For over two hundred years the British maintained a powerful system in India. If it is recalled at all in the popular imagination of today, the Victorian Indian Army is remembered as much for its use in the pomp and ceremony of grand imperial occasions as for anything else - as a colourful adjunct to the parades, processions and rituals of British India.
But although Britain is regarded as primarily a naval power in the heyday of Empire in the late Victorian era, possession of the Indian Army gave her a major land-power status east of Suez.
This military might was vital to the protection of British interests in India itself and for the defence of its often turbulent frontiers. It was equally important as a tool of imperial expansion overseas: the Indian Army was deployed in China, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere to safeguard the flanks of the Indian Empire and it also contributed in a significant manner to the extension and maintenance of British rule in the tropics.
This book provides a glimpse into a complex, multi0layered and evolving institution and offers and introduction to the uniforms, arms, and services of the Indian Army at the height of the Raj.
Contents:
'John Company's Army'
After the Mutiny
The Presidency Armies 1860-95
British Officers
Sepoys, Sowars and Syces
Indian Cavalry
Indian Infantry
Artillery
Engineers
The Punjab Frontier Force
The Gurkhas
Levies and Militias
The Indian Princely States
The Indian Volunteers
Guarding the Frontiers
Overseas Service
Indian Campaign Medals
Indian Orders and Decorations
Gallantry Awards
One 'Indian Army'
Towards a World War
Further Reading
Places to Visit
Useful Addresses
Index
