Articles [General Reference]

The Anglo Sikh wars (1846-49) were the most ferocious battles faced by the British in India. These battles deeply affected the British psyche, with the result they started an association that lasted more than a 100 years. The Sikhs later became the...

The Asian mainland has 2 powers, who will decide the future of Asia. One is China and the other is India. Japan is the third power, but it is not part of the Asian mainland. Recently at the Police and Military club in  Abu Dhabi an interesting...

The Second World War has many exciting tales, but most of them concern the 2 major theaters namely Europe and the Pacific. Very little is publicised about the operations in the Indian state of Assam. This is often described as the " Forgotten...

Mahmud of Ghazni is a much reviled character in Hindu literature, while Muslims bring out the fact that he defeated the " Hindus", the Hindu  writers portray him as a destroyer of temples. No wonder the Pakistanis have named one of their...

Indian military history records that from ancient times the elephant was the main instrument of the army as a weapon of war. Indian kings had large corps of elephants who led the charge in a battle. In 326 BC at the battle of Hydespes, when Raja...

The Roman Empire was one of the great Empires of history, perhaps the greatest empire of all time and  maybe matched only by the Ottoman Empire. It was an empire that straddled 3 continents  and reading about this empire makes a...

Much has been written about the Imperial navy of Japan and the C in C of the fleet Admiral Yamamoto. However though, the Japanese Navy was an extremely professional force, it was apt to fritter its energy in unproductive operations. One such...

In 1950 the peoples liberation army  on orders of the Central Committee of the Communist party invaded the state of Tibet which was earlier an independent state and was recognized so by the British. It acted as a buffer between British India...

The battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam in 1954 is generally considered a classic battle which shows the conversion of a guerrilla war into a conventional war. The battle is thus a matter of study for students of military history. Before we discuss...

Burma is India's eastern neighbour and became free at about the same time as India. It was also under British rule and much of Burma including rail and other developments is courtesy the British Raj. the population of Burma is 53 million and 90% of...

 The Second World War brought forth new weapon systems, some of which were a success and some have just become part of history.In mid 1943, the Luftwaffe introduced a new composite bomber to strike at enemy shipping and special targets....

In 1962 the mighty Himalayas resounded with echoes of gunfire as the Chinese to reinforce their territorial claims reacted to India's push forward. Nehru while proceeding on a visit to Ceylon had told the press that " I have ordered the army to...

A great saint has said,” Refrain from constructing a wall and opt for erecting a bridge. “From this saying, we can learn many features for soothing our life journey. Undoubtedly there is no peace moments all the time in man’s life. Clockwise or...

For centuries India always had autocracy and a rule by kings and emperors. The darkest period of Indian history was Muslim rule over India. Without going into details, historians have concluded that Hindu population declined by 80 million during...

The State of Jammu and Kashmir was a part of the Mughal empire( minus Aksai Chin).  Later it was incorporated in the Sikh empire. After the defeat of the Sikhs in the Anglo -Sikh wars(1846-49), the state of Punjab was annexed by the East India...

India became free in 1947. It was a gift from the English and thus one can say that that freedom came to India without a fight. One should have no illusions, that the satyagraha and non-cooperagion movement launched by Gandhi brought freedom....

The recent ban of the Periyar Ambedkar study circle at the IIT, Madras,. by the IIT, Madras Management, has invited wide spread criticism, as it seemingly affects freedom of speech and expression. Except the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, and of...

India is now independent for close to 7 decades, but the political masters who govern India have little to show in terms of health and well being of the Indian nation. The Indian population still remains not only under nourished, but millions also...

India has a border stretching 3300 miles with China. I use the word China now  as after 1950, the Chinese army occupied Tibet, which was the buffer created by the British rulers between India and China. Tibet is no longer in existence and the...

There is politics in the air and the BJP made a hugh and cry by 'banning' the slaughter of cows and buffaloes for meat. The ban was enforced in Maharashtra and Haryana and in Haryana a prison term of 10 years was specified for selling beef. I have...