Bøger af Kaushik Roy

This book addresses the global history of technology, warfare and state formation from the Stone Age to the Information Age. Using a combination of top-down and bottom-up methodologies, it examines both interstate and intrastate conflicts with a focus on Eurasian technology and warfare. It shows how human agency and structural factors have intertwined, creating a complex web of technology and warfare. It also explores the interplay between technological and non-technological factors to chart the evolution of warfare from its origins to the present day, arguing that the interactions between civilian and military sectors have shaped the use of technology in warfare. Given its scope and depth, it is a valuable resource for researchers in fields such as world history, history of science and technology, history of warfare and imperialism and international relations.

The Indian Army which was the bulwark of the British Empire in South Asia functioned as an imperial fire brigade force during the Great War. The ''brown warriors'' of the Raj defended the British Empire from Belgium and France in the west to Singapore in the east. The Indian Army fought the Kaiserheer and the Ottoman Army in diverse theatres like Flanders, Gallipoli, Salonika, East Africa, Egypt-Syria-Palestine and finally Mesopotamia. Indian society was mobilized toprovide military and non-military manpower as well as economic assets in order to sustain the British imperial war effort. The Indian Army before 1914 was geared to conduct unconventional warfare/irregular warfare against the Indus tribesmen and to police the subcontinent to prevent any anti-Britishuprising. However, between 1914 and 1918 due to the demands of ''Total War'', the Indian Army learnt to conduct high intensity conventional war against the armies of the Central Powers. In fact, it could be argued that during the four years of the First World War, the Indian Army probably exhibited a high learning curve. A force originally geared for waging low intensity warfare became adept, not only for conducting trench warfare within the context of high intensity conventional war in Francebut also mobile mounted warfare across Sinai and in the flat plains of Mesopotamia.

India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil focuses on the decisive battles that have shaped the course of Indian history. Taking into account recent research, especially in the fields of technology, military theory and demography, this book is an attempt to analyse the twelve great battles that have had a crucial impact on the fate of the subcontinent. Moving freely across time and space, and focusing on cross-continental analysis to bring out the uniqueness of the big battles fought in India as well as their commonality, each chapter dwells on the nature of the weapons used, type of leadership displayed, and the experience of the soldiers in each battle. An attempt has also been made in this book to construct counterfactual scenarios for most of the battles to show how often luck and chance decide the course of history. Parallel imageries are constructed on 'ifs' and 'buts'.

The defeat of 90,000 Commonwealth soldiers by 50,000 Japanese soldiers made the Battle for Malaya during World War II an important encounter for both political and military reasons. British military prestige was shattered, fanning the fires of nationalism in Asia, especially in India.

This book challenges the view, common among Western scholars, that precolonial India lacked a tradition of military philosophy. It traces the evolution of theories of warfare in India from the dawn of civilization, focusing on the debate between Dharmayuddha (Just War) and Kutayuddha (Unjust War) within Hindu philosophy. This debate centers around four questions: What is war? What justifies it? How should it be waged? And what are its potential repercussions? This body of literature provides evidence of the historical evolution of strategic thought in the Indian subcontinent that has heretofore been neglected by modern historians. Further, it provides a counterpoint to scholarship in political science that engages solely with Western theories in its analysis of independent India's philosophy of warfare. Ultimately, a better understanding of the legacy of ancient India's strategic theorizing will enable more accurate analysis of modern India's military and nuclear policies.

This book presents a comprehensive survy of warfare in India up to the point where the British began to dominate the sub-continent. It discusses such issues as How far was the relatively bloodless nature of pre-British Indian warfare the product of stateless Indian society? How far did technology determine the shape of warfare in India? and Did warfare in this period have a particular Indian nature and was it ritualistic?

This book uses cross-cultural analysis across Eurasia and Afro-Asia to trace the roots of contemporary border disputes and insurgencies in South Asia. It discusses the way frontiers of British India, and consequently the modern states of India and Pakistan, were drafted through negotiations backed up by organized violence, showing how this concept found its fruition in present-day counter-insurgency measures.

This book presents a comprehensive survey of warfare in India up to the point where the British began to dominate the sub-continent. It discusses issues such as how far was the relatively bloodless nature of pre-British Indian warfare the product of stateless Indian society? How far did technology determine the dynamics of warfare in India? Did warfare in this period have a particular Indian nature and was it ritualistic? The book considers land warfare including sieges, naval warfare, the impact of horses, elephants and gunpowder, and the differences made by the arrival of Muslim rulers and by the influx of other foreign influences and techniques. The book concludes by arguing that the presence of standing professional armies supported by centralised bureaucratic states have been underemphasised in the history of India.

Includes essays that deal with insurgencies, counter-insurgencies and terrorism. This title covers the religious aspects of the various intra-state conflicts which mar the multi-ethnic societies of South Asia.

Includes essays that focus on conventional war on land, sea and air fought by the states of South Asia and their impact on the host societies and economies. This title describes the changing contours of warfare in South Asia, and the similarities and dissimilarities with warfare in the Middle East and South East Asia.

A collection of seminal articles that illustrates the reasons for the spiraling nuclear race in the Asian subcontinent and introduces the principal debates in the field. It discusses whether the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the South Asian powers has raised the likelihood of a nuclear war in the subcontinent.