Page 8 - ch 9

Colonial Era and the Indian Sepoy Module - III

Military History of the
perception on the origins and ethos of the Indian Army emphasizes that it was the
Colonial Era
period from the mid eighteenth century to the period when India gained Independence
from the British rule in which the Indian Army emerged as a cohesive fighting army.
However, you have learnt that Indians were past masters raising armies and having
effective functional organizations since as early as the vedic times. Therefore, in this
section we will first see the state of India, its empires and the armies so that one can
understand how the Dutch, Portuguese, the French and the English exploited us and
ruled over India for 200 years, and plundered our wealth and honour. Note

The origin of the British Indian Army and subsequently the army of independent India
lies in the origins of the Presidency Armies, which preceded them. The first purely
Indian troops employed by the British were watchmen employed in each of the
Presidencies of the British East India Company to protect their trading stations. These
were all placed in 1748 under one Commander-in-chief, Major-General Stringer
Lawrence who is regarded as the "Father of the Indian Army". From the mid-eighteenth
century, the East India Company began to maintain armies at each of its three main
stations, or Presidencies of British India, at Calcutta (Bengal), Madras and Bombay.
The Bengal Army, Madras Army, and Bombay Army were quite distinct, each with its
own Regiments and cadre of European officers. All three armies contained European
regiments in which both the officers and men were Europeans, as well as a larger
number of 'Native' regiments, in which the officers were Europeans and the other
ranks were Indians. They included Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry regiments and historical
sources refer to the Bengal/Madras/Bombay Artillery/Cavalry/Infantry (the latter often
termed 'Native Infantry' or 'N.I.'). From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the
Crown began to dispatch regiments of the regular British Army to India, to reinforce
the Company's armies. These troops were often referred to as 'H.M.'s Regiments' or
'Royal regiments'. By 1824, the size of the combined armies of Bengal, Madras, and
Bombay was about 200,000 and 16 European regiments. In 1844 the combined
average strength of the three armies was 235,446 native and 14,584 European.

It is important to understand that the sea played a vital role in colonial era because the
European powers began to send their ships to India for trade. The ships of Spain,
Portugal, Holland, France and England fought with each other on their way, in the high
seas, more out of trade rivalry than any military significance. It will be seen later that
the British very cleverly and systematically overcame the French, Dutch and Portuguese
to establish themselves to rule over India for almost 200 years. The first factor was
that, Great Britain had established a very strong navy and was considered a great
naval power. It gave them the force and mobility to go to any part of the world and
build their business. The second was the wealth of India and the desire and greed of
the British to prosper at the cost of Indians. The third and the most important factor,
which helped them to succeed, was that India was divided amongst small princely
states and there was no single unifying ruler. The Mughals in the North were a declining
power and so were the Marathas in the South. The decision that the Englishmen took
to recruit Indians in their force can be considered as the starting point for the

63
MILITARY HISTORY 63