The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India
The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy

A history of the last serious indigenous campaign against the formation of the British Raj.

Randolf G. S. Cooper (Author)

9780521824446, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 February 2004

456 pages, 11 maps
23.6 x 15.9 x 3.4 cm, 0.84 kg

'The book constructs a useful model of the political economy of the Maratha wars to question the ethnocentric assumptions of British military superiority as well as the nationalistic explanations of the Maratha effect … He matches the rich details for almost every important battle in the period by an equally rigourous attempt to engage with the mooted issues of the transition to colonialism … In other words, whereas the book brings out the complexity of the Maratha military culture with remarkable insight, it essentialises and simplifies that of the British … The dexterous handling of the military archives that has enriched our understanding of the Maratha political culture.' Journal of Modern Asian Studies

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.

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.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX], Economic history [KCZ], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Asian history [HBJF], British & Irish history [HBJD1], Regional studies [GTB]