In 1845-46, the British fought a war against the Sikh Empire in the Punjab. After several bitterly fought battles, the conflict ended with the British taking partial control of the Sikh territories.
In 1848-49, British-Indian forces were once again at war with the Sikh Empire. The campaign that raged across the Punjab eventually led to the region's full annexation by the British and the removal of one of the last Indian powers able to challenge British control of the subcontinent.
This battle was fought on 28 January 1846 during the First Sikh War. A British-Indian force took on the Sikh army of the Punjab. It ended in a decisive British victory and is seen by some as a ‘near perfect battle’.
Major-General Sir Robert Sale served in several important campaigns on the Indian subcontinent. He skillfully commanded the besieged garrison at Jalalabad during the First Afghan War, before being killed in action in the First Sikh War.
Between 1849 and 1947, British and Indian soldiers undertook a series of punitive expeditions against the fiercely independent tribesmen of this wild and mountainous region.
This regiment was raised in 1755. It served in many British Army campaigns until 1881, when it was merged into The King’s Light Infantry (Shropshire Regiment).
Paul Sarrut was a French soldier who was posted to the British Army as a military liaison officer and interpreter during the First World War. Trained as an artist, Sarrut created an important visual record of the 3rd (Lahore) Division in France.
The birth of India and Pakistan as independent states in 1947 was a key moment in the history of Britain’s empire and its army. But the process of partition was attended by mass migration and ethnic violence that has left a bitter legacy to this day.
In 1857, Indian soldiers rose up against their British commanders. The reasons behind the rebellion stretch back to the origins of British involvement in Indian affairs.
In the autumn of 1914, British soldiers fought alongside the Japanese in China. Their goal was the German naval base at Tsingtao, which finally fell in November after a two-month siege.
Originally formed to trade in Asia, the East India Company came to rule large areas of the Indian subcontinent, exercising military power through its formidable armed forces.
