What Times What Equal 48

British colonial war machine recruitment theory

Martial race was a designation which was created past army officials in British Bharat after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which they classified each caste as belonging to one of ii categories, the 'martial' caste and the 'non-martial' caste. The ostensible reason for this organization of nomenclature was the belief that a 'martial race' was typically dauntless and well-built for fighting,^[one] while the 'non-martial races' were those races which the British considered unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. Nevertheless, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to control large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.^[2] ^[3]

According to mod historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were divers every bit cowards, while those divers as brave were uneducated and astern". According to Amiya Samanta, the martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any grouping or land that volition pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait.^[4] ^[five] British-trained Indian soldiers were amid those who had rebelled in 1857 and thereafter, the Bengal Ground forces abandoned or diminished its recruitment of soldiers who came from the catchment expanse and enacted a new recruitment policy which favored castes whose members had remained loyal to the British Empire.^[six] ^{[ page needed ]}

The concept already had a precedent in Indian culture as one of the four orders (varnas) in the Vedic social system of Hinduism is known as the Kshatriya, literally "warriors".^[7] Brahmins were described as 'the oldest martial community',^[8] in the past having two of the oldest British Indian regiments, the 1st Brahmans and 3rd Brahmans.

Following Indian independence, the Indian government in Feb 1949 abolished the official application of "martial race" principles with regard to military recruitment, although information technology has connected to be applied formally and informally in certain circumstances.^[9] In Pakistan, such principles, although no longer rigidly enforced, take continued to hold considerable sway and have had major consequences for the nation's political life—the most extreme instance beingness the Bangladesh Liberation War, post-obit decades of continued Bengali exclusion from the armed forces.^[10]

Criteria

In their attempts to assert control after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British faced fierce resistance in some regions while easily acquisition others. British officials sought 'martial races' accustomed to hunting, or from agricultural cultures from hilly or mountainous regions with a history of disharmonize. Others were excluded due to their 'ease of living' or branded as seditious agitators.^[eleven] The doctrine of 'martial races' postulated that the qualities that make a useful soldier are inherited and that the residuum of most Indians did not have the requisite traits that would brand them warriors.^[12]

British general and scholar Lieutenant-General George MacMunn (1869–1952) noted in his writings "Information technology is simply necessary for a feeling to ascend that it is impious and disgraceful to serve the British, for the whole of our fabric to tumble like a business firm of cards without a shot being fired or a sword unsheathed".^[13] To this end, it became British policy to recruit only from those tribes whom they classified as members of the 'martial races', and the practice became an integral part of the recruitment manuals for the Ground forces in the British Raj.

The British regarded the 'martial races' as valiant and potent simply also intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large armed services formations.^[3] They were also regarded as politically subservient or docile to say-so.^[2] ^[14] For these reasons, the martial races theory did non lead to officers existence recruited from them; recruitment was based on social course and loyalty to the British Raj.^[xv] One source calls this a "pseudo-ethnological" construction, which was popularised by Frederick Sleigh Roberts, and created serious deficiencies in troop levels during the Globe Wars, compelling them to recruit from 'non-martial races'.^[16] Winston Churchill was reportedly concerned that the theory was abandoned during the war and wrote to the Commander-in-Chief, India that he must, "rely as much as possible on the martial races".^[17]

Critics of the theory state that the Indian rebellion of 1857 may accept played a part in reinforcing the British belief in it. During this result the troops from the Bengal Native Infantry led by sepoy Mangal Pandey mutinied against the British. Similarly, the Defection of Rajab Ali from Chittagong also caused trouble with British forces. However, the loyal Rajputs, Jats, Pashtuns, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Kumaunis and Garhwalis did not join the wildcat, and fought on the side of the British Ground forces. From then on, this theory was used to the hilt to accelerate recruitment from amidst these 'races', whilst discouraging enlistment of 'disloyal' troops and high-degree Hindus who had sided with the rebel regular army during the war.^[18]

Some authors, such as Heather Streets, fence that the armed services authorities puffed up the images of the martial soldiers by writing regimental histories, and by extolling the kilted Scots, kukri-wielding Gurkhas and turbaned Sikhs in numerous paintings.^[19] Richard Schultz, an American writer, has claimed the martial race concept as a supposedly clever British effort to split up and rule the people of India for their own political ends.^[twenty]

Tribes and groups designated equally martial races

In British colonial times

French postcard depicting the arrival of 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World State of war I. The post card reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten the German language hooligans"

The list of War machine castes cited in the 1891 demography general report.

