The Gurkhas: How Nepalese Soldiers Became a British Army Legend

A Gurkha soldier on patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2010. (Photo: SAC Neil Chapman (RAF)/MOD, released under the Open Government Licence v1.0).

Few fighting reputations survive two centuries of warfare. The Gurkhas have done more than survive. From mountain troops who fought the British Empire to a halt in 1815, they have become one of the most decorated and sought-after forces in the British Army.

For more than 200 years, young men from the hills of Nepal have volunteered to serve the British Crown. They have fought in both world wars, in Malaya and Borneo, in the Falklands, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every year, more than 10,000 apply for a few hundred places. Here is how the legend was made, and what the Gurkhas look like today.

Key facts

• Service began: 1815, after the Anglo-Nepal War; first recruited into the East India Company's armies
• Current strength: around 4,000 Gurkhas serve in the British Army
• Victoria Crosses: 26 awarded to Gurkha regiments, including 13 to Nepalese Gurkhas
• World wars: more than 120,000 Gurkhas served in the First World War; more than 130,000 in the Second
• Selection: over 10,000 applicants each year; the 2026 intake saw 323 recruits selected
• Motto: "Better to die than be a coward"; battle cry: "Ayo Gurkhali"

Born on the battlefield

The Gurkha story begins with a war Britain could not win. During the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814 to 1816, the forces of the Kingdom of Gorkha fought the East India Company's armies to a standstill in brutal mountain campaigns. British officers came away with a deep respect for the hill soldiers who had held them off.

That respect turned into recruitment. From 1815, the Company began enlisting Nepalese soldiers, the start of a bond between British and Gurkha troops that has never broken. The name Gurkha comes from the hill town of Gorkha, from which the Nepalese kingdom had grown.

Through the 19th century, Gurkha regiments became the mainstay of the Company's Indian Army. They fought in both Sikh Wars of 1845-46 and 1848-49, in the three Burma Wars of 1824-26, 1852 and 1885, and in all three Afghan wars of 1839-42, 1878-81 and 1919, as well as garrisoning the North-West Frontier. They were present at the Indian Rebellion of 1857, where a British officer serving with the Gurkhas, John Tytler, won the first of the regiments' Victoria Crosses.

The world wars

The First World War took the Gurkhas to Europe for the first time. More than 120,000 served. Gurkha battalions were among the first to break the German lines at Neuve Chapelle, they fought at Gallipoli where they alone secured the commanding heights of Sari Bair, and they served in Egypt, Palestine and Mesopotamia.

Until 1911, native troops of the Indian Army could not receive the Victoria Cross. That changed, and on 25 September 1915 Rifleman Kulbir Thapa of the 3rd Gurkha Rifles became the first Nepalese Gurkha to win it, at the Battle of Loos. Wounded himself, Thapa stayed with a wounded British soldier of the Leicestershire Regiment for a day and a night, then carried him and two wounded Gurkhas back through German wire, the last trip in broad daylight under enemy fire.

The Second World War demanded even more. More than 130,000 Gurkhas served around the world. They fought with the 8th Army in North Africa, distinguished themselves at Monte Cassino and in the breaking of the Gothic Line in Italy, and served as Chindits and in Field Marshal Slim's 14th Army as it recaptured Burma from the Japanese, winning nine Victoria Crosses in that campaign alone, at battles including Imphal and Kohima.

Into the modern British Army

When India gained independence in 1947, the ten Gurkha regiments were divided. Four of them, the 2nd, 6th, 7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles, transferred to the British Army on 1 January 1948 under the Britain-India-Nepal Tripartite Agreement, forming the nucleus of the modern Brigade of Gurkhas.

The brigade served on through Malaya, Borneo and the Falklands. For decades it was based in Hong Kong; after the handover in 1997 its home moved to Britain. In 1994 the four rifle regiments amalgamated into the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

Today the Royal Gurkha Rifles has two battalions, one in Brunei in South East Asia and one at Shorncliffe in Kent, plus three companies serving with the Ranger Regiment at Aldershot. The wider Brigade of Gurkhas includes the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, the Queen's Gurkha Signals and the Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment. Battalions have served in Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan and on United Nations missions.

