Indian Navy, 1830 onwards

India's first SSN, INS Chakra in 1988 with the then PM on the sail India needs to have its SSN at the earliest and its cannot be shelling funding or diverting from those allocations that add to its economic growth, development and increasing the quality of its human resource. While India has historically been known to carve its own path even during foreign rule or rule with foreign origin dynasties, India needs to move away from the set precedence. SSNs need to be inducted within the next 10 years and at the current pace and on the basis of the current development, having an Indian SSN would take India 22 years. Lets have a look at the current development and then discuss what changes we can suggest. India needs to start basing in Somaliland and Comoros. This will allow Indian submarines the ability to dock and and replenish their supplies of food, ammunition, spares, and consumables far away from Indian mainland and allow more option for Indian military planners. Further, India ne...

  The British by the mid 19th century understood the importance of protecting their Indian Empire. Their adventures in Afghanistan stemmed from the desire to protect the territories that lay west of the Indus but east of the Khyber pass. This led them to protect the gates to India the Khyber, which had been used by many external aggressors to enter India. From Darius I of Persia and Alexander's generals in Ancient times to Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad Ghori in medieval times. So did Babur, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali(Durrani). Even Chinggis Khan had crossed the Khyber. Khyber and other passes in north west of India were indeed the gates to India. As long as the Hindu Shahi rulers ruled Afghanistan there was no great danger. It led to the British to also submit to the fact that to guard Khyber one has to be on both sides of the pass.  The other far off entry points for India or Indian Ocean was Egypt. The British thus took care to control Egypt and colonised it too. Those...

  First Anglo Burmese War  Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First-Anglo_Burmese_War.jpg The First Anglo Burmese War that took place from early march 1824 till late February 1826, placed great financial burden on the East India Company but reduced Burma and its rulers to a weak state from the level of a peer of the East India Company's British India. This had happened with other Indian kingdoms before and would happen with many kingdoms in the 19th century. The Charter Act of 1833 tried to create a more centralised form of governance in British India with the newly created position of Governor General of India and transformed the East India Company from a sole commercial entity with administrative powers to a Governing body with overwhelming governmental duties and responsibilities. It lost its monopoly over the two remaining items of tea and trade with China and soon the right to trade altogether. The Board of Control had full power over EIC but the territories w...

  Early flag used by East India Company ships in 17th century.  ImageSource:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_East_India_Company#/media/File:British_East_India_Company_Flag_from_Downman.jpg Sea trade has always been more profitable than land trade. Land trade offers speed, so it can be more useful if the commodity being moved is perishable or if the value of the product is very high relative to its mass and size. Chinggis Khan used horses and feet to move his armies because the places he went to were contiguous, these horses also fought as part of the cavalry. The sea route would have been too long and his men would have been seasick and he used high speed horse couriers to relay messages and threats. Chinggis Khan often failed at sea. But he was no trader. His empire despite being massive was not bound by the logic of economics and trade between nations but military power and some diplomacy. Hence it was short lived and quickly fragmented. Sea trade offers benefit of ...

  First draft prepared on February 17, 2023. Still under work FIRST DRAFT: Kawaraban depictions of the US vessels visiting Japan. (Courtesy Yokohama Archives of History) Source: https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g02197/the-black-ships-shock-a-historic-encounter-that-changed-japan.html  Every once in a while we note Japanese politicians visiting Yasukuni shrine, a Shinto shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo. This leads to strong reactions from Japan's neighbors. But Why? The website of the shrine at page for wills reads "We hope that many worshippers will come to know the thoughts of the noble souls who gave up their lives for the country they loved" South Korea's Yonhap News Agency has something different to say  on August 15, 2023 "South Korea expressed regret Tuesday after Japanese politicians sent offerings or paid visits to a war shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past on the anniversary of the country's surrender in World War II." And ...