British-declared martial races in the Indian subcontinent included some groups that were officially designated instead as "agricultural tribes" under the provisions of the Punjab Country Alienation Act of 1900. These terms were considered to be synonymous when the administration compiled a list in 1925. Amongst the communities listed as martial were:^[21]

Ahir
Arain
Awan
Baloch (Baluch)
Brahmins^[22]
Dogra
Gakhar
Gujjars (Gurjar)
Janjua
Jat
Kamboh
Khokhar
Labana
Mahton
Mughal
Saini
Pathan
Rajputs
Rowthers
Qureshi
Sial
Syed

Communities that were at diverse times classified every bit martial races include:

Sudhan Pathan^[23] ^[24] ^[25]
Gaur Brahmin^[26]
Bhumihar Brahmins^[27]
Garhwali^[28]
Gurkhas^[29]
Kumaoni^[30]
Kurmi^[31]
Marathas^[32]
Mohyal Brahmin^[33]
Naga people^[31]
Mukkulathor^[31]
Nairs^[34]

Post-colonial menstruation

India

India was quick to formally disclaim the martial races theory afterwards gaining independence. The largest single of source recruitment for the British Indian Army had come from Punjab, with Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims particularly preferred, with the result that at independence over 50% of the new Indian Armed services' senior officers came from East Punjab, despite the fact that information technology fabricated upward simply five% of the new country's population.^[35] Recognizing the destabilising potential of an unrepresentative armed forces, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru soon urged the Commander-in-Chief, India and Defence Secretary to undertake "big scale reform to the military".^[36]

Notwithstanding, while most caste or tribal confined on recruitment were lifted, recruitment in regions populated by the quondam "martial races" was progressively intensified, with the outcome that by the beginning of the 1970s, Bharat had more than than doubled the number of "martial class" units. The Punjab Regiment, which recruits mainly Sikhs and Dogras, had gone from five to 29 battalions since independence, while the Rajputana Rifles, which is mainly composed of Jats and Rajputs, increased from vi to 21 battalions over the same time period.^[36] The three states that comprised the former East Punjab—Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab—remain substantially over-represented in the contemporary Indian Armed Forces. In 2001, Haryana, which accounted for 2.2% of India'south population, accounted for 7.82% of the armed services' headcount; the figures for Himachal Pradesh were 0.6% of the population, and 4.68% of the armed forces, and for Punjab, ii.4% of the population and xvi.6% of the armed forces.^[37]

Explicit ethnic- or caste-based requirements take nonetheless persisted amongst some war machine formations. The most notable instance is the President's Babysitter, the most senior and arguably the most prestigious unit of the Indian Army, which recruits exclusively from Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs in equal proportion. The Indian government has defended what information technology terms as "class composition" restrictions on the grounds of the "functional requirements" of the formalism detachment, namely its "ceremonial duties [which] demand common tiptop, built, appearance and dress for reason of pomp and projection".^[38]

Islamic republic of pakistan

At independence, the new Pakistan Military as well reflected the institutional legacy of the "martial races" theory, although it was no longer formally applied there as well. The British preference of Punjabis, combined with the fact that Bengalis (who were the single largest group in the new nation) had been disfavored ever since the Defection of 1857, led to an even more than ethnically lopsided ground forces corps than in Republic of india. At the Pakistan Army's establishment in 1947, Punjab, with 25% of the new nation's population, accounted for 72% of the Ground forces's headcount, while East Bengal, with 55% of the total population, was most unrepresented. In the Armoured Corps, in that location was not a single Muslim member from Sindh, Balochistan or Bengal, which together comprised 70% of Pakistan's total population.^[ten]

