Sharpe's Fortress is the third historical novel of the Richard Sharpe series, by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1998. It is the last of the Sharpe India trilogy. It tells the story of Ensign Sharpe, during the battle of Argaum and the following siege of the fortress of Gawilghur in 1803.
In 1803, Arthur Wellesley's British and sepoy army is in pursuit of the Mahrattas in western India, having beaten them in the Battle of Assaye. Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made an officer, is beginning to wish he had remained a sergeant, as most of his fellow officers look down upon him, including Captain Urquhart, his commanding officer. Urquhart suggests he sell his commission if he is not happy.
Manu Bappoo, the younger brother of the Rajah of Berar, decides to turn around and fight the British again, with his best unit, composed of Arab mercenaries, leading the charge, but he is again routed. During the fighting, Sharpe is impressed by the bravery of a teenage Arab boy, Ahmed, and saves his life when the boy is surrounded. Ahmed becomes his servant.
After the battle, Urquhart recommends Sharpe transfer to the 95th Rifles, an experimental unit, though nothing can be done while the war rages on. For the moment, he assigns Sharpe to assist Captain Torrance, in command of the baggage train. The army is short of many desperately needed supplies, and Sharpe soon discovers why. Lazy and deeply in debt, Torrance has been selling them to the merchant Naig, with the assistance of Sharpe's old nemesis, Sergeant Hakeswill. When Sharpe finds many of the stolen supplies in Naig's tent, Torrance has his associate hanged immediately to avoid being implicated. Jama, Naig's brother, is not pleased, so Torrance agrees to betray Sharpe into his hands. Hakeswill is only too glad to waylay Sharpe; besides their mutual hatred, he rightly suspects that Sharpe has a fortune in jewels looted from a dead enemy ruler.
Hakeswill ambushes Sharpe and takes him prisoner. He steals all of the jewels Sharpe has hidden on his person, then hands him over to Jama. Fortunately, Ahmed witnesses Sharpe's kidnapping and gets away. By chance, he runs into Sharpe's friend, Syud Sevagee, a Mahratta leader whose goals run parallel to those of the British for now. Sevagee frees Sharpe. Sharpe decides to let his enemies believe he is dead. Using this ruse, he catches Captain Torrance alone and kills him.
The Mahrattas take refuge in Gawilghur, a seemingly impregnable fortress perched high on cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Wellesley, despite his deep misgivings, has no choice but to attack. Gawilghur is composed of an Outer Fort and an Inner Fort. While the Outer Fort is formidable, the Mahrattas expect the British to take it, though at heavy cost. However, the Inner Fort is so strong, they are confident it cannot fall. Once Wellesley's army has been bled dry trying to capture it, the Mahrattas plan to emerge and destroy the survivors.
When two of Hakeswill's henchmen are killed, Hakeswill realises Sharpe is responsible, so he deserts and finds service with the renegade Englishman William Dodd (whom Sharpe suspects of having murdered a friend, Colonel McCandless) in Gawilghur. It is said that whoever rules in Gawilghur, rules India, and Dodd intends for it to be him. When the Outer Fort falls, Dodd keeps the gates of the Inner Fort closed, trapping Manu Bappoo outside to be killed by the British. Dodd also has Hakeswill murder Beny Singh, the weak, pleasure-loving commander of Gawilghur.
Sharpe finds a way into the Inner Fort. One section of the wall is weakly defended because it sits atop a steep cliff. The cliff, however, can be scaled. When Captain Morris, Sharpe's commanding officer, refuses to give him men, Sharpe beats him, then takes charge and leads a group of soldiers over the wall and opens the gates. He then finds and duels with Dodd, only to find that Dodd is by far the better swordsman. Dodd scars Sharpe on his right cheek. Ahmed appears unexpectedly and attacks Dodd. Dodd kills him easily, but Sharpe's cavalryman friend shoots him in the shoulder, and Sharpe kills him.
Hakeswill tries to flee, disguised as a British soldier, but Sharpe finds him. Sharpe retrieves his stolen jewels and other loot, then backs Hakeswill up until he falls into a pit filled with poisonous snakes.
Major William Dodd – renegade East India Company officer
Ahmed – Sharpe's trusty Arab helper
Syud Sevajee – leader of Mahratta forces allied with the British and Sharpe's old friend. Sevajee seeks revenge against his father's murderer, Beny Singh, the nominal commander of Gawilghur.
Releases
19 November 1998, UK, HarperCollins ISBN0-00-225631-2, 19 November 1998, hardcover (first edition)
1 March 1999, UK, HarperCollins ISBN0-00-105562-3, audio book cassette
? November 1999, UK, Chivers Audio Books ISBN0-7540-5319-9, audio book CD
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of British soldier Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series featuring Sean Bean in the title role.
