UPSC 2022 GS-I · 10 marks · 150 words

Why did the armies of the British East India Company — mostly comprising of Indian soldiers — win consistently against the more numerous and better equipped armies of the then Indian rulers? Give reasons.

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Regular pay from Bengal revenues + drilled discipline vs arrears-ridden feudal levies
Standardised infantry-artillery coordination, professional officer corps, naval-logistics depth
Indian disunity exploited: succession disputes, subsidiary alliances; Plassey as conspiracy before battle
Military-fiscal state thesis: the Company was a state extracting to fight, not a trader with troops

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Why did the armies of the British East India Company — mostly comprising of Indian soldiers — win consistently against the more numerous and better equipped armies of the then Indian rulers? Give reasons.

What a top answer must contain

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

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