This imbalance created tensions, especially amidst the Bengalis of East Islamic republic of pakistan, who felt humiliated by the continued belief in the theory which connected to hold sway in Due west Islamic republic of pakistan, that they were not 'martially inclined' compared to the Punjabis and Pashtuns.^[39] Pakistani author Hasan-Askari Rizvi notes that the limited recruitment of Bengali personnel in the Pakistan Army was because the W Pakistanis "could non overcome the hangover of the martial race theory".^[40] As a result, in 1955, out of the Pakistan Ground forces's 908-strong officeholder corps, 894 hailed from W Pakistan and a mere xiv from East Islamic republic of pakistan. Thus, following the coup d'état of 1958, the exclusion of East Pakistani Bengalis from military leadership translated into their exclusion from the nation's political leadership. This deepened the alienation of East Pakistanis from the Pakistani authorities, which would eventually lead to the independence of People's republic of bangladesh.^[36]

Furthermore, it has been declared that the continued influence of the theory among the command of the Islamic republic of pakistan Armed Forces, whose rank and file had largely fatigued from the former martial races, contributed to an otherwise unjustified confidence that they would easily defeat India in a war, especially prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.^[41] ^[42] Based on this belief in martial supremacy^[43] ^[44] ^[45] numerical superiority of the foe could be overcome.^[46] Defence writers in Pakistan have noted that the 1971 defeat was partially attributable to the flawed 'martial races' theory which led to wishful thinking that it was possible to defeat the Bengali Rebel Forces based on the theory solitary.^[47] Author Stephen P. Cohen notes that "Elevating the 'martial races' theory to the level of an accented truth had domestic implications for Pakistani politics and contributed to the neglect of other aspects of security.".^[46]

In contemporary Islamic republic of pakistan, army recruitment still reflects the biases of "martial races" theory, with a considerable over-representation of ethnic Pashtuns and Punjabis, particularly from the Table salt Range, and under-representation of Balochis and Sindhis.^[10] In the past few decades there have been some efforts to rectify these imbalances and make the Military more representative, in part by relaxing recruitment standards in Sindh and Balochistan.^[10] In 2007 a study published by the Inter-Services Public Relations claimed success bringing the army'south composition closer to national demographics; the proportion of Punjabis in the army had fallen from 71% in 2001 to 57% in 2007, and was expected to achieve 54% by 2011.^{[ needs update ]} In turn, the proportion of Sindhis was expected to increment from 15% to 17%, and Balochis from three.2% in 2007 to 4% in 2011. The report too projected an increase in the soldiers from Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from 0% to 9% by 2011.^[x] However, noting that, for instance, a disproportionately large share of new recruits from Sindh are ethnic Pathans (Pashtuns) rather than Sindhis, critics accept alleged that such figures, in measuring provincial origin rather than ethnicity per se, mask continued biases in recruiting.^[10]

