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The hybrid military establishment of the East India Company in South Asia: 1750–1849*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Kaushik Roy
Kaushik Roy
Affiliation:
78/14 R.K. Chatterjee Road, Kolkata, Pin Code 700042, West Bengal, India E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

During the seventeenth century, the East India Company (EIC) was a minor power in South Asia, repeatedly defeated in battle. However, this changed rapidly, beginning in the 1750s, as the EIC started projecting power from its coastal enclaves into the interior. One after other, the indigenous powers were defeated and destroyed. This article argues that the EIC’s military success was not merely the result of importing the military institutions that emerged in western Europe: there was no military revolution in early modern South Asia. Rather, the EIC blended imported British military institutions and techniques with South Asia’s indigenous military traditions, creating a hybrid military establishment in which South Asian manpower, animals, and economic resources were crucial. The article focuses on the construction of the EIC’s military establishment by concentrating on three spheres: military technology, manpower management, and logistics.

Keywords

East India Companyhybrid armymilitary revolutionsirdarsSouth Asia
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , July 2011 , pp. 195 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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