The toughest job interview in the Army

Joining remains one of the hardest selections in the British Army. Recruitment takes place in Pokhara in Nepal, run over three phases across the year. Candidates face English and maths tests, detailed medicals, and physical trials including the famous doko race, a timed run up mountain tracks carrying 15 kilograms of sand in a traditional wicker basket.

The Army aims to recruit between 200 and 400 young Nepalese men a year. For the 2026 intake, more than 10,000 applied and only 323 were selected. Those chosen swear allegiance to the British Crown at an attestation parade in Pokhara before flying to the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick for nine months of training. British officers who serve with them must learn to speak Nepali, taking a language course in Nepal itself.

The fight for a home in Britain

Service to the Crown did not always come with a right to live in the country they served. Until 2009, Gurkhas who retired before 1997, when the brigade's base moved from Hong Kong to Britain, had no automatic right to settle here.

That changed after a campaign led by the actress Joanna Lumley, whose father served with the 6th Gurkha Rifles. In May 2009, following meetings with the campaign and a Commons vote defeat for the government, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that all Gurkha veterans with at least four years' service who retired before 1997 could settle in Britain. Lumley's words outside Downing Street, "A great injustice has been righted. The Gurkhas are coming home," closed one of the most celebrated campaigns in recent British politics.

Why they matter now

The Gurkhas remain unique: the only force in the British Army recruited from a foreign country under a tripartite agreement, now in its third century of service. When the Duke of Edinburgh addressed new recruits at their attestation parade in Pokhara in early 2025, he told them they were "soldiers in the British Army but sons of Nepal", and that they were joining "a regimental family with strong traditions and a reputation for loyalty, service and courage" stretching back over 209 years.

The brigade is still growing. In April 2025 the Ministry of Defence announced a new King's Gurkha Artillery unit, with its first recruits due to finish initial training before moving to Larkhill in Wiltshire, the home of the Royal Artillery. Women can now be recruited into the brigade, ending more than 200 years as a male-only force.

Every winter in Nepal, thousands of young men begin the long selection process again, chasing one of the few hundred places. The hills still produce the soldiers. The legend carries on.

Related articles

• The Victoria Cross: How Britain's Highest Gallantry Award Came to Be (Gurkha regiments have won 26 of them)
• The Parachute Regiment: How the Paras Became Britain's Elite Airborne Infantry (another famous regiment history)
• Last British Troops Leave Iraq as Decade-Long Anti-IS Mission Ends (Gurkha battalions served in Iraq and Afghanistan)

Sources

• British Army, "Gurkha History" (official): https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/brigade-of-gurkhas/gurkha-history/
• British Army, "The Royal Gurkha Rifles" (official, structure and operations): https://www.Army.MoD.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/brigade-of-gurkhas/the-royal-gurkha-rifles/
• British Army, Royal Gurkha Rifles Potential Officers Guide 2025 (recruitment figures, doko race, Nepali language): https://cms.army.mod.uk/media/1pzcfadi/potential-officers-guide-2025-low-1.pdf
• The Gurkha Museum, "The First Gurkha Victoria Cross" (Kulbir Thapa): https://thegurkhamuseum.co.uk/blog/kulbir-thapa/
• Wikipedia, "List of Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross" (26 VCs; eligibility from 1911; most recent 1965): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigade_of_Gurkhas_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross
• Wikipedia, "Gurkha Justice Campaign" (21 May 2009 settlement announcement): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha_Justice_Campaign
• indy100/PA, 2025 (Duke of Edinburgh attestation speech; 274 recruits from 13,000+ applicants): https://www.indy100.com/news/edward-tells-new-gurkhas-they-are-soldiers-in-british-army-but-sons-of-nepal
• Lord Ashcroft, February 2026 (2026 intake: 10,000+ applications, 323 selected): https://www.lordashcroft.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Lord-Ashcroft-Sat-Gurkhas_21022026.pdf
• GlobalSecurity.org/MOD, April 2025 (King's Gurkha Artillery; around 4,000 Gurkhas serving): http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/uk/2025/uk-250428-ukmod01.htm
• Devdiscourse/agency wire (women's recruitment from 2020): https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/agency-wire/59741-nepalese-women-set-to-join-gurkha-regiment-of-british-army-from-2020?amp

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