A Longue Durée Perspective on Military Science in India

This article posits that military science has been one of the most neglected subjects in Indian history in practice and in scholarship. Greater, popular scholarly focus tends to be mostly on subjects dealing with grand strategy and with it, abstract armchair theorising. While grand strategy is necessary at the political–military level, it is not sufficient as victory or defeat also depends on the capacity of the armed forces to achieve the desired results during the conduct of war. In this article, military science pertains to matters excluding grand strategy, diplomacy and the sub-discipline of political science, international relations (IR). The article takes a long view or longue durée and attempts to unpack and deliberate on military science. It suggests that like natural, physical or social sciences, military science too needs to be accorded its proper place in the academic, service and policy discourse.