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Military Professionalism in a Colonial Context: The Madras Army circa 18321
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
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Was the Madras Army professional in the 1830s? The answer depends largely upon the definition of professionalism. Professional standards in society at large and in military forces have changed over the past two hundred years. Major political decisions with enormous social and economic consequences are made by governments today based upon their understanding of military professionalism. This understanding should incorporate the historical record including nineteenth-century developments outside of Europe.
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References
2 As Robert Frykenburg pointed out in ‘Company Circari in the Carnatic, c. 1799–1859: The Inner Logic of Political Systems in India,’ Realm and Region in Traditional India, ed. Fox, Richard G., Duke University Program in Comparative Studies on Southern Asia, Monograph and Occasional Paper Series, monograph no. 14 (1977), p. 139,Google Scholar‘Chaudhri's, S. R.Civil Disturbances during the British Rule in India: 1756–1857 (Calcutta, 1955), is useful as a listing of violent incidents.Google Scholar A careful analysis of each of these incidents has yet to be done.’ For the narrative analysis of the military suppression of the rebellion in the Vishakhapatnam District see my unpublished 1982 Duke University dissertation, ‘The Madras Army in the Northern Circars, 1832–1833: Pacification and Professionalism.’Google Scholar
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