rtifications, the most important subjects. He was graduated eighth in a class of 150. In 1895, Churchill was appointed a second lieutenant in the 4th Hussars, a proud cavalry regiment. Soldier and reporter. Twenty-year-old Lieutenant Churchill ached for adventure. For a soldier, adventure meant fighting. But the only fighting at the moment was in Cuba, where the people had revolted against their Spanish rulers. Churchill was on leave from the army, and used his family's influence to go to Cuba as an observer with the Spanish. While there, he wrote five colorful articles on the revolt for a London newspaper. Churchill returned to London with a love for Havana cigars that lasted the rest of his life. In 1896, Churchill's regiment was sent to Bangalore, in southern India. There he acquired a fondness for polo, and read many books he had neglected in school. The works of Edward Gibbon and Thomas B. Macaulay interested him the most. In 1897, Churchill learned that fighting had broken out in northwestern India between British forces and Pashtun warriors. He obtained a leave from his regiment, and persuaded two newspapers to hire him as a reporter. Churchill joined the advance guard of the Malakand Field Force and took part in bloody hand-to-hand fighting. After returning to Bangalore, Churchill wrote about the campaign in his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898). Churchill's adventurous spirit made him restless again. A British force was being built up in Egypt to invade the Sudan. Churchill got himself transferred to the force, and again obtained a newspaper assignment. In 1898, he took part in the last great cavalry charge of the British army, in the Battle of Omdurman. Churchill returned to England and wrote a book about the Sudanese campaign, The River War (1899). In 1899, while working on his book, Churchill resigned from the army and ran for Parliament as a Conservative from Oldham. But he did not impress the voters ...
