How Indian Troops Became the Backbone of the British Empire

[Indus Pakistan]

^^^

Agreed. Any Indian jokers from Cheenai, Bagalaru or whatever needing elemantary lesson on IVC read on. The two defining sites of the IVC are Mohenjo Daro and Harrapa.Yes, I know there are a few bread crumbs in adjacent areas of Afghanistan and India but the epicentres are in Pakistan. Click and confirm.

Mohenjo Daro is in Sindh .............Mohenjo-daro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harrapa is in Punjab, Pakistan ......Harappa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And we all know like Pakistan Nationalist said what Nile is to Eygpt, Indus is to Pakistan. No Indus and Pakistan would wither and die. IVC was a gift of the Indus and modern Pakistan is a gift of the Indus.

Going back to the British Indian Army - It is important to append it with the word British because the title Indian Army gives the impression that this was same as the modern Indian Army. The British Indian Army was a British force at the service of the crown and accordingly was officered by the British and took orders from London. Its enlisted men were recruited from todays Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh which was then a British enslaved colony known as British India.

Having said this valour is valour. I would like to list men from what is now Pakistan who won the highest British award for bravery.

Victoria Cross holders.

1. Haider Ali - Italy,1945 - Frontier Force Rifles
2. Abdul Hafiz - Imphal, 1944 - Jat Infantry.
3. Fazal Din - Burma, 1945 - Baloch Regiment.
4. Khudad Khan - Belguim, 1914 - 129th Balochi Regiment.
5. Mir Dast - Belguim, 1915 - 55th Coke's Rifles.
6. Shahamd Khan - Iraq, 1916. - Punjab Regiment.
7. Sher Shah - Burma, 1945 - 16th Punjab Regiment.


List of Victoria Cross recipients by nationality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Again let me reiterate the above list comes under, British Indian because present day Pakistan, India and Bangladesh had not yet become independant. But I base my list from whence they actually came from. For example Haider Ali was from Hangu which isin K-P, Pakistan today. Most of these men's regiments were allocated to Pakistan Army in 1947 and continue to exist. This list is not bad far a small area of South Asia. I accept that these men fought [many died ] for a foreign master the British but I just want to recognize bravery here.

Most of these men were from poor villages who just joined up to make a living - I don't think they thought through or reflected on this profoundly. The were simple, poor probably illiterate men. Sadly Shahamd Khan in all probably fought and was killed against his ownbrother Turks because his regiment, the punjab fought in Iraq in Iraq 1916 which was part of Ottoman Empire than. I did read though that some units of the regiment refused or deserted when they found out who they were fighting against.

Finally on the other side of the coin no place in British India gave the British more grief than the frontier area of what is now Pakistan. Tribes here fought regular pitched battles against the British which is why the largest combat military bases of the British Army were based in what is now Pakistan. Indeed the future Prime Minister of Britain Winston Churchill almost was killed here.

***
Voldemort Can you give a link that confirms that most of what is now Pakistan came under Maratta rule? I don't think they even stepped a foot in what is now Pakistan.

 

[sarthak]

Had Britain not colonised India , India would probably be a set of several independent countries. Their occupation had both positive and negative impact , the biggest positive impact (for us) being that India was formed.

 

[Juice]

can someone explain this to me , i play alot of strategy and war games , i play a game called Empire total war , obviously i pick Ottoman Empire and ruling half of india and much of europe now , but in that game there is 2 factions in india , one is maratha confederancy , and the other mughal empire ( ruled by babur before who is a turk aswell) , and they are pretty strong in the game and its a very realistic game , and usually maratha and mughal is having war in the game ( as their diplomacy in the game aswell and very realistic ) so how did india go into british hands from mughals and maratha

and also these two factions are a major power in the game , along with ottoman , french , prussia , british , dutch , spanish and a few more

The Ottomans are hard to play till the update their troops, one of the more challenging sides.

 

[LaBong]

Uh..nope... they had mongol genes... babur himself was a direct desendant of Tamerlane...or timur...

Mahmood,ghaznavids /were are pashtuns not turks.














Ah well... thanks guys for admiting tht india was born in 1947 and not 7000 years back with Indus civilisation... which belongs to us...and us only...



