Flashman on the March

Flashman on the March is a 2005 novel by George MacDonald Fraser, the twelfth and final book in the Flashman series. The story, presented as part of the fictional "Flashman Papers," follows Sir Harry Paget Flashman, the anti-hero from Tom Brown's School Days, during his adventures in 1867-68. After fleeing Mexico aboard an Austrian warship carrying Emperor Maximilian I’s body, Flashman escapes to Trieste. There, he offends Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff by seducing his great-niece and is forced to flee again.

Flashman is recruited by Jack Speedicut, an old acquaintance, to escort a shipment of Maria Theresa thalers to General Robert Napier's forces in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Upon arrival, Napier assigns Flashman a secret mission: to recruit Queen Masteeat and her Galla people, who oppose Emperor Theodore II. Flashman succeeds but is later captured by Theodore’s forces. The novel concludes with the British defeating Theodore, who commits suicide, and Flashman suggesting that the conflict could have been avoided if Britain had shown proper respect to Theodore.

Key characters include fictional figures like Uliba-Wark, Queen Masteeat’s half-sister, who betrays Flashman; Yando, an Abyssinian chief who tortures him; and historical individuals such as General Robert Napier, Emperor Theodore II, and explorer Captain Speedy. The novel references real events and incorporates historical figures while maintaining the series' humorous and satirical tone.