New interpretations of the Indian army of the Raj.

This comprehensive study is the first scholarly account explaining how the British and Indian armies adapted to the peculiar demands of fighting an irregular tribal opponent in the mountainous no-man's-land between India and Afghanistan. It does so by discussing how a tactical doctrine of frontier fighting was developed and 'passed on' to succeeding generations of soldiers. As this book conclusively demonstrates this form of colonial warfare always exerted a powerful influence on the organisation, equipment, training and ethos of the Army in India.

**Short-listed for the Society for Army Historical Research UK's Templer Medal Best First Book Prize, 2020** In the Indian Army of the British Raj, the officer corps was “reserved for the governing race”— in other words, the British. Only in 1917, a mere thirty years before India won its freedom, did the Raj permit Indians into the Army’s officer corps, thus slowly beginning its Indianization. Yet it is often forgotten that this decision was the culmination of a hundred-year-long debate. Based on meticulous archival research in Britain and India, Indianization, the Officer Corps, and the Indian Army breaks new ground by offering readers the first detailed account of this generally forgotten debate. It traces the myriad schemes and counter-schemes the debate generated, the complex twists and turns it took, and how it engaged both British policymakers anxious to maintain control as well as nationalist Indian leaders agitating for greater self-government. This work also offers insights into the martial races concept, the 1857 uprising, and the impact of Anglo-Indian ideology upon the Indian Army. Clearly written and carefully argued, it is an original and defining contribution to military/war and society history, the history of colonial India and its army, the history of British empire, the history of racism, and civil-military relations.

The Decline Of British Imperialism Had Far Reaching Colonial And Post-Colonial Consequences. British Policy And Indian History, For Obvious Reasons, Unfolded In The Foreground Of This Decline From 1900 Onwards. This Volume Contextualizes Crucial Aspects Of Modern India`S Military Past. It Contends That British Imperialism, Like All Empires, Declined Due To Its Inherent Contradictions. Managing The Military Affairs Of The British Raj Comprised A Crucial Element Of These Contradictions. This Socio-Political History Of The Colonial Indian Military Organization Investigates Why Reform Remained Largely Theoretical Even As The British Used Indian Resources To Defend A Weakening Empire Through Two World Wars. Ultimately World War Ii Transformed The Indian Armed Forces But Eventually, As This Book Asserts, This Transformation Worked Against The British.

The British amateur military tradition of raising auxiliary forces for home defence long preceded the establishment of a standing army. This was a model that was widely emulated in British colonies. This volume of essays seeks to examine the role of citizen soldiers in Britain and its empire during the Victorian period.

This book examines the differences and similarities between warfare in China and India before 1870, both conceptually and on the battlefield. By focusing on Chinese and Indian warfare, the book breaks the intellectual paradigm requiring non-Western histories and cultures to be compared to the West, and allows scholarship on two of the oldest civilizations to be brought together. An international group of scholars compare and contrast the modes and conceptions of warfare in China and India, providing important original contributions to the growing study of Asian military history.

A handful of Englishment controlled the vast British Indian empire for nearly 200 years. Throughout this period, the colonials who ran the empire (viceroys, bureaucrats, military men, police officers) constituted a miniscule minority of the Indian population. That a few thousand British men dominated so many million Indians for so long via native collaborators (feudal princes, educated babus, peasant recruits) has long been known. This book looks closely at the Indian army in order to show precisely how collaboration worked to sustain a national empire and a local economy. Show More Show Less.