Assessment of the Military Prowess of the English vis a vis Indians
Background
This is a topic that will be of interest to many readers, irrespective of the fact whether they are soldiers or not. I shall in this article analyse the art of war of the English who ruled India for nearly 2 centuries in comparison with Indian chiefs of war. It does not concern individual acts of heroism or bravery, but generally the conduct of military warfare as per the Principles of War as enunciated by Clausewitz, the Prussian general and military thinker. Just for information Clausewitz laid down 10 principles of war, which are the guiding beacons in assessing any war or soldiery.
When I refer to Indians I use this term in the generic sense and include all inhabitants of India, both Moslems and Hindus and Sikhs as well as Buddhists who ruled India for almost 2 centuries as well.
Indians are apt to talk of the great battles fought by Shivaji or Guru Gobind Singh. But all must bear in mind that these warriors though very brave were fighting their battles in a small region of India. None of them could establish any semblance of control outside their areas of influence. As an example both these worthies were unheard of in Assam or deep South.
In contrast the English came from a distance of 5000 miles away from India and won the battles and wars despite the Indians having the home advantage. Thus all Indian rulers from Tippu Sultan to the Maharatha Chiefs and the Sikhs were bearded in their own dens and defeated decisively. Talking purely from a military point of view the English were the better exponents of the art of war and all Indians including Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims bit the dust in battles against them. Except for a battle or two by the Sikhs, it was a disaster for Indian armies to face the English, whose superior tactics and generalship stand out as an an example for all to follow. On the obverse one is saddened when one reads of of Indians with massive forces being bested by the English with fewer soldiers. That was the refrain for 200 years of English rule.
As I have said there were many other factors like turncoats, traitors etc, but all that is part of the game and at the end of the day the English beat the Indians in every department of the game of war.
The Art of War of the English
When Vasco de Gama charted the sea route to Indian in 1498, it was the start of European domination over India. It is a tribute to the handful of Portuguese traders and soldiers who were able to carve a niche for them in India. They were followed later by the English and French who dragged their rivalry in Europe to India. The French lost out to the English who in a matter of decades became the rulers of india.
At the beginning of English rule the one battle that stands out is the Battle of Plessey fought at a place about a 100 miles from Calcutta in 1757. the commander of the English force was Robert Clive. There is an excellent biography of Robert Clive by that great Indian writer Nirad C Choudhry "Clive of India",which is worth reading for connoisseurs of Indian history. There is no doubt that Clive as a general and Officer was streets ahead of any Indian warrior be it Shivaji or Banda Bahadur or Tippu Sultan. He deserves the epithet " Great", though Indians after independence because of political expediency are loathe to refer to him with this title.
I will not recount the battle which can be read in the history books, but mention that Clive defeated a combined Indian force of Muslims and Hindus under Nawab Siraj ud Dowlah which outnumbered him 9 to 1. Not forgetting that the Indian army was aided by French advisors. This battle marks the greatness of Clive who also won the Battle of Buxar ( 1764)and sealed the presence of the English as rulers for the next 2 centuries.
Some factors of the wars the English fought in India need mention. Firstly they were fighting battles almost 5000 miles away from their homeland and secondly they adapted better to conditions of war in the Indian sub-continent than the Indians themselves who had been residents in India for 4000 years.
One of the priciples of war is political aim and military strategy. The political aim was supreme as they were fighting for the King and glory of England. They wished to make England the greatest power on the globe and their generals and soldiers had a missionary zeal. They were a dedicated lot and had a clear cut political aim. We must remember no battle can be won or lost without a political aim. In contrast the Indian opposing them NEVER had a a vision of India as a united nation. They fought as splinter groups and were never united in a political aim and thus the dice was cast against them from the word "go".
A look at any of the ruers or Indian generals during the time of the English era and one can see that they were all pygmies fighting for limited objectives. Thus the Rani of Jhansi was fighting for just her kingdom, so was Tippu and the Sikhs who were happy to rule in Punjab and had no all India vision. This was a stupid idea and soon the British annexed Punjab after the Second Anglo-Sikh war that ended with the battle of Gujerat(1849).
The Maharatha's also suffered badly at the hands of the East India company and the Duke of Wellesley( later the duke of Wellington) who defeated them. This man after Clive is my second great English soldier who bested the Indians in their own den. The Duke is rightly accorded the title " great" as later he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo (1815).I have studied the campaigns of the Duke in India and I and many of my instructors at Staff College are convinced that just on the strength of his Indian campaigns the Duke of Wellesley deserves the accolade "great"
The Duke beat the hell out of Tippu Sultan, and Tippu had no choice left. He restored the Hindu dynasty in Mysore which had been deposed by the father of Tippu, Hyder Ali. His army annexed more territory than Shivaji or Hari Singh Nalwa had ever dreamt and that is no small matter. He followed up by crushing the Maratha confederacy in the Deccan region and later forced the Awadh rulers to surrender all their important cities to the British. He was the man who consolidated the work done by Clive and is one of the Great soldiers who existed on the sub- continent.
Richard Welesley folllowed the principles of offence, concentration of force, flexibilty and gathering intelligence in all his battles. This stood him in good stead against the Indian Sataraps, who talked more of rhetoric and bravery and failed to translate their words into action on the battlefield.There was a proposal to make him the Duke of Hindustan, but I won't go into it as in England also politics is involved.
There are many more soldiers from England like Lord General Hugh Gough, General YoungHusband, Lord Kitchner etc who made a mark in India. They beat the Indians in a playing field that was thousands of miles away from their homeland and one can say the odds were stacked against them, yet they won and that is the beauty of their art of war.
Last Word
Now India is free and we must cherish our history. The English rule is part of that history and a lot of good that we see today is the bonus of British rule or the Raj. The English soldiers fought for England no doubt, but they are to be emulated. We must study their single minded devotion to duty to the King and motherland. We must study their art of war.it's a bit of a shame that massive Indian armies were soundly beaten by fewer troops led by English generals. We need to put rhetoric aside and acknowledge greatness where ever due.
The English brought the art of war to the sublime in India. Their use of tactics and strategy in their battles need to be studied. Most Indian generals had no idea of tactics and just massed their soldiers for a massed charge. Battles and war is a serious subject and requires study. The present India ruling dispensation is not aware of the potency of military power. Remember the USA rules on strength of it's military might and so did the English for 300 years. Salute them and copy them. Some lessons are still to be learnt by the Indian political leadership.
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