I think you meant muslims... not yourself.

Well I'm not Pakistani, so don't always bring religion at every drop of hat.

Anyway khilafat movement was supported by both Hindus and Muslims, congress supported it even when ma jinnah was staunchly against it.

The exudes to Afghanistan was presided by a Hindu, although predominantly composed of Indian Muslim.

bro timur was surely a turk , he even had war with yildirim beyazid , biggest mistakes in turkic history , fighting each other , but after they understood many times their mistake , ( timur was become enemy of yildirim beyazit because beyazit hosted a guy that was an enemy of timur and timur wanted beyazit to let him and not host him but beyazit said that ' in our rules we dont let a person that comes to my door ')

You are correct, timur, ghaznavids, ghori all were various turk tribes. Rajputs fell to turk horse cavalry, not pashtun tribal army.

Hindus and Sikh peasants betrayed the Muslim empire of Mughals fell pray to British tricks just as Arab rebels did against the Ottomans. In fact, the tactics British used to rally Arabs against Ottomans are similar to the ones they used to rally Hindus and Sikhs against their Muslim Mughal rulers. That's why the Empire fell. Other reasons include Nadir Shah's sacking of Delhi which severely weakene the Empire militarily and economically. Though Mughals still had a fighting chance if it weren't for many rebellions.


Today the sons of those Hindu and Sikh traitors some of them are our members here on the forum and their frustration is seen in each post. Another consequence of the fall of the Mughals.




Another Hindu leech trying to leech off of indigenous Pakistani people's ancestral history.

Well it was actually punjabi muslims and pashtun Muslims and Nepal Hindu gurkhas who were mainstay of British army which deleted bahadur Shah and his motley crew or allies which constituted of mainly Hindustani muslims and Hindustani Hindus.

Punjabis, pushtuns, gurkhas got their reward of loyalty when British tagged them as martial race, which atanz above proudly trying to boost.

But anyway its futile to tell this to a liar and hypocrite who pose as Israeli with false hope of seeking a discord between israelis and Indians. What an idiot.

 

[Koovie]

I enjoy jubilee, but wish it did not rain that day. I dont keep the queen alive, you are giving me too much credit.
No, I did not kiss her a*s , I think you are reading from wrong travel guide (possibly about another country?)

whatever makes you happy. Just keep living in that country with its kings and queens and all the other medieval era titles. These people discriminated my countrymen and the people of our neighbouring countries in their own homes, let them fought their wars, ordered them to shoot their own people and let millions of Bengalis starve to death to fight for "FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY" thats the height of hypocrisy. But good to see that the times are changing now

 

[Carl Johnson]

Indus flows only through Pakistan... its said tht if Nile is the jewel of egypt... than indus is the jewel of Pakistan..

A significant length of Indus flows through India in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

[Ottoman-Turk]

ye the nizami-cedits are good but the new organ guns that only ottomans have is great and the new cavalry

The Ottomans are hard to play till the update their troops, one of the more challenging sides.

but once you invade a few countries with ottomans and also send a big force against crimea , then you become unstoppable , and just keep the population happy

 

[Indus Pakistan]

*
@LaBong

"Punjabis, pushtuns, gurkhas got their reward of loyalty when British tagged them as martial race, which atanz above proudly trying to boost."

I believe you forgot the Sikhs. What reward did the Bengali, men from Audh etc get for serving the East India company when it took over the better part of India? I know they turned on thier masters in 1857 but by that time they had already put in nearly 100 years of sterling service for the British.

I am not trying to 'boost' anything. That word means to 'add or elevate or increase'. I merely stated facts, nothing less nothing more. I also mentioned that I want to recognize the valour displayed by these men although sadly they died for a imperial power that had enslaved their people.

Although I believe fighting against Nazism was proper and right. After all this racist evil creed was more dangerous to non Europeans.So fighting Nazi Germany might be even justified even if you were wearing British uniforms but that besides the point.

Finally why do you call my contribution as driven by pride but overlook OP. The thread title states "How indian troops became the backbone of the British Empire'. In this there is elemant of 'boost' and 'pride'. First because the British Indian Army was never the backbone of the British Empire, it only played secondary role to British, Canadian, Australian, NZ forces.

