Presidency armies
Presidency armies | |
---|---|
India | |
Allegiance | East India Company |
Branch | |
Headquarters | GHQ India |
Motto(s) | Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliae "By command of the King and Parliament of England" |
Engagements |
|
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
The presidency armies were the armies of the three
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the Company until the Indian Rebellion of 1857, when the Crown took over the Company and its three armies. In 1895, the three presidency armies were merged into a united Indian Army.
Origin
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
From the mid-eighteenth century, the East India Company began to maintain armies at each of its three main stations, or
By 1824, the size of the combined armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay was about 200,000 and had at least 170 sepoy and 16 European regiments.[2] In 1844 the combined average strength of the three armies was 235,446 native and 14,584 European.[3]
Regimental organisation
In 1757,
Between 1796 and 1804, a regimental system on a two battalion basis was introduced. The battalions were only theoretically linked together and shared no esprit de corps. The number of British officers went up to 22 per battalion, which diminished the importance of native officers.[5] Control by Regimental commanders was excessive and exasperating to the battalions, and the system was reverted in 1824. Thereafter, units were formed into single battalion regiments, which were numbered per their seniority of raising.[1]
After 1857
Following the
In 1895, the separate Presidency Armies were at last abolished and a fully unified Indian Army came into being. As before, its British officers were not members of the British Army, though as young subalterns they did serve for a year with a British Army regiment as part of their training before taking up permanent commissions with their Indian Army regiment.
Operational history of the Presidency armies
Mysore wars
- First Anglo-Mysore War (1766–69)
- Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84)
- Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789–92)
- Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799)
Maratha wars
- First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–82)
- Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–05)
- Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–18)
Burmese wars
- First Anglo-Burmese War (1823–26)
- Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852–53)
- Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885–86)
Afghan wars
- First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42)
- Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–81)
Opium wars
- First Opium War (1839–43)
- Second Opium War (1856–60)
Sikh wars
- First Anglo-Sikh War(1845–46)
- Second Anglo-Sikh War(1848–49)
Abyssinia
- Expedition to Abyssinia(1867–68)
List of presidencies and armies
- Bengal Presidency, the Bengal Army
- Bombay Presidency, the Bombay Army
- Madras Presidency, the Madras Army
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Jackson, Major Donovan (1940). India's Army. London: Low, Marston. pp. 1–8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-533756-3.
- JSTOR 2337686.
- ^ In the "silladar" system, the soldier provided his own horse, weapons, and military attire as prescribed, for which he received in exchange from the state a lump sum grant and maintenance grants from time to time.
- ISBN 9-781909-982819.
Further reading
- Barua, Pradeep. "Military developments in India, 1750-1850", Journal of Military History, (Oct 1994) 58#4 pp 599–616 in JSTOR
- Bryant, G. J. "Asymmetric Warfare: The British Experience in Eighteenth-Century India", Journal of Military History (2004) 68#2 pp. 431–469 in JSTOR
- Gilbert, Arthur N. "Recruitment and Reform in the East India Company Army, 1760-1800", Journal of British Studies (1975) 15#1 pp. 89-111 in JSTOR
- Heathcote, T. A. The Military in British India: The Development of British Land Forces in South Asia, 1600–1947 (Manchester University Press, 1995)
- Lawford, James P. Britain's Army in India: From its Origins to the Conquest of Bengal (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978)
- Menezes, S. L. Fidelity & Honour: The Indian Army from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Century (New Delhi: Viking, 1993)
- Longer, V. Red Coats to Olive Green: A History of the Indian Army, 1600–1947 (Bombay: Allied, 1974)
- Roy, Kaushik. "The hybrid military establishment of the East India Company in South Asia: 1750–1849", Journal of Global History, (July 2011) 6#2 00 195-218
- Roy, Kaushik. "Military Synthesis in South Asia: Armies, Warfare, and Indian Society, c. 1740--1849", Journal of Military History, (2005) 69#3 pp 651-690, online
- Roy, Kaushik. From Hydaspes to Kargil: A History of Warfare in India from 326 BC to AD 1999 (2004)