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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.
List of contents
Introduction: Armed Forces, Society and Culture in Colonial South Asia 1. 'Birds of Prey and Passage': The Armies and Societies of British India, 1824-1857 2. Discipline and Publish: Military Law and the Negotiation of Order and Identity in the Company Era, 1820-1860 3. The Making of a Meta-Uprising: Rebellion and Subversion of Colonial State in North East India, 1857-1861 4. Metamorphosis of Military Technology: Ordnance Factories of the East India Company, 1770-1857 5. Dacoits, Dragoons, and Diplomats: Amir Khan Pindari and the British Pacification of Malwa and Rajputana, 1803-1818 6. 'Small Wars' and State-building in the Lushai Hills: 1765-1898 7. Thorn in the Heel: Articulating the Centrality of Gun in British encounter with Indigenous Hill People in the India-Burma Frontier 8. Debating the Doctrine of 'Minimum Force': Small Wars in the North-Western Frontier of India and Afghanistan, 1860-1920 9. Logistics and British Imperialism: Supplying the British Imperial Army during the Second Afghan War, 1878-1880 10. Donning the Khaki: Revisiting Recruitment in Punjab during World War I 11. War in Vernacular Print: North Indian Soldiers and the First World War 12. Royal Engineers and Military Logistics from Britain to Burma and India in World War II
Summary
This book explores the intricate and intimate relationship between military organization, imperial policy, and society in colonial South Asia. The essays in the volume highlight the salient features of expansion and consolidation of imperial control over the subcontinent, and ultimate demise of the Raj.
