'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎35v] (75/454)

50 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
that time was taken as a model for the Indian portion of the
army and brought about a considerable reduction of British
officers in each unit and, except in a few minor instances, the
total abolition of the system of having British non-commissioned
officers in units. Recruitment was spread over larger areas
and an Indian Staff Corps was formed, with a system of time
promotion, to provide British officers for the various appoint
ments on the staff, in units and in departments—military,
civil or political *
In the next twenty years there were various minor operations
on the frontiers, and expeditions were despatched to China,
Abyssinia and Perak; and in 1878-1879 the Afghan war,
in which comparatively large forces were employed beyond
the frontier, proved a great strain on India's military resources
and showed many defects in organisation and administration.
The different Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. armies had, from force of circum
stances,! grown up apart. Under this system, the Central
Government, though nominally the head of the army, had
actually little authority over the British troops in the different
Presidencies and no authority at all over the Indian troops; a
situation so anomalous as to constitute a real danger in time
of war. This had been foreseen by the Indian Government,
who had endeavoured, but without success, to impress their
views on the Home authorities.
The Army Organisation Committee of 1879 went into the
whole question of the strength, composition and distribution
of the army and made many recommendations. Extensive
reductions in public expenditure were rendered imperative at
that time owing to the unfavourable state of Indian finances,
and the Committee were required to give their opinion as to
what would be the smallest permanent military organisation
which should be maintained. The aims and objects of Indian
military policy, as stated by them, were threefold, namely
the prevention and repelling of attacks, or of threatened
aggressions, from foreign enemies beyond the border ; the
power of immediate repression of armed disturbance or of
rebellion within British India, or its feudatory states; and
the watch and domination over the armies and peoples! of
* Civil and political appointments were, and are, open to a limited extent
to military officers.
fThe reader who is not well acquainted with India is recommended at this
stage to study the map of India, and specially to note the distances in miles
between the main centres and between them and the different frontiers.
X These amounted at that period to 381,000 and 53,000,000 respectively.