A Military History of India and South Asia: From the East India Company to the Nuclear Age, ed. Daniel P. Marston and Chandar S. Sundaram

2011 ◽  
Vol CXXVI (518) ◽  
pp. 214-216
Author(s):  
R. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Military History ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Nuclear Age ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Exploring the Dynamics of Social Composition and Recruitment Procedures of Madras Army, 1807–61

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Manas Dutta
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South India ◽  
Military History ◽  
East India Company ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Social Composition ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Tradition

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of research on the history of the colonial armies in South Asia in general and the Madras Presidency in particular. This has been further accentuated with the emergence of the new military history that explicates the social composition and the diverse recruitment procedures of the Madras Army, hitherto unexplored under the East India Company around the first half of the nineteenth century in India. In fact, the very concept of raising an army battalion in the subcontinent underwent change to meet the potential challenges of the other European authorities, which existed during that time. The very composition of the Madras Army and its diverse recruiting policies made the presidency army capable of handling the emerging threat and maintaining the trading interests in the subcontinent of the East India Company. The Madras Army looked upon the epitome of disciplined military tradition since its inception. This article argues how the social composition and recruiting procedures came to be conglomerated to form a distinct military establishment in south India under the company rule.

Orientalism in Transit: Company Men, Colonial Historiography, and Other Handmaidens of Empire

2019 ◽  
pp. 170-183
Author(s):  
Olivera Jokic
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
East India Company ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Empire ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Work Done

Chapter seven examines the work of a group of men affiliated with the East India Company through the writings they sent to John Bruce, the Company’s “official historiographer” between 1793 and 1817. Bruce solicited the help of these otherwise obscure men in writing a history that would represent favorably in London the transnational work the Company was doing in South Asia. Their accounts are a fascinating combination of ethnography; theoretical disquisitions about the significance of political and cultural histories of places in which the Company invested; and statements about the epistemological relationship between India and Britain. These men show off particular kinds of expertise derived from their displacement from Britain, allowing us to see the history of empire as a history of work done by migrants..

Mountstuart Elphinstone in South Asia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shah Mahmoud Hanifi ◽  
William Dalrymple
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Conducting Research

Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859), Lowland Scottish traveller, East India Company civil servant and educator, was one of the principal intellectual architects of British colonial rule in South Asia. Imbued with liberal views, such that Bombay's wealthy founded Elphinstone College in his memory, he pioneered the scholarly, scientific and administrative foundations of imperialism in India.  Elphinstone's career was launched when he was picked to lead the inaugural British diplomatic mission to the Afghan court. His Account of the Kingdom of Caubul (1815) became the main source of British information about Afghanistan. He is best known for his periods as Resident at Poona and Governor of Bombay in the 1810s and 1820s, when he instituted innovative and lasting policies in administration and education while also conducting research for his extremely influential History of India (1841).  This volume examines Mountstuart Elphinstone's intellectual contributions and administrative career in their own right, in relation to prominent contemporaries including Charles Metcalfe and William Moorcroft, and in the context of later historical study of India, Afghanistan, British imperialism and its imperial frontiers.

scholarly journals The Despotic State? : The Nature and Role of 18th Century Mughal Administration in the Great Divergence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagnik Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Central Government ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Great Divergence ◽  
English East India Company

Why Europe grew rich and ‘Asia’ became poor is the substance for the fiercely contested ‘Great Divergence’ debate where the prevailing Eurocentric view posits that European exceptionalism was responsible for the former’s success. The essence of the picture painted in the arguments against ‘oriental states’ is a despotic and extractive one that hinders commercial activities. This paper tries to address this debate through looking at the nature and role of Mughal the administrative machinery and challenge image of despotic hegemony. In order to address the issue of commensurability of sources, the present author has only used European accounts and correspondences produced by the English East India Company and the Dutch VOC. The paper argues that the Eurocentric perspective essentially paints an ahistorical picture of the Mughal state by investigating European responses to the deaths of important Mughal emperors (Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb) and the economic consequences following it. Additionally, this paper also provides evidence of a strong role of bankers in the internal commercial system further undermining the image of the extractive state and supporting the ‘Great Firm theory’ of Karen Leonard. In conclusion, it is argued that the European-exceptionalism theory is fundamentally based on an orientalist imagination of South Asia and essentially suffers from the pitfalls of the ‘historiography of decline’ that plague the history of other ‘Asian’ empires such as the Qing and the Ottomans. Eighteenth century South Asia shows considerable similarities with early modern Europe and its commercial viability and agility does not appear to be dependent on the central government or the abilities of the emperor.

