Re: Shaykh Wang Zi-Ping (Kung Fu Martial Arts)
Again, I disagree. Until the industrial revolution began at the very end of the 1700s, Europe and India were not technologically far apart. Britain’s conquest of India began in the mid 1700s when the two societies were on a more level playing field. India’s leadership was at fault, a leadership that was weak, and which consisted on many weak rulers and petty lords constantly at each other’s throat.
Britain’s only advantage of discipline
- Political Discipline - the entirety of British forces owed their loyalty to one individual and thus acted to a single coordinated plan. It was impossible to turn one part of the British army against another, whereas Mughal general could be bribed to leave the battle or switch sides.
- Military discipline - British soldiers (including Indian sepoys drilled in the British style of warfare) would much better trained and performed better under battlefield conditions. The Mughals did not have as professional an army. Tipu Sultan’s army that gave the British a close fight differed not so much in equipment from mughals, as in training instead. Tipu Sultan implemented European style training and turned his Indian soldiers into the equal of the British.