1.
British Raj
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The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
2.
Bombay Army
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The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. In 1895 all three armies were merged into the Indian Army. In the early stages of HEIC rule Bombay was rated as a unhealthy, accordingly only a small garrison was maintained while emphasis was placed on creating a local navy to control piracy. In 1742 the Bombay Army consisted of eight companies of European and Eurasian garrison troops and these had evolved from independent companies dating back as far as 1668 when the Company took over control of the city of Bombay. By 1783 the Bombay Army had grown to 15,000 men, recruitment from the 1750s on had however been expanded to include a majority of indigenous sepoys, initially employed as irregulars for particular campaigns. The first two regular battalions were raised in 1768, a third in 1760 and a fourth ten years later. The non-Indian element was organized in a single Bombay European Regiment, in 1777 a marine battalion was created to serve on the HEIC warships based on the port of Bombay. In 1796 the Bombay Native Infantry was reorganized into four regiments, the Bombay Foot Artillery, which traced its history back nearly 50 years prior to this date, was brought up to six companies in strength in 1797. The Bombay Army was heavily involved in the First Maratha War, the Bombay native infantry establishment continued to expand until it reached 26 regiments in 1845. Three Bombay Light Cavalry regiments were raised after 1817, plus a few troops of irregular horse, one brigade of Bombay Horse Artillery comprising both British and Indian personnel had been established by 1845, plus three battalions of foot artillery. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was almost entirely confined to the Bengal Army, of the thirty-two Bombay infantry regiments in existence at the time only two mutinied. Some Bombay units saw service during the repression of the rebellion in Central India. Following the transfer of HEIC rule to that of the British government in 1861 the Bombay Army underwent a series of changes and these included the disbandment of three regiments of Bombay Native Infantry and the recruitment of replacement units from the Beluchi population. Originally created as units, the three Belooch regiments in their red trousers were to remain a conspicuous part of the Bombay Army for the remainder of its separate existence. During the remainder of the 19th century Bombay Army units participated in the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, in 1895 the three separate Presidency Armies were abolished and the Army of India was divided into four commands, each commanded by a lieutenant-general. These comprised Madras, Punjab, Bengal and Bombay, prestigious units of the Bombay Army include the 1st Bombay Grenadiers raised in 1784 from grenadier companies of existing regiments, and the Maratha Light Infantry. Belasis Commanding Major-General R. Jones Commanding Lieutenant-General John Abercromby Major-General W. Wilkinson Commanding Major-General C, the Victorians at War, 1815-1914, An Encyclopedia of British Military History. Presidency armies Bengal Army Madras Army
3.
British Indian Army
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The Indian Army was the principal army of India before independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of both British India and the Princely states, which could also have their own armies. The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empires forces, the term Indian Army appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies of the Presidencies of British India, particularly after the Indian Rebellion. The first army officially called the Indian Army was raised by the government of India in 1895, however, in 1903 the Indian Army absorbed these three armies. The Indian Army should not be confused with the Army of India which was the Indian Army itself plus the British Army in India, before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in London. Many of these took part in the Indian Mutiny, with the aim of reinstating the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II at Delhi. The meaning of the term Indian Army has changed over time, The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief, the title was used before the creation of a unified British Indian Army, the first holder was Major General Stringer Lawrence in 1748. By the early 1900s the Commander-in-Chief and his staff were based at GHQ India, Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their salaries instead of having to have a private income. Accordingly, vacancies in the Indian Army were much sought after and generally reserved for the higher placed officer-cadets graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. British officers in the Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, prominent British Indian Army officers included Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Claude Auchinleck and William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim. Commissioned officers, British and Indian, held identical ranks to commissioned officers of the British Army, Kings Commissioned Indian Officers, created from the 1920s, held equal powers to British officers. Viceroys Commissioned Officers were Indians holding officer ranks and they were treated in almost all respects as commissioned officers, but had authority over Indian troops only, and were subordinate to all British Kings Commissioned Officers and KCIOs. They included Subedar Major or Risaldar-Major, equivalents to a British Major, Subedar or Risaldar equivalents to Captain, recruitment was entirely voluntary, about 1.75 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front and 2.5 million in the Second. Soldier ranks included Sepoys or Sowars, equivalent to a British private, British Army ranks such as gunner and sapper were used by other corps. In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own Commander-in-Chief, overall operational control was exercised by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. From 1861, most of the manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps
4.