Отцейхгаузадомузеяизисториивоенно-историческогомузеяартиллерии,инженерныхвойскивойсксвязи

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-197
Author(s):  
V.E. . Sergei
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Military History ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
General Field ◽  
Signal Corps ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Military Engineering ◽  
The Military

The article is dedicated to the history of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Corps. The author examines the main stages of the museums formation, starting with the foundation of the Arsenal, established in St. Petersburg at the orders of Peter the Great on August 29th 1703 for the safekeeping and preservation of memory, for eternal glory of unique arms and military trophies. In 1756, on the base of the Arsenals collection, the General Inspector of Artillery Count P.I. created the Memorial Hall, set up at the Arsenal, on St. Petersburgs Liteyny Avenue. By the end of the 18th century the collection included over 6,000 exhibits. In 1868 the Memorial Hall was transferred to the New Arsenal, at the Crownwork of the Petropavlovsky Fortress, and renamed the Artillery Museum (since 1903 the Artillery Historical Museum). A large part of the credit for the development and popularization of the collection must be given to the historian N.E. Brandenburg, the man rightly considered the founder of Russias military museums, who was the chief curator from 1872 to 1903. During the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars a significant part of the museums holdings were evacuated to Yaroslavl and Novosibirsk. Thanks to the undying devotion of the museums staff, it not only survived, but increased its collection. In the 1960s over 100,000 exhibits were transferred from the holdings of the Central Historical Museum of Military Engineering and the Military Signal Corps Museum. In 1991 the collection also received the entire Museum of General Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, transferred from the Polish town of Bolesawjec. The Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Coprs is now one of the largest museums of military history in the world. It holds an invaluable collection of artillery and ammunition, of firearms and cold steel arms, military engineering and signal technology, military banners, uniforms, a rich collection of paintings and graphic works, orders and medals, as well as extensive archives, all dedicated to the history of Russian artillery and the feats of our nations defenders.Статья посвящена истории создания ВоенноИсторического музея артиллерии, инженерных войск и войск связи. Автор рассматривает основные этапы становления музея, начиная с основания Арсенала, созданного в СанктПетербурге по приказу Петра I 29 августа 1703 года для хранения и сохранения памяти, во имя вечной славы уникального оружия и военных трофеев. В 1756 году на базе коллекции Арсенала генеральный инспектор артиллерии граф П. И. создал мемориальный зал, установленный при Арсенале, на Литейном проспекте СанктПетербурга. К концу 18 века коллекция насчитывала более 6000 экспонатов. В 1868 году Мемориальный зал был перенесен в Новый Арсенал, на венец Петропавловской крепости, и переименован в Артиллерийский музей (с 1903 года Артиллерийский Исторический музей). Большая заслуга в развитии и популяризации коллекции принадлежит историку Н.Е. Бранденбургу, человеку, по праву считавшемуся основателем российских военных музеев, который был главным хранителем с 1872 по 1903 год. В годы Гражданской и Великой Отечественной войн значительная часть фондов музея была эвакуирована в Ярославль и Новосибирск. Благодаря неусыпной преданности сотрудников музея, он не только сохранился, но и пополнил свою коллекцию. В 1960х годах более 100 000 экспонатов были переданы из фондов Центрального исторического военноинженерного музея и Музея войск связи. В 1991 году коллекцию также получил весь музей генералфельдмаршала М. И. Кутузова, переданный из польского города Болеславец. Военноисторический музей артиллерии, инженерных войск и войск связи в настоящее время является одним из крупнейших музеев военной истории в мире. Здесь хранится бесценная коллекция артиллерии и боеприпасов, огнестрельного и холодного оружия, военной техники и сигнальной техники, военных знамен, обмундирования, богатая коллекция живописных и графических работ, орденов и медалей, а также обширные архивы, посвященные истории русской артиллерии и подвигам защитников нашего народа.

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