Kipling and war: from 'Tommy' to 'My boy Jack'

"Although Rudyard Kipling never fought, he was one of Britiain's foremost observers of and commentators on war. Through his writing on the harsh realities of life as a private and accounts of feats of courage and comradeship during the frontier wars in India, 19th century British campaigns in Sudan, the Boer Wars and the First World War, he became the poet of the common soldier. Although he wrote propaganda for the government in the Boer and First World Wars, Kipling was also acerbic in his criticism of military incompetence, deeply compassionate towards the victims of war and despairing of the senseless bloodshed that he witnessed. Through his writing, the voices of countless soldiers and the guns of many battles echo through the years and place Kipling firmly firmly among the leading practitioners of 19th and 20th century war literature"--

'The battle of Assaye' -- 'On fort duty' -- 'To meet the Ameer' -- 'Arithmetic on the frontier' -- 'Ford o' Kabul river' -- 'The three musketeers' -- 'With the main guard' -- 'Snarleyow' -- 'The ballad of East and West' -- 'The drums of the fore and aft' -- 'Ginga Din' -- 'The taking of Lungtungpen' -- 'The rout of the white Hussars' -- 'Danny Deever' -- 'Screw-guns' -- 'Gentlemen-rankers' -- 'Loot' -- 'The young British soldier' -- 'Ride to Kandahar' -- 'Route marching' -- 'Shillin' a day' -- 'Private Ortheris's song' -- 'Tommy' -- Fuzzy-wuzzy' -- The light that failed -- 'Bobs' -- 'The men that fought at Minden' -- 'Ubique' -- 'Sappers' -- 'That day' -- 'Recessional' -- 'The white man's burden' -- 'The absent-minded beggar' -- 'Under fire at Kari Siding' -- 'Boots' -- 'Chant-Pagan' -- 'Lichtenberg' -- 'Two Kopjes' -- 'Piet' -- 'With number three' -- 'The lesson' -- 'The army of a dream' -- 'Edgehill fight' -- 'Norman and Saxon' -- 'Dane-Geld' -- 'For all we have and are' -- 'The new army in training' -- 'The outlaws' -- '1915-Loos and the first Autumn' -- 'Trenches on a mountain side' -- 'Out with the fleet' -- 'Mine sweepers' -- 'The Trentino front' -- 'My boy Jack' -- 'The Iri…