British Indian Army - Organisation

Organisation

The Indian Army has its origins in the years after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, when in 1858 the Crown took over direct rule of British India from the East India Company. Before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in London.

The armies of the East India Company were recruited primarily from Muslims in the Bengal Presidency, which consisted of Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and high caste Hindus recruited primarily from the rural plains of Oudh. Many of these troops took part in the Indian Mutiny, with the aim of reinstating the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II at Delhi, partly as a result of insensitive treatment by their British officers.

The meaning of the term "Indian Army" has changed over time:

1858–1894 The Indian Army was an informal collective term for the armies of the three presidencies; the Bengal Army, Madras Army and Bombay Army.
1895–1902 The Indian Army had a formal existence and was the "army of the government of India", including British and Indian (sepoy) units.
1903–1947 Lord Kitchener was Commander-in-Chief, India, between 1902 and 1909. He instituted large-scale reforms, the greatest of which was the merger of the three armies of the Presidencies into a unified force. He formed higher level formations, eight army divisions, and brigaded Indian and British units. Following Kitchener's reforms:
  • The Indian Army was "the force recruited locally and permanently based in India, together with its expatriate British officers."
  • The British Army in India consisted of British Army units posted to India for a tour of duty, and which would then be posted to other parts of the Empire or back to the UK.
  • The Army of India consisted of both the Indian Army and the British Army in India.

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