British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, also called the Indian Army during British rule, was the main military force of India until independence in 1947. It was formed on 1 April 1895 when the three Presidency armies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, which had begun as East India Company forces and passed to the Crown after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, were merged into one army under four commands. Its first duty was the defence of the North-West Frontier and the security of British India and the princely states, and Lord Kitchener's reforms from 1903 reorganized it into standing divisions. It served overseas in the Boxer Rebellion and was a vital part of Imperial forces in both world wars, with about 1.5 million Indian soldiers serving in the First World War and some 2.5 million in the Second. At partition on 15 August 1947 it was divided between India and Pakistan.