This book is an updated expansion of the author's earlier memoir of the two Burmese Wars - in the second of which he served. Remarking that at the time of writing (1879) the general British population had little knowledge of their Empire's recently acquired Burmese domains, the author includes remarks and descriptions of the country and its customs as well as his purely military narrative. The first Burmese war, claims the author, was no aggressive conquest but a pre-emptive campaign fought to defend Bengal from Burmese invasion, while the British annexation of Burmese territory in the second war denied the 'fiends' engaged in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 the opportunity of using Burma as a base.