Indianization, the Officer Corps, and the Indian Army

In the Indian Army of the British Raj, the officer corps was “reserved for the governing race”, (i.e. the British). Only in 1917, a mere thirty years before India won freedom, did the Raj permit Indians into the Army’s officer corps, thus slowly beginning its Indianization. Yet it is often forgotten that this decision was the culmination of a hundred-year-long debate. Based on meticulous archival research in Britain and India, this book breaks new ground by offering readers the first detailed account of this generally forgotten debate. It traces the myriad schemes and counter-schemes the debate generated, the complex twists and turns it took, and how it engaged both British policy-makers anxious to maintain control, as well as nationalist Indian leaders agitating for greater self-government. This work also offers insights into the martial races concept, the 1857 uprising, and the impact of Anglo-Indian ideology upon the Indian Army. Clearly written and carefully argued, this monograph is an original and defining contribution to military/war and society history, the history of colonial India and its army, the history of British empire, the history of racism, and to civil-military relations.