Gentlemen of the Raj: The Indian Army Officer Corps, 1817-1949

(Hardback)

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The dramatic transformation of a small British-led colonial force into a large modern national army, complete with its own institutional officer corps, is a unique event, one without parallel. Indeed, the Indian Army's evolution challenges many current theories on the nature of British colonial rule in India. Barua offers a case study of the only post-colonial officer corps, among developing nations, never to have toppled a civilian administration. Its successful transformation forces us to re-examine interpretations of the British Raj. This remarkable achievement was the culmination of a complex, if cautious, program of military modernization that has been practically ignored by scholars researching the colonial Indian Army. Barua examines these neglected institutional and organizational changes, demonstrating that the dynamics of colonial military modernization in India was a result of the interaction between British and Indians. The end result was the creation of a highly professional national army, one of the few in the developing world to be untainted by political involvement.

Reviews

The British Indian Army was a--perhaps the--crucial element of the Raj. It therefore merits careful study and, in well-researched monographs like this, is finally receiving close scholarly attention. . . . This is an important book for students of the Raj and its Army. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * Choice *
This is an interesting book on an important subject--the transformation of Britian's Indian Army as it began to 'Indianize' its officer corps from 1919 onwards. . . . [A]n engaging study, well worth the time of those seriously intersted in the twilight of the Ray and its indispensable army. * The International History Review *

Author Bio

Pradeep P. Barua is associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. He obtained his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995. He has authored several articles on Indian military history in the Journal of Military History, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Armed Forces & Society, and the Historian.