World War II?

The 1947 Tripartite Agreement, with Nepal as a party, split the twenty pre-war Gurkha battalions between India (twelve) and Britain (eight). When soldiers were given the option to choose where to serve, most chose to remain in South Asia under Indian command, and India's Gurkha contingent has grown larger in the post-war years while Britain's has shrunk considerably. Those remaining under British command form the modern-day Brigade of Gurkhas.

### What is the current selection process and pension situation for Gurkhas serving Britain?

Every year, roughly ten thousand 18-and-19-year-old Nepalese men compete for just 200 spots in the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, requiring language and maths exams, 75 bench jumps and 70 sit-ups in two minutes, and a grueling 4.2-kilometer uphill race carrying 25 kilograms of sand. Those who serve under British command since July 1997 are guaranteed the right to live in the UK after retirement and receive a pension after fifteen years; however, Gurkhas who ended service before that date receive no pension and must rely on community donations — an arrangement that has been widely criticized as inadequate given their service record.

<!-- aeo:section end="frequently-asked-questions" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="related-coverage" -->
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<!-- aeo:section end="related-coverage" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="sources" -->
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[1]: https://www.worldhistory.org/Anglo-Nepalese_War/
[2]: https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2015/04/09/gurkhas-in-the-indian-mutiny/
[3]: https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-the-first-world-war/
[4]: https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/gurkhas-and-ww2/
[5]: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g2173/10-amazing-gurkha-stories/
[6]: https://www.gwt.org.uk/about-the-gurkhas/gurkhas/
[7]: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-25-mn-200-story.html
[8]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54464189
[9]: https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2021/12/28/plight-of-the-singapore-gurkhas
[10]: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04375/
[11]: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/bravest-of-the-brave-who-are-the-fierce-gurkhas/9839746
[12]: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gurkha-people
[13]: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-savage-soldier-2016-6
[14]: https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/18/archives/ayo-gorkhali-the-gurkhas-are-upon-you-is-the-battle-cry-of-one-of.html
[15]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nepal-seeks-pause-recruitment-gurkhas-into-indian-army-under-agnipath-plan-2022-08-29/
[16]: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Gurkha-Rifles/

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<!-- aeo:section end="sources" -->