Therefore OP is elevating the role of British Indian Army and almost boasting that it was the 'backbone' of the British Empire. All I said was men from Pakistan played a significant role in the British Indian Army because I know OP was trying to boast and give the false impression that it was the 'Indian' Army as in the Army of the modern Indian Republic as it has existed post 1947.

This is apparent in his omitting the use of the prefix "British" to the label "Indian Army" and exaggerating it's as "the backbone of the British Empire".

 

[OrionHunter]

Whatever brickbats the Britishers deserve, but you gotta hand it to them for some of the excellent work they've done in India. One of the worlds largest rail and road networks, tea which earns millions of dollars in exports, the English language that is responsible for uniting this country and India becoming an IT super power etc.

Without the British, we would have been floundering as small squabbling independent states with a hundred languages and dialects. Imagine traveling North from some small country in the South needing 50 or more visas to travel through the intervening states!!

I have no love lost for the Brits but let's give the devil his due!

 

[Ottoman-Turk]

i cant believe your boasting about their rule and what they did , i would rather be poor nation than getting looted

 

[scrumpy]

i cant believe your boasting about their rule and what they did , i would rather be poor nation than getting looted

What is past is past. There were both good aspects and bad aspects to the colonial rule and both should be accepted.
It is better to learn from our mistakes and move on instead of forever acting like victims.

 

[Koovie]

Whatever brickbats the Britishers deserve, but you gotta hand it to them for some of the excellent work they've done in India. One of the worlds largest rail and road networks, tea which earns millions of dollars in exports, the English language that is responsible for uniting this country and India becoming an IT super power etc.

Without the British, we would have been floundering as small squabbling independent states with a hundred languages and dialects. Imagine traveling North from some small country in the South needing 50 or more visas to travel through the intervening states!!

I have no love lost for the Brits but let's give the devil his due!

are u dumb? they killed millions and u thank them????
And how can say that India hadnt been united without the british? talkingabout what if scenarios in history is utter BS

 

[American Pakistani]

The thread was supposed to be about indian troops who served Britishers, but dumb trolls from india drag Pakistan, Khilafat Movement, Indus Valley Civilization. First they used to claim Pakistan as their territory, then IVC as their's & hell now they start claiming Khilafat movement. What can you say when their education system teaches them this.

I request MODS to take urgent action against these trolls & violaters.

 

[BRICS]

*
@LaBong



I believe you forgot the Sikhs. What reward did the Bengali, men from Audh etc get for serving the East India company when it took over the better part of India? I know they turned on thier masters in 1857 but by that time they had already put in nearly 100 years of sterling service for the British.

I am not trying to 'boost' anything. That word means to 'add or elevate or increase'. I merely stated facts, nothing less nothing more. I also mentioned that I want to recognize the valour displayed by these men although sadly they died for a imperial power that had enslaved their people.

Although I believe fighting against Nazism was proper and right. After all this racist evil creed was more dangerous to non Europeans.So fighting Nazi Germany might be even justified even if you were wearing British uniforms but that besides the point.

Finally why do you call my contribution as driven by pride but overlook OP. The thread title states "How indian troops became the backbone of the British Empire'. In this there is elemant of 'boost' and 'pride'. First because the British Indian Army was never the backbone of the British Empire, it only played secondary role to British, Canadian, Australian, NZ forces.

Therefore OP is elevating the role of British Indian Army and almost boasting that it was the 'backbone' of the British Empire. All I said was men from Pakistan played a significant role in the British Indian Army because I know OP was trying to boast and give the false impression that it was the 'Indian' Army as in the Army of the modern Indian Republic as it has existed post 1947.

This is apparent in his omitting the use of the prefix "British" to the label "Indian Army" and exaggerating it's as "the backbone of the British Empire".

Actually the OP just copy and pasted the title from BBC's youtube channel!

 

[LaBong]

@atanz : yes Sikhs too, anyway I do not put Punjabis, Sikhs or gurkhas at fault as like I said, there was no pan Indian nationalism, so they needn't be loyal to anyone.

My post was reply to the idiot who was claiming Hindus and Sikhs betrayed mughals.