References

^ Rand, Gavin (March 2006). "Martial Races and Purple Subjects: Violence and Governance in Colonial India 1857–1914". European Review of History. Routledge. 13 (1): one–20. doi:10.1080/13507480600586726. S2CID 144987021.
^ ^a ^b Omar Khalidi (2003). Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Constabulary, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots. 3 Essays Commonage. p. 5. ISBN9788188789092. Autonomously from their physique, the martial races were regarded as politically subservient or docile to say-so
^ ^a ^b Philippa Levine (2003). Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Crabs Disease in the British Empire. Psychology Press. ISBN978-0-415-94447-2. The saturday review had made much the same agrument a few years earlier in relation to the armies raised by Indian rulers in princely states. They lacked compenent leadership and were uneven in quality. Commander in chief Roberts, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the martial race theory, though poorly of the native troops as a body. Many regarded such troops as childish and unproblematic. The British, claims, David Omissi, believe martial Indians to be stupid. Certainly, the policy of recruiting among those without access to much education gave the british more than semblance of control over their recruits. [...]Garnet Wolseley, i of Great britain's most admired late nineteenth-century soldiers, published a damning essay on "The negro equally soldier" in 1888, and though his focus was on the Arican command with which he was most familiar, his dismissive comments are typical of those used against nonwhite soldiers more than broadly. While "the Savage" lacked intelligence, was riddled with disease, and enjoyed human suffering, the Ango-Saxon craved "manly sports" that had adult in him a "bodily strength" unmatched by whatsoever other nation.
^ Greenhut, Jeffrey (1983) The Imperial Reserve: the Indian Corps on the Western Forepart, 1914–15. In: The Periodical of Imperial and Commonwealth History, October 1983.
^ Amiya K. Samanta (2000). Gorkhaland Movement: A Report in Ethnic Separatism. APH Publishing. pp. 26–. ISBN978-81-7648-166-3. Dr . Jeffrey Greenhunt has observed that " The Martial Race Theory had an elegant symmetry . Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined every bit brave were uneducated and backward. Likewise their mercenary spirit was primarily due to their lack of nationalism.
^ Streets, Heather (2004). Martial Races: The military, race and masculinity in British Regal Culture, 1857–1914. Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-7190-6962-eight . Retrieved 20 Oct 2010.
^ Das, Santanu (2010). "India, empire and Outset World State of war writing". In Boehmer, Elleke; Chaudhuri, Rosinka (eds.). The Indian Postcolonial: A Disquisitional Reader. Routledge. p. 301. ISBN978-one-13681-957-five.
^ Gajendra Singh (16 January 2014). The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the Two Globe Wars: Between Self and Sepoy. A&C Black. pp. 29–. ISBN978-1-78093-820-two.
^ "No More than Class Composition in Indian Ground forces" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of Bharat - Archive. one Feb 1949. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Lakshmi, V. Vidya (1 June 2016). "Pakistan Army: Martial Race or National Army?". Mantraya . Retrieved 25 August 2021.
^ Ethnic Group Recruitment in the Indian Army; by Dr. Omar Khalidi. Archived 20 Oct 2006 at the Wayback Machine
^ Greenhut, Jeffrey (1984) Sahib and Sepoy: an Inquiry into the Relationship between the British Officers and Native Soldiers of the British Indian Army. (In: Military Affairs, Vol. 48, No. one (Jan. 1984), p. 15.
^ MacMunn, One thousand. F. (1911). The Armies of Bharat; painted past Major A. C. Lovett. London: Adam & Charles Black.
^ "Ethnic Group Recruitment in the Indian Army: The Contrasting Cases of Sikhs, Muslims, Gurkhas and Others past Omar Khalidi". Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved iv September 2017.
^ "FindArticles.com | CBSi". world wide web.findarticles.com . Retrieved 22 Apr 2022.
^ Country Data – Based on the Land Studies Series by Federal Inquiry Division of the Library of Congress.
^ Bose, Mihir. The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India; p. 25.
^ "Islamic republic of pakistan - THE BRITISH RAJ". countrystudies.u.s. . Retrieved 22 April 2022.
^ Volume review of Martial Races: The military, race and masculinity in British Majestic Culture, 1857–1914 By Heather Streets in The Telegraph.
