The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c27.1

c27.1

The war organization of the Moghul empire offers something more than a mere antiquarian interest. The more I study the period, the more I am convinced that military inefficiency was the principal, if not the sole, cause of that empire's final collapse. All other defects and weaknesses were as nothing in comparison with this. Its revenue and judicial system was, on the whole, suited to the habits of the people, they looked for nothing different, and so far as those matters were concerned, the empire might have endured for ages. But long before it disappeared, it had lost all military energy at the centre, and was ready to crumble to pieces at the first touch. The rude hand of no Persian or Afghan conqueror, no Nādir, no Aḥmad Abdālī, the genius of no European adventurer, a Dupleix or a Clive, was needed to precipitate it into the abyss. The empire of the Moghuls was already doomed before any of these had appeared on the scene; and had they never been heard of, there can be little doubt that some Mahratta bandit or Sikh free-booter would in due time have seated himself on the throne of Akbar and Shāhjahān. It is a curious problem, then, to consider what causes could have led to the military decrepitude of a monarchy which had been founded and maintained by its military prestige. How came it to pass that what had been gained by the sword was at length to perish by the sword?