Rajputana Rifles
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The Rajputana Rifles is the most senior rifle regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally raised in 1921 as part of the British Indian Army, in 1945 the numeral designation was dropped from the title and in 1947 the regiment was transferred to the newly independent Indian Army. The name Rajputana Rifles is derived from the Rajput a Hindu clan and it is based on the Sanskrit word Rajaputra meaning son of a king. Rajputana is a region in NW India, roughly coextensive with the modern Indian state of Rajasthan. The name means land of the Rajputs, Rajput tribal power rose here between the 7th and 13th centuries, and the princes resisted the early Muslim incursions, which began in the 11th century. Rajput power reached its peak in the early 16th century, from their seat at Ajmer the Mughals ruled Rajputana until the early 18th century. The Marathas held feudatories in the region from c.1750 to 1818, under the British, Rajputana included more than 20 princely states, notably Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and Ajmer. The internal autonomy of many of the states was guaranteed, most of these states were incorporated into Rajasthan after India gained independence in 1947. Region of northwestern India that now comprises Rajasthan state and small sections of Madhya Pradesh, the Aravalli Range crosses the southern part of the region from northeast to southwest. The northwestern part is largely the Thar desert, but to the southeast the land is extremely fertile, the Rajput princely states came under British protection by treaties in the early 19th century, most of the area was formed into Rajasthan state in 1948. The catchment area or recruitment area for the regiment is mostly from Rajputs from all over the state of Rajasthan, Jats are also recruited in the same strength. Nearly, 80% of the Regiments strength is of Rajputs and Jats, others recruited are Ahir, Sikh, Gurjar and Muslims. The regiments origins lie in the 18th century when the East India Company recruited Rajputs to protect its operations, the impressive performance of French local units which were composed of local recruits mixed with French officers, helped the HEIC to decide that it needed to do something similar. In January 1775, it raised its first local infantry units included the 5th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys. It thus became the first rifle regiment of the British Indian Army, in 1899 the battalion was once more renamed as 4th Regiment Bombay Infantry and again in 1901 as 4th Bombay Rifles. In Kitcheners 1903 reorganisation of the Indian Army, 4th Bombay Rifles became 104th Wellesley’s Rifles, in 1945 the regiments of the British Indian Army dropped the numeral in their titles and so the Rajputanas assumed their current name. In 1947 the regiment was allocated to India and the newly formed Indian Army when the sub-continent became independent from the British Empire, in 1949, the 1st Battalion was elevated to the status of guards, becoming 3rd Battalion, Brigade of the Guards. In 1817 the 4th Battalion met the Marathas at the Battle of Khadki, the defence earned the regiment the battle honor of Khadki
5.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
6.
First Anglo-Afghan War
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The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British imperial India and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. Initially, the British successfully intervened in a dispute between emir Dost Mohammad and former emir Shah Shujah, whom they installed upon conquering Kabul in August 1839. The main British Indian and Sikh force occupying Kabul, having endured harsh winters as well, was almost completely annihilated while retreating in January 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century was a period of diplomatic competition between the British and Russian empires for spheres of influence in Asia known as the Great Game. The Russian Empire was slowly extending its domain into Central Asia, the Company sent an envoy to Kabul to form an alliance with Afghanistans Amir, Dost Mohammad Khan against Russia. Dost Mohammad had recently lost Afghanistans second capital of Peshawar to the Sikh Empire and wanted support to retake it, for this reason, Lord Auckland preferred an alliance with the Punjab over an alliance with Afghanistan, which had nothing equivalent to the Dal Khalsa. The British could have an alliance with the Punjab or Afghanistan, British fears of a Russian invasion of India took one step closer to becoming a reality when negotiations between the Afghans and Russians broke down in 1838. The Qajar dynasty of Persia, with Russian support, attempted the Siege of Herat, Lord Aucklands plan was to drive away the besiegers and replace Dost Mohammad with Shuja Shah Durrani, who had once ruled Afghanistan and was considered pro-British. Shuja Shah had been deposed in 1809 and been living in exile in British India since 1818, collecting a pension from the East India Company, the British denied that they were invading Afghanistan, claiming they were merely supporting its legitimate Shuja government against foreign interference and factious opposition. But this point, Auckland was committed to putting Afghanistan into the British sphere of influence, the Army of the Indus. which included 21,000 British and Indian troops under the command of John Keane, 1st Baron Keane set out from Punjab in December 1838. With them was William Hay Macnaghten, the chief secretary of the Calcutta government. It included a train of 38,000 camp followers and 30,000 camels. By late March 1839 the British forces had crossed the Bolan Pass, reached the Baloch city of Quetta and they advanced through rough terrain, across deserts and 4, 000-metre-high mountain passes, but made good progress and finally set up camps at Kandahar on 25 April 1839. After reaching Kandahar, Keane decided to wait for the crops to ripen before resuming his march, Keane left behind his siege engines in Kandahar, which turned out to be a mistake as he discovered that the walls of the Ghazni fortress were far more powerful than he expected. A deserter, Abdul Rashed Khan, a nephew of Dost Mohammad Khan, informed the British that one of the gates of the fortress was in bad state of repair and might be blasted open with a gunpowder charge. The British took fifty prisoners who were brought before Shuja, where one of them stabbed a minister to death with a hidden knife. On 22 July 1839, in an attack, the British-led forces captured the fortress of Ghazni. The British troops blew up one city gate and marched into the city in a euphoric mood, in taking this fortress, they suffered 200 men killed and wounded, while the Afghans lost nearly 500 men
7.
