varnam

In the 19th century Britain moved from the empire where the sun did not set to one which had lost all its power and a number of factors have been cited for this. A book by Anirudh Deshpande examines the British Military strategy during its age of decline.

Besides inadequate capital investment, the armed forces also suffered from a shortage of officers. In the inter-war period, young Britons were not willing to join the army. And racism and insecurity prevented the British government from allowing a large number of Indians into the commissioned ranks. The Indian army remained a regiment-centric and frontier-oriented force during World War II. Deshpande asserts that the raj had to recruit the urban �??non-martial�?� classes under the pressures of war. However, the failure of the colonial state to address their economic grievances resulted in discontent in the armed forces. These, in turn, had an effect on the freedom struggle, the net result being unplanned decolonization.

Deshpande asserts how faulty the British security policy was, which finally culminated in decolonization in 1947. His claim that mass indiscipline, desertions and mutinies between 1940-45 threatened the Indian army cannot be sustained after analysing the court martial and war cabinet records. Even during the Quit India movement, the Indian army stood firm by its white master. Only after 1945, when the sahibs failed to provide jobs for the demobilized sepoys did the latter turn �??nationalist�?�. [HOW TABLES GOT TURNED]