Pradeep Barua - The Late Colonial Indian Army: From the Afghan Wars to the Second World War

The Late Colonial
Indian Army

The Late Colonial
Indian Army

From the Afghan Wars
to the Second World War

Pradeep Barua

LEXINGTON BOOKS

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Barua, Pradeep, author.

Title: The late colonial Indian Army : from the Afghan Wars to the Second World War / Pradeep Barua.

Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021020543 (print) | LCCN 2021020544 (ebook) | ISBN 9781498552202 (cloth) | ISBN 9781498552219 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Great Britain. Army. British Indian ArmyHistory. | India. ArmyHistory. | World War, 1939-1945Participation, East Indian.

Classification: LCC UA668 .B37 2021 (print) | LCC UA668 (ebook) | DDC 355.00945/09041dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020543

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020544

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The research for this book has spanned a period of almost a decade and it has been interrupted by other projects in between. There are a number of people who have assisted and encouraged my research over the decades, and I am deeply thankful to all of them. They include John Lynn, Jeremy Black, Dane Kennedy, Pete Maslowski, and Paul Kennedy. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my late mentors and friendsBlair Kling, Gunter Rothenberg, DeWitt Ellinwood, and Steven Cohen.

I would also like to thank my familymy wife Dr. Mary Beth Ailes, my sons Christopher and Brian, my mother Ramola, and my brother Sandip for their unstinting support.

Vasco da Gamas arrival in the Malabar sea port of Calicut on May 27, 1498, triggered a wave of European interest in the lucrative trade with India. The British crown formally entered the race on December 31, 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I granted a Royal Charter to what became known as the East India Trading Company. The next year a small trading post was set up in Surat. Almost immediately the British became embroiled in conflicts with competing European powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch, and French as well as local Indian powers. For much of the seventeenth century the British were content with securing trade posts in India with Mughal permission, but as their influence expanded they came into conflict with the French, the other major European trading presence in India. In 1746, the French East India Company (EIC) gained the upper hand when it seized the British fort of St. George in Madras. However, British fortunes improved when the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored Madras to their control in 1749. To secure and expand its position in India, the Company, under Robert Clives leadership, began to create a more permanent military force. Beginning with the Bengal Army, Clive also established the precedent of using European offices to command Indian soldiers. Throughout the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as the British gradually conquered all of India, three presidency armies in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay came into existence. However, the British leaderships increased attempts to exercise control over these soldiers, known as sepoys, and to use them in foreign conflicts resulted in great unrest. In 1857, the Bengal Army, the largest of the three presidency armies, rose in rebellion. The British crushed the uprising with tremendous brutality.

The rebellion of 1857 brought an end to the EIC rule in India. Soon after the Government of India Act of 1858 formally dissolved the Company and transferred all power, including all military forces of the EIC to Her Majestys Government.