Brief history
The Gurkhas are descendents of the Rajputs (literally sons of kings), a warrior race that originally lived in the deserts of northwest India. The Rajputs were part of the Kshatriya or warrior class, and were great warriors, fanatical in battle. But they were unable to unite, and fought endless wars with each other. When the Muslims invaded, the Rajputs were still unable to unite against them, and in the onslaught, most of the Rajputs were conquered. Many however, fled to the hilly regions to the north and northeast. Here, they became known as the Gurkhas or Ghurkhalis. They eventually became the dominant force in the region, but were still disunited, and resembled a bunch of hill tribes more than an empire. Eventually they were united (I forget by who though) and moved east, conquering a few north Indian kingdoms, Nepal, and even parts of Assam. They tried to invade Tibet, but after initial successes, were driven back. Eventually, through intermarriage with the Nepalese people, the Gurkhas became more Mongoloid than Indian in appearance. But they kept their original Hindu religion and their warrior tradition.
Eventually, the Gurkhas invaded north India. They attacked the kingdom of Garhwal in force, where a bloody war was fought. Both the Gurkhas and the Garwahlis were fierce warriors, and both used similar weapons and tactics, including the famous and deadly Kukri knife. Eventually, the Gurkhas defeated the king of Garwhal, and forced it to pay tribute. As India was part of the British empire at the time, Britain then attacked the Gurkhas. Another long bloody war was fought, where the British were astounded by the Gurkhas fighting abilities. Although the Gurkha liked to fight with melee weapons, their Kukri knives, guns were ineffective against them because of the way that they fought.
When we were engaged in the many wars in India, the Gurkha proved themselves our most formidable enemies, as since they have proved themselves most invaluable allies. Brave as lions, active as monkeys, and fierce as tigers, the lithe wiry little men came leaping over the ground to attack moving so quickly, and keeping so far apart from each other, the musketry was no use against them. When they came near the soldiers, they suddenly crouched to the ground, dive under the bayonets, struck upwards at the men with their Kukris, ripping them open with a single blow, and then, after having done all the mischief in their power, darting off as rapidly as they had come. Until our men learned this mode of attack they were greatly discomfited by their little opponents, who got under their weapons, cutting or slashing with knives as sharp as razors, and often escaping unhurt from the midst of bayonets. They would also dash under the bellies of the officers horses, rip them open with one blow of the Kukri, and aim another at the leg of the officer as he and his horse fell together.
Eventually, the Gurkha were defeated, but the British had gained such a great amount of respect for them that many were incorporated into the British armies, where they fought bravely in the Sepoy Rebellion and the World Wars. When India gained independence from Britain, the Gurkha regiments were split between Britain and India, with India getting most of the regiments. The Gurkhas agreed to fight with these countries on a few conditions: They would never invade Nepal, they would never fight other Gurkhas, they would never fight Hindus (being Hindus themselves), and they would never have to attack unarmed people. As part of the Indian army, the Gurkhas fought bravely with India against China during the Sino-Indian war, and against Pakistan during the three Indo-Pak wars. Currently there are 100,000 Gurkhas in the Indian army, which is more than half of the total number of Gurkhas in the world.
Thats it for now
