Warfare And Society In British India 1757 1947

This book explores the intricate and intimate relationship between military organization, imperial policy, and society in colonial South Asia. The chapters in the volume focus on technology, logistics, and state building. The present volume highlights the salient features of expansion and consolidation of imperial control over the subcontinent, and ultimate demise of the Raj. Further, it turns the spotlight on to subaltern challenges to imperialism as well as the role of non-combatants in warfare. The volume: • Deals with both conventional and guerrilla conflicts and focuses on the frontiers (both North-West and North-East, including Burma); • Looks at the army as an institution rather than present a chronological account of military operations, which highlights the complex and tortuous relationship between combat institution, colonial state, and Indian society; • Integrates top-down approaches in military and strategic studies with the bottom-up perspectives and discusses on how the conduct of war (organisation and technology) is related to the economic, societal, and cultural impact of war. A rich account of the British ‘Army in India’, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of South Asian history, military history, political history, colonialism, and the British Empire.

"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 .

The Indian Army was the largest volunteer army during the Second World War. Indian Army divisions fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy - and went to make up the overwhelming majority of the troops in South East Asia. Over two million personnel served in the Indian Army - and India provided the base for supplies for the Middle Eastern and South East Asian theaters. This monograph is a modern historical interpretation of the Indian Army as a holistic organization during the Second World War. It will look at training in India - charting how the Indian Army developed a more comprehensive training structure than any other Commonwealth country. This was achieved through both the dissemination of doctrine and the professionalism of a small coterie of Indian Army officers who brought about a military culture within the Indian Army - starting in the 1930s - that came to fruition during the Second World War, which informed the formal learning process. Finally, it will show that the Indian Army was reorganized after experiences of the First World War. During the interwar period, the army developed training and belief for both fighting on the North West Frontier, and as an aid to civil power. With the outbreak of the Second World War, in addition to these roles, the army had to expand and adapt to fighting modern professional armies in the difficult terrains of desert, jungle and mountain warfare. A clear development of doctrine and training can be seen, with many pamphlets being produced by GHQ India that were, in turn, used to formulate training within formations and then used in divisional, brigade and unit training instructions - thus a clear line of process can be seen not only from GHQ India down to brigade and battalion level, but also upwards from battalion and brigade level based on experience in battle that was absorbed into new training instructions. Together with the added impetus for education in the army, by 1945 the Indian Army had become a modern, professional and national army.

A short history of each regiment, including 22 Cavalry, 21 Infantry & 10 Gurkhas Regiments.

This book explores the lives and social histories of Indians soldiers who fought in the First World War. It focuses on their motivations, experiences, and lives after returning from service in Europe, Mesopotamia, East Africa, and Palestine, to present a more complete picture of Indian participation in the war. The book looks at the Indian support to the war for political concessions from the British government and its repercussions through the perspective of the role played by more than one million Indian soldiers and labourers. It examines the social and cultural aspects of the experience of fighting on foreign soil in a deadly battle and their contributions which remain largely unrecognised. From micro-histories of fighting soldiers, aspects of recruitment and deployment, to macro-histories connecting different aspects of the War, the volume explores a variety of themes including: the material incentives, coercion and training which converted peasants into combatants; encounters of travelling Indian soldiers with other societies; and the contributions of returned soldiers in Indian society. The book will be useful to researchers and students of history, post-colonial studies, sociology, literature, and cultural studies as well as for those interested in military history, World War I, and colonial history.

The Sixteenth Lancers already had a long and distinguished history when they sailed for India in 1822. Over the next twenty four years they fought in four wars, most famously in the Sutlej campaign, against the Sikhs. The Battle of Aliwal, in January 1846, is still celebrated by the successor regiment of the British Army. In their peacetime life in India, the Sixteenth sometimes enjoyed their exotic surroundings, but also endured the perils of a tropical climate - the regiment lost far more men due to disease than in battle. This book examines in detail what regimental soldiering was like in India in those years. It draws on an unprecedented range of sources, most of them previously unpublished. Aside from the official archives, the story is enlivened by a rich collection of journals, letters and diaries left by the officers and men. An important feature of the book is the detailed roll of every officer and man who served in the Sixteenth in the Sutlej. This provides a unique profile of the ranks at Aliwal: where they came from, what skills they brought to the army, why they enlisted, and what happened to them in their army career and afterwards. Some surprising results have been revealed: the high rate of literacy, the high suicide rates, and the proportion of men who stayed on in India when their regiment returned home. The officers were highly experienced and professional, in stark contrast to the amateur attitudes of their fellows in the Crimea. All aspects of regimental soldiering are examined - command, uniforms and weapons, horses, training and medical services, but also how the men lived and played (the Sixteenth's theater was famous). Many officers and men were from army families, and the period covered shows soldiers' sons growing up in the regiment and often reaching high rank. This unique 'social history' approach to the study of a British regiment will appeal to a wide audience; not only to students and academic staff studying military and social history, but also to students of Indian history, and to family historians with army ancestors. The account of the Sutlej campaign is relevant to the worldwide Sikh community. The nominal roll of the regiment will be appreciated by medal collectors, for whom an 'Aliwal' medal to the regiment has a special allure. The successor regiment of the Sixteenth Lancers is again serving in Afghanistan, so that this book has a topical resonance.

Many Indians journeyed out of India to supplant the loss of slave labour in the former European plantation colonies of Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji, and the Caribbean from the early nineteenth century onwards. This book aims to highlight the careers of these migrants who served as vital agents in building the global society of the twenty-first century. It explores the transformative experiences of those who migrated, and the memories of those who did not return after expiration of their contracts but chose instead to stay in their respective host countries. It describes the many challenges they faced — ageing in a society far from home, the loss of their formal Indian identity after Indian independence, their efforts to preserve a sense of community in the post-independence societies of South Africa and the Caribbean, and their adapting to the new political and social realities they faced as minorities in the countries in which their ancestors had adventurously determined to settle and live.