With a profusion of anecdotes conveying the character of India under British rule. Farwell offers a panoramic survey of the Indian army during the 90 years between the Sepoy Revolt and the births of independent India and Pakistan ...

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.

Soldiers of the Raj

A unique examination of the role of the Indian army in post-World War II India in the run-up to Partition. Daniel Marston draws upon extensive archival research and interviews with veterans of the events of 1947 to provide fresh insight into the final days of the British Raj.

The dramatic transformation of a small British-led colonial force into a large modern national army, complete with its own institutional officer corps, is a unique event, one without parallel. Indeed, the Indian Army's evolution challenges many current theories on the nature of British colonial rule in India. Barua offers a case study of the only post-colonial officer corps, among developing nations, never to have toppled a civilian administration. Its successful transformation forces us to re-examine interpretations of the British Raj. This remarkable achievement was the culmination of a complex, if cautious, program of military modernization that has been practically ignored by scholars researching the colonial Indian Army. Barua examines these neglected institutional and organizational changes, demonstrating that the dynamics of colonial military modernization in India was a result of the interaction between British and Indians. The end result was the creation of a highly professional national army, one of the few in the developing world to be untainted by political involvement.

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.