^ SHULTZ, RICHARD H.; DEW, ANDREA J. (2006). Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat. Columbia Academy Press. p. 47. ISBN9780231503426. JSTOR 10.7312/shul12982.
^ Mazumder, Rajit Yard. (2003). The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab. Orient Longman. p. 105. ISBN9788178240596.
^ Singh, Gajendra (16 January 2014). The Testimonies of Indian Soldiers and the 2 World Wars: Betwixt Self and Sepoy. A&C Black. ISBN978-1-78093-820-2.
^ Kapur, Manohar Lal (1980). History of Jammu and Kashmir State: The making of the State. India: Kashmir History Publications. p. 51.
^ Snedden, Christopher (2015). "Jammu and Jammutis". Agreement Kashmir and Kashmiris. HarperCollins India. ISBN9781849043427.
^ Malik, Iffat (2002), "Jammu Province", Kashmir: Ethnic Conflict International Dispute, Oxford University Press, p. 62, ISBN978-0-nineteen-579622-iii
^ Toland, Judith D. (28 July 2017). Ethnicity and the Country. ISBN9781351294584.
^ Roy, Kaushik (2004). Bharat'due south Historic Battles: From Alexander the Corking to Kargil. ISBN9788178241098.
^ Mazumder, Rajit K. (2003). The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab. Orient Longman. p. 99. ISBN9788178240596.
^ Surridge, Keith (2007). "Martial Races: the War machine, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914 (review)". Journal of Victorian Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Academy Press. 12 (1): 146–150. doi:10.1353/jvc.2007.0017. ISSN 1355-5502. S2CID 162319158.
^ gokhale, namita (1998). mountain echoes a reminiscense of kumaoni women. Roli pvt ltd. ISBN9788174360403.
^ ^a ^b ^c Martial races of undivided India. Gyan Publishing House. 2009. ISBN9788178357751.
^ Artistic Pasts: Historical Retention And Identity in Western Republic of india, 1700-1960 From book: "In the early twentieth century, the Marathas were identified equally a "martial race" fit for the majestic regular army, and recruitment of Marathas increased after Globe State of war I."
^ Singh, Khushwant (2003). The End of India. Penguin. p. 98. ISBN978-0143029946. Panjabi Mussalmans and Khalsa Sikhs were declared 'martial races' for recruitment to the army or the police force; only i pocket-size Hindu caste, the Mohyal Brahmins, qualified as martial.
^ Hartmann, Paul; Patil, B. R.; Dighe, Anita (1989). The Mass Media and Hamlet Life: An Indian Report. Sage Publications. p. 224. ISBN0-8039-9581-4.
^ Wilkinson, Steven I. (2015). Ground forces and Nation: The Military and Indian Commonwealth Since Independence. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN9780674967007.
^ ^a ^b ^c Guruswamy, Menaka (16 July 2016). "Why the Indian army needs to abandon the colonial concept of 'martial races'". The Gyre . Retrieved 25 August 2021.
^ Khalidi, Omar (2001). "Indigenous Grouping Recruitment in the Indian Army: The Contrasting Cases of Sikhs, Muslims, Gurkhas and Others". Pacific Affairs. 74 (4): 529–552. doi:ten.2307/3557805. JSTOR 3557805. Retrieved 25 Baronial 2021.
^ Ahsan, Sofi (eighteen July 2019). "President's bodyguards: Govt defends recruitment procedure, says information technology's based on 'functional requirements'". Indian Express . Retrieved 25 August 2021.
^ Library of Congress studies.
^ Rizvi, Hasan-Askari (September 2000). Military, State and Social club in Pakistan. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 128. ISBN0-312-23193-viii.
^ Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Gimmicky Combat Richard H. Shultz, Andrea Dew: "The Martial Races Theory had firm adherents in Pakistan and this factor played a major function in the under-estimation of the Indian Ground forces by Pakistani soldiers too as noncombatant decision makers in 1965."
^ Us Library of Congress Country Studies "Most Pakistanis, schooled in the belief of their own martial prowess, refused to accept the possibility of their country'southward military defeat by 'Hindu India'."
^ Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.
^ "End-game?" By Ardeshir Cowasjee – eighteen July 1999, Dawn.
^ India Stanley Wolpert Published: University of California Press 1990. "India's ground forces... speedily dispelled the pop Pakistani myth that one Muslim soldier was 'worth x Hindus.'"
^ ^a ^b The Thought of Pakistan Stephen P. Cohen Published: Brookings Institution Printing 2004 ISBN 0-8157-1502-1 pp. 103–104.
^ "Pakistan's Defence Journal". Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 29 February 2008.