Andy: Any Kipling enthusiast will tell you that a Martini is a kind of rifle:

Then ‘ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an’ the missis and the kid;
Our orders was to break you, an’ of course we went an’ did.
We sloshed you with Martinis, an’ it wasn’t ‘ardly fair;
But for all the odds agin’ you, Fuzzy-Wuz, you broke the square.

Either that, or else the Victorian army was employing some really innovative tactics in their own war against jihadists.