The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India

The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy

Randolf G. S. Cooper (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

456 Seiten

2004
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-82444-6 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This book analyses the Anglo-Maratha Campaigns of 1803 which represented the last serious indigenous obstacle to the formation of the British Raj. It re-examines the campaigns and assumptions concerning 'the Military Revolution' and shows that British victory hinged on economics and military intelligence, not superior discipline, drill and technology.

This is a cross-cultural study of the political economy of war in South Asia. Randolf G. S. Cooper combines an overview of Maratha military culture with a battle-by-battle analysis of the 1803 Anglo-Maratha Campaigns. Building on that foundation he challenges ethnocentric assumptions about British superiority in discipline, drill and technology. He argues that these campaigns, in which Arthur Wellesley served with distinction, represent the military high-water mark of the Marathas who posed the last serious opposition to the formation of the British Raj. Dr Cooper asserts that the real contest for India was never a single decisive battle for the subcontinent. Rather it turned on a complex social and political struggle for control of the South Asian military economy. The author shows that victory in 1803 hinged as much on finance, diplomacy, politics and intelligence as it did on battlefield manoeuvre and war itself.

Randolf G. S. Cooper is a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

List of maps; Acknowledgements; A note on transliteration and references; List of abbreviations used in the references; Introduction; 1. Maratha military culture; 2. British perceptions and the road to war in 1803; 3. The Deccan campaign of 1803; 4. The Hindustan campaign of 1803; 5. 'Coming in'; 6. The anatomy of victory; Appendix I: chronology of Anglo-South Asian wars; Appendix II: British troop strengths and casualties for the Hindustan and Deccan campaigns 1803; Appendix III: Governor-General Wellesley's 'Maratha' proclamation of 1803; Appendix IV: mercenary pension records; Appendix V: the Marathas' employment of mercenaries in historic perspective; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	12.2.2004
Zusatzinfo	11 Maps
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	159 x 236 mm
Gewicht	840 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
ISBN-10	0-521-82444-3 / 0521824443
ISBN-13	978-0-521-82444-6 / 9780521824446
Zustand	Neuware