Page 218 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare—south asia 1995

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interests
of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights
of the place. • James Madison (1751–1836)

was focused more towards the northwest.The Indian mil- alist disturbances, most notoriously at Amritsar in
itary was thus separated from Indian society. British 1919. Some sepoys’ refusal to fire on nationalist
authorities justified this on the basis of the “martial- demonstrators at Meerut in 1930 indicates that they
races” ideology, a mixture of practical concerns and Vic- were becoming nationalist themselves.This period also
torian ethnography, which held that in India, “only witnessed the setting up of officer training for Indians in
certain clans and classes... [had]... the physical cour- India itself.The British strongly preferred “martial-race”
age necessary for the warrior” (MacMunn 1911, 129). Indians (such as Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims) as officers,
These “martial races” included Sikhs, “Punjabi and posted them to only 7.5 percent of the army.
Musalmans” and Nepali Gurkhas. To further ensure During World War II the Indian army again bal-
against mutinies, the ethnic composition of Army units looned, to 2.2 million men, and men from nonmartial
was strictly monitored. groups were recruited in increasing numbers, though
Indian nationalists resented being once again dragged
South Asian Forces Abroad into war without being consulted. Though the Indian
During the late nineteenth century, South Asian warfare army fought in the North African and Italian cam-
centered on the Indo-Afghan frontier, the scene of the paigns, its most significant deployments were in
“Great Game,” a rivalry between the Russian and British Malaya in 1941–1942 and in Burma (now Myanmar)
empires. Over twenty campaigns and the Second Afghan in 1941–1945. Malaya was a harsh battleground for
War (1878–1880) were fought in largely fruitless the Indian army, which was ill-trained and ill-equipped
attempts to control the area’s tribes. During this time the for jungle warfare; 45,000 Indian jawans (soldiers)
cost of the Indian army, which amounted to about 30 per- were captured by the Japanese. Out of this group was
cent of the Indian budget, was entirely borne by Indians. formed the Indian National Army (INA), a force allied
Indian forces also participated in military efforts in many to the Japanese, whose aim was to gain Indian inde-
parts of the British empire, mainly in Africa and Asia. pendence from Britain. Though not a significant mil-
This overseas deployment was greatly increased during itary threat, the very existence of such a force was
World War I (1914–1918), in which India, as a British further proof of the upwelling of nationalist feelings in
imperial possession, was committed to the Allies.The uni- the military and of the fact that, once the war was over,
fied Indian army’s Meerut and Lahore divisions, as jawans would not stand for continued British rule.
Britain’s strategic reserve, were deployed on the Western After shattering defeats, the Indian army overhauled
Front (France) in 1914–1915. Sepoys also saw action in itself in 1943–1944, and met and defeated the Japan-
the disastrous Mesopotamian campaign (1915–1916), ese invasion of northeastern India in 1944.Whereas in
in East Africa (1915–1918), and in Palestine (1917– 1939 there were only eleven Indian majors, by 1945
1918). The prospect of fighting their Ottoman coreli- 40 percent of the Army’s officers were Indian, and
gionists caused Muslim sepoys at Singapore to mutiny in there were Indian brigadiers.
1915. Sepoy recruitment skyrocketed, reaching 10,000
men a month by 1915. By 1918 India had recruited 1.4 South Asian Warfare
million men for the Allied war effort, many from classes since 1947
previously deemed “unmartial.” In 1917 Indians were The partition of British India into the sovereign states of
allowed into the Indian Army’s officer corps, which had, India and Pakistan in 1947 resulted in the partition of the
until then, been “ . . . properly reserved for the governing old Indian army, endemic warfare between the two new
race.” (Sundaram 2002, 75). states, centered mainly around the border area of Kash-
After World War I, the army reverted to its frontier mir, and differing models of civil-military relations.
warfare role. It was also used to disperse Indian nation- Broadly, the army was divided on a two-to-one ratio, with