Statistics can beat guns, or, how the English won We often forget that the English East India Company was not a major military force in In...
Statistics can beat guns, or, how the English won
We often forget that the English East India Company was not a major military force in India right up to the Battle of Plassey. At that point of time, they had only a small military, raised with the objective of protecting the properties of the Company. But they were able to win the loyalty of those men simply by paying better.
That Indian rulers lost some battles to the company gives rise to a belief that better tactics, better weaponry, better organisation won the day. We need to remember that Indian rulers cottoned on to all those techniques very fast. Before 1757, they won some battles and lost some. The Marathas had one of the most powerful armies in the world. What counted more was the Company’s ability to manage money, to manage taxation much better so that they could depend on revenues to pay their soldiers.
Managing money and taxes key to English victory
It was in their taxation systems that Indian rulers were extremely weak. The Nawab of Bengal had access to one of the richer province in the country. But he was not able to make it yield enough revenue to manage his army. This...
