Introduction; 1. The bedrock of the Raj: the Indian Army before 1939; 2. The performance of the Indian army in the Second World War; 3. Question of loyalty? The Indian National Army and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny; 4. The Indian Army in French Indo-China and the Netherlands East Indies 1945–6; 5. 1946, the year of difficulty: internal security and the rise of communal violence; 6. Demobilisation, nationalisation and division of the army in the midst of chaos; 7. 1947: the year of reckoning and the end of the Raj; Conclusion: the end of the British Indian Army; Bibliography; Index.
A unique examination of the role of the Indian army in post-World War II India during the run-up to Partition.
Daniel Marston is Professor of Military Studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is also the Principal of the Military and Defence Studies Program at the Australian Command and Staff College in Canberra, Australia. He has also been a Visiting Fellow with the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War. His first book Phoenix from the Ashes, an in-depth assessment of how the British/Indian Army turned defeat into victory in the Burma campaign of the Second World War, won the Field Marshal Templer Medal Book Prize in 2003. He completed his doctorate in the history of war at Balliol College, Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
'The 'Transfer of Power' in India has often been written about in
terms of politics and personalities, but lingering largely
unnoticed in the background has been a crucial, unasked question:
why did the Indian Army, under stresses as powerful as any army in
modern history has experienced, not simply disintegrate, throwing
the subcontinent into total chaos? Mixing massive archival
research, interviews with surviving participants, British, Indian
and Pakistani, and a profound empathy for the subject, Marston
answers that question in a book that will certainly readjust
perspectives on the end of the Raj, and be essential reading for
any serious student of that epochal event.' Raymond Callahan, FRHS,
Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware
'Daniel Marston has given us in this volume some deep insights into
how the former British Indian Army went through a transformation to
become the truly national armies of two independent states whose
foreign and defence policies were very different to those of their
former Imperial master. This volume is built on prodigious,
accurate documentary work and hundreds of interviews with surviving
British, Indian and Pakistani soldiers of those times. It is a
complex, fascinating and well-told story, and reinforces in the
mind of the reader the value of the old British model of
military-political relations. At the same time, it demonstrates the
importance of the liberal post-imperial policy which permitted and
encouraged the transfer of power while still retaining a high
military capability which was to be put to the test all too soon.'
Robert O'Neill, Chichele Professor of the History of War, All Souls
College, University of Oxford
'Daniel Marston's superb history shows how the Indian Army stayed
cohesive and effective in the face of external enemies and the
near-collapse of the colonial state. It is a story with valuable
lessons for policymakers looking to understand what keeps armies
together - and out of politics - in democratic transitions.' Steven
I. Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies
and Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Yale
University, Connecticut
'Marston's work is eminently readable and presents a very clear
analysis of what strengths the Army of the Raj was able to draw
upon to overcome civil and political disorder. His use of a myriad
of primary sources further reinforces his thesis and position. His
is not a study of the individual soldier but their reminisces and
that of their peers and commanders are the basis upon which the
work is built … Marston's book is an outstanding work and deserves
the closest of review.' Chris Buckham, War History Online
(warhistoryonline.com)
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