Question

Describe the changes that occurred in the composition of the Company’s army.

Answer 1

During the eighteenth century, when the East India Company began recruitment for its own army, it started recruiting peasants and began training them as professional soldiers. Like the Mughal army, the Company’s army was also composed of the cavalry and the infantry regiments, with the cavalry dominating the army. However, as warfare technology changed during the nineteenth century, the cavalry requirements of the Company’s army declined. As the soldiers had to be armed with muskets and matchlocks, the infantry regiments became more important.