Sindh
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Sindh /sɪnd/ is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is locally known as the Mehran. It was formerly known as Sind until 1956, Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north, Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and Arabian Sea to the south. Sindhs climate is noted for hot summers and mild winters, the provincial capital of Sindh is Pakistans largest city and financial hub, Karachi. Sindh has Pakistans second largest economy with Karachi being its capital hosts the headquarters of several multinational banks. Sindh is home to a portion of Pakistans industrial sector. The remainder of Sindh has an agriculture based economy, and produces fruit, food consumer items, Sindh is also the centre of Pakistans pharmaceutical industry. Sindh is known for its culture which is strongly influenced by Sufism. Several important Sufi shrines are located throughout the province which attract millions of annual devotees, Sindh also has Pakistans highest percentage of Hindu residents. Karachi and other centres of Sindh have seen ethnic tensions between the native Sindhis and the Muhajirs boil over into violence on several occasions. Sindh is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Historical Monuments at Makli, and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro, the word Sindh is derived from the Sanskrit language and is adapted from the Sanskrit term Sindhu which literally means river hence a reference to Indus River. Spelling of its name as Sind was discontinued in 1988 by an amendment passed in Sindh Assembly. The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great rendered it as Indós, the ancient Iranians referred to everything east of the river Indus as hind from the word Sindh. When the British arrived in the 17th century in India, then ruled by the Maratha Empire, they applied the Greek version of the name Sindh to all of South Asia, calling it India. The name of Pakistan is actually an acronym in which the letter s is derived from the first letter in Sindh, Sindhs first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh, currently in Balochistan, to the west expanded into Sindh and this culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The primitive village communities in Balochistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment and this was one of the most developed urban civilizations of the ancient world
8.
Charles James Napier
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Charles James Napier was the eldest son of Colonel George Napier, and his second wife, Lady Sarah Lennox, with this being the second marriage for both parties. Lady Sarah was the great-granddaughter of King Charles II, Napier was born at the Whitehall Palace in London, and he received part of his education at boarding school in Celbridge, Ireland. He joined the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the British Army in January 1794, Napier commanded the 50th Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War in Iberia against Napoleon Bonaparte. Napiers activities there ended during the Battle of Corunna, in which he was wounded, Napier was rescued, barely alive, by a French Army drummer named Guibert, and taken as a prisoner-of-war. Nevertheless, Napier was awarded an Army Gold Medal after he was returned to British hands, Napier recuperated from his wounds while he was being held near the headquarters of the French Marshall Soult and afterwards Michel Ney. On March 21,1809, a British sloop approached Corunna with a letter for the commandant of the city, for his deeds at Bussaco and at Fuentes de Oñoro, Napier won the silver medal with two clasps. Napier returned to England and became the General Officer Commanding of the Northern District in England in April 1839, in 1842, at the age of 60, Napier was appointed Major General to the command of the Indian army within the Bombay Presidency. His orders had been only to put down the rebels, Napier was supposed to have despatched to his superiors the short, notable message, Peccavi, the Latin for I have sinned. This pun appeared under the title Foreign Affairs in Punch magazine on 18 May 1844, the true author of the pun was, however, Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth, who submitted it to Punch, which then printed it as a factual report. Later proponents of British rule over the East Indians justified the conquest thus, If this was a piece of rascality, it was a noble piece of rascality. On 4 July 1843, Napier was appointed Knight Grand Cross in the division of the Order of the Bath, in recognition of his leading the victories at Miani. He was also in 1843 given the colonelcy of the 97th Regiment of Foot, Napier was appointed Governor of the Bombay Presidency by Lord Ellenborough. Napier was again dispatched to India during the spring of 1849, however upon arriving once again in India, Napier found that this had already been accomplished by Lord Gough and his army. Napier remained for a while as the Commander-in-Chief in India and he also quarrelled repeatedly with Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. The source of the dispute was Dalhousies behaviour on Indias north-west frontier, Dalhousie had requested repeated punitive raids against villagers who had not paid taxes. Napier was opposed to these tactics but accompanied a column of East India Company troops under Sir Colin Campbell, the Punjab troops were not under Napiers command and began burning villages on Lawrences orders. ’. Napier returned home to England for the last time, however his quarrel with Dalhousie was not over. Instead they were pooh-poohed as the emanations of a distempered mind. ’ Napiers former house is now part of Oaklands Catholic School of Waterlooville, Napier died on 29 August 1853 and his remains were buried in the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth
