A public lecture as part of the workshop "Sounds, Literature and Images: Indian Experience in the First World War"

The Indian Army is a unique military institution created by the British in colonial India. Initially the British developed three Presidency Armies in India by recruiting local soldiers and training them in the European way of warfare. The commissioned ranks in these armies were held by the British. The armies were based on the regimental system. The largest of these armies was the Bengal Army which mutinied in 1857 a????er which the whole military establishment in India was reformed. The history of the Indian Army between 1850 to 1950 is one of continuity and change. While passing time necessitated change in recruitment and technology, the military establishment was resistant to change. Nonetheless the imperatives of the two world wars transformed the Indian Army in myriad ways and disproved many colonial myths about the military prowess of Indians in general. The Indian Army inherited by independent India was a product of military traditions cultivated by the state for two hundred years and the changes wrought in it by the international wars of the 20th century. A non political professionalism was an important characteristic of this Army the Indian Republic preserved for a long time.

About the speaker:

Dr. Anirudh Deshpande is Professor of Modern History, Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Delhi University