The British Raj And Its Indian Armed Forces 1857 1939

Based on original research and primary sources, this valuable collection of essays focuses on the crucial elements of the British military system in India, its organization, and its governing ideologies.

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 present volume initially started as a sequel to "The British Raj and its Indian Armed Forces, 1857-1939", edited by late professor Partha Sarathi Gupta and Anirudh Deshpande, and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, in 2002"--Pref.

The army in India was the principal pillar of British power in South Asia from the mid-nineteenth century until Indian independence. This volume aims to evaluate the combat effectiveness of the army in British India from the mutiny of 1857 until the British departed India in 1947. It examines how the army in India developed from a colonial police force into one of the world's largest volunteer armies which saw service around the globe. The author presents new primary material from international archival sources and develops original interpretations of the political and military role of the army in colonial India. These new arguments include: the army's conduct of 'small wars' on the North-West frontier aided it in conducting tactical warfare in Burma during World War II; small unit raids developed in India were put to good effect beyond India's borders; the army's practical experience of counter-insurgency was used in Greece and Indonesia after 1945; and, contrary to existing scholarship, the British did not follow a deliberate policy of 'Indianization' of the officer corps .

This is the first scholarly study of the subject for twenty years, and the only one based on extensive archival research. The Indian Army conquered India for the British, and protected the Raj against its enemies within and without. In this evocative and compassionate work, David Omissi examines the origins, motives and protests of the several million Indian peasant- soldiers who served the colonial power.

A study of the conflicts which established British rule in South Asia, and of the military's position in the constitution of British India. It outlines the course and the causes of the campaigns which the British in India fought against their European and South Asian rivals for the succession to the Mughal Empire. It also shows how, at times, there was conflict amongst the British themselves - between the British governments in London and India; between civil governors and their military commanders; and between officers and men.

Hope and Despair: Mutiny, Rebellion and Death in India recounts the story of the thousands of Indians-sailors and forgotten working class individuals-who braved British bullets and bayonets on the streets of Bombay and Karachi, during the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Mutiny and the attendant civil rebellions of 1946. World War II in India was marked by inflation, food shortages, the great Bengal Famine and rising nationalism. While the Indian laboring classes bore the brunt of the War in the Indian cities and villages, millions of others became wartime recruits in the hope of a better future. The end of the War, however, brought neither prosperity nor peace to India. Thousands of demobilized servicemen entered the employment market precisely in the months when wage and job-related strikes rocked Indian cities almost every day. Great social anxiety about the future gripped the Indian masses and created a collective consciousness of rebellion woven around the slogans and symbols of wartime Indian nationalism. The INA trials and strikes in the Royal Indian Air Force in 1945 paved the way for the political upheaval of February 1946.