This book provides a detailed history of the Governor-General's Body Guard, a military unit that played an important role in the protection of British interests in India. Drawing on archival sources and personal accounts, the author offers a window into the daily life of this elite corps of soldiers. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In-depth coverage of the Charge of the Light Brigade, and the numerous colonial campaigns of the period.

A regimental history of the gorgeously attired bodyguard of the Viceroys and Governor-Generals of British-ruled India in its heyday from 1773 to 1908, this well-illustrated book is a feast for anyone interested in India under the Raj. The minutes of 'secret consultations' describe the formation and recruitment of the Corps. Also included are the early quarrels between Governor Warren Hastings and Gen. Clavering which ultimately led to the former man's trial. The bodyguard were not strictly for ceremony only, and took part in many actions, including the campaigns in Mysore (1791-1792); Java (1811); the Mahratta Wars.

Strategic thinking has not been part of our national discourse. Till the end of 20th century, there were a very few public or private think tanks discussing the challenges our nation faced. There was no private news channel till 1999 and when they started, they went about doing their news business. Lack of strategic thinking was apparent during 1962 war with China, when we had clear indications of heinous moves and design of China. The Indian Army had submitted reports highlighting the Chinese threat but it all fell on deaf ears. The Prime Minister of the time thumped the table and said, “It is not the job of Commander-in-Chief to tell the Government who will attack India. China will never attack us, rather China would come to our rescue if needed. You should concentrate on Pakistan!” Rest is history. Successive governments did not learn the lesson. Strategic and National Security matters were still prerogative of government institutions. Till 2000, there were a few government funded or private think tanks (United Service Institution of India, Indian Direct Selling Association, Indian Defence Review etc.) working on this vital subject. New think tanks came up but their reach was limited. There appears to be much more interest in masses now than what it was 20 years ago. This book is a compilation of articles written on different subjects. It is divided in four sections – every section dealing with a different subject. Readers should consider the backdrop date given at the first page of every chapter. This will help putting things in the right perspective.

Excerpt from Historical Records of the Governor-General's Body Guard IT is hoped that the following pages illustrative of the part played by the governor-general's Body Guard, the Senior Corps of the Indian Army, in the building up of the Empire of India, may conclusively prove, in the words used by the Directors of the Honourable East India Company in 1805, that, the Body Guard is not kept up for purposes of mere parade but is capable of rendering useful Services in the Field. It is believed that this unofficial History, incomplete though it be, presents an authentic record of the deeds and exploits, both in the Field and at Court, of the governor-general's Body Guard, from its formation in 1773 down to the end of 1908. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.