Sharpe is a British television drama series starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, with Irish actor Daragh O'Malley playing his second in command, Patrick Harper. Sharpe and Harper are the heroes of the Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Celtic Films and Picture Palace Films for the ITV network, the series was filmed mainly in Crimea, with recordings of other episodes in Turkey, England, Portugal and Spain. The two final episodes were filmed in Jaipur, India.
Gawilghur was a well-fortified mountain stronghold of the Maratha Empire north of the Deccan Plateau, in the vicinity of Satpura Ranges, Amravati District, Maharashtra. It was successfully assaulted by a force commanded by Arthur Wellesley on 15 December 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Oporto is the seventh historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2003.
Sharpe's Tiger is the fifteenth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell and was first published in 1997. It acts as a prequel to the "original" Sharpe series, which begins in 1809, while Sharpe is a captain in the Peninsular War during the Talavera Campaign in Spain. In Tiger, Sharpe is a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, serving in southern India during the Siege of Seringapatam in 1799.
Sharpe's Triumph is the second historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1998. Sharpe is a sergeant in the army who attracts the attention of General Arthur Wellesley at Ahmednagar.
Sharpe's Rifles is chronologically the sixth, but the ninth published, historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1988. The narrative follows Sharpe and his unit as they are caught up in the French invasion of Galicia, Spain in January 1809 during the Peninsular War.
Sharpe's Trafalgar is the fourth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2000. It is the first of the novels in the wars against Napoleon, putting the army ensign at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Sharpe's Eagle is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1981. The story is set in July 1809, in the midst of the Talavera Campaign during the Peninsular War. It was the first Sharpe novel published, but eighth in the series' chronological order.
Sharpe's Company is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1982. It was the third in the series to be published, but is thirteenth in chronological order. The story covers January to August 1812, featuring the Siege of Badajoz during the Peninsular War.
Sharpe's Sword is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. It is the fourth in the series, being first published in 1983, though the fifteenth chronologically. Set in the summer of 1812 including the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, the story follows Sharpe and his friend Sergeant Harper involved in espionage while hunting down the sadistic and highly dangerous Colonel Philippe Leroux.
Sharpe's Fury is the eleventh historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2006. The story is set in 1811 during Wellington's campaign in the Iberian peninsula.
Sharpe's Eagle is the second in the series of Sharpe historical war television dramas, based on the 1981 novel of the same name. Shown on ITV in 1993, the adaptation stars Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley and Assumpta Serna.
Sharpe's Company is a British television drama, the third of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. This episode is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Bernard Cornwell.
Sharpe's Challenge is a British TV film from 2006, usually shown in two parts, which is part of an ITV series based on Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction novels about the British soldier Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. Contrary to most parts of the TV series, Sharpe's Challenge, as well as the follow-up Sharpe's Peril, is not based entirely on one of Cornwell's novels, but it uses and adapts some characters and storylines from Sharpe's Tiger (1997). Both are set in 1817, two years after Sharpe has retired as a farmer in Normandy, so chronologically they come after Sharpe's Assassin (1815) and before the final novel Sharpe's Devil (1820–21). Some of the events in the film are inspired by events in the first three novels of the series. In Sharpe's Challenge and Sharpe's Peril, Sharpe and his comrade in arms, Patrick Harper, have been temporarily called out of retirement and asked to go to India.
"Sharpe's Skirmish" is a historical short story by Bernard Cornwell in the Richard Sharpe series.
Sharpe's Peril is a 2008 British TV film, usually shown in two parts, which is part of an ITV series based on Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction novels about the English soldier Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike most parts of the TV series, Sharpe's Peril and the preceding Sharpe's Challenge are not based on Cornwell's novels. Both are set in 1817, two years after Sharpe has retired as a farmer in Normandy, so chronologically they come after Sharpe's Assassin (1815) and before Sharpe's Devil (1820–1821). In Sharpe's Challenge and Sharpe's Peril, Sharpe and his comrade-in-arms, Patrick Harper, are called out of retirement and asked to go to India.
The Capture of Gawilghur fort in western India by British East India Company forces under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley on 15 December 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War was the culminating act in the defeat of the forces of Raghoji II Bhonsle, Rajah of Berar. Gawilghur's garrison of 3000 was commanded by Beni Singh Rajput, assisted by Manoo Bapu, who was the cousin of Raje Bhosale of Nagpur and Killedar Rana Shivsingh, a Rajput Commander of Narnala and also the Governor of Gawilgad and surrounding forts. Rana Shivsingh Rajput was brother-in-law of Jamadar Beni Singh Rajput.
Sharpe's Assassin is the twenty-first historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2021. The story is set in June 1815, immediately after the Battle of Waterloo, and during the occupation of Paris.
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