From Guerrilla To Organised Warfare

The misls had created a form of warfare perfectly suited to eighteenth-century Punjab.

Fast horses. Dispersed forces. Sudden attacks.

An army that could vanish before it was destroyed.

These methods allowed Sikh forces to survive persecution, recover from repeated defeats and expand across Punjab. But the same system could not, by itself, support a large empire.

Cities had to be occupied. Forts had to be captured and permanently defended. Distant frontiers had to be guarded throughout the year. Soldiers, weapons, ammunition and provisions had to be available even when there was no immediate campaign.

Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the mobile armies of the misls therefore began to change. Cavalry remained important, but it was joined by disciplined infantry, powerful artillery and a standing army maintained by the Lahore Darbar.

Punjab’s warriors were becoming the soldiers of an empire.

Why Ranjit Singh Changed the Model

Ranjit Singh came from the military world of the misls. The forces with which he captured Lahore in 1799 were still largely based upon mounted warriors, personal loyalties and the leadership of individual sardars.

These forces excelled at movement. They could raid enemy territory, avoid an unfavourable battle and gather quickly when an opportunity appeared.

But Ranjit Singh was attempting to create something the misls had never possessed: one government ruling most of Punjab.

Once territory had been conquered, it could not be abandoned when a campaign ended. Lahore, Amritsar, Attock, Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar required permanent garrisons. Roads, river crossings and frontier routes had to be protected. Local rebellions had to be suppressed before they spread.

Punjab’s enemies were also changing. The British East India Company maintained drilled infantry and organised artillery, while heavily fortified cities could withstand the raids of even highly mobile cavalry.

Ranjit Singh understood that horsemen could conquer open country, but they could not always break fortified walls or hold distant frontiers. He did not abandon the old Punjabi system. He placed it inside a larger and more centralised army.

From Personal Followings to a State Army

Under the misls, many warriors served beneath individual sardars. They often provided their own horses and weapons, joined a campaign and received land, revenue or a share of what had been captured.

This system was flexible, but it limited central control. Soldiers were often more closely attached to their own chiefs than to any wider state. Their numbers could change between campaigns, and they were not always suited to permanent garrison duty or long periods of training.

Ranjit Singh gradually brought more of the army under the Lahore Darbar. Soldiers were organised into units, placed beneath appointed officers and maintained through state revenue.

The regular army became known as the Fauj-i-Ain, while the Fauj-i-Khas developed as an elite and especially well-trained formation. These existed alongside irregular cavalry, jagirdari forces and the traditional mounted forces.

The old and new systems therefore continued together. What changed was the balance between them.

European Training

Ranjit Singh began training infantry and improving his artillery before the employment of European officers. The transformation accelerated in the 1820s when several veterans of European warfare entered his service.

Jean-Baptiste Ventura helped train the infantry. Jean-Francois Allard worked with the cavalry, while Claude Auguste Court later helped improve the artillery.

Their importance should not be misunderstood. European officers did not arrive and create the Sikh army themselves. They provided specialist knowledge within a military system already being developed by Ranjit Singh, Punjabi commanders, gunners, engineers and craftsmen.

The army also did not simply become European. Drill and organisation were adapted to Punjabi conditions, and most forces continued to be led by local commanders.

What Ranjit Singh wanted from European training was coordination.

Infantry had to march, turn and fire together. Cavalry had to support the rest of the army rather than always fighting independently. Artillery crews needed to move, position and fire their guns without disrupting the formation around them.

Training allowed thousands of soldiers to act as parts of the same force.

Infantry

Cavalry had carried most of the prestige within the misl armies. A mounted warrior possessed speed, independence and the ability to escape if a battle turned against him.

The creation of an empire made infantry far more important.

Foot soldiers could defend walls, occupy towns and hold narrow ground where horses could not manoeuvre. They could protect artillery batteries, maintain a defensive position and remain permanently stationed inside forts.

Their strength came from discipline rather than individual action. Infantrymen were trained to remain in formation and fire together, creating a steady line of musketry.

Close combat did not disappear, but an enemy now had to cross ground covered by organised gunfire before reaching the Punjabi line.

The ability to hold a position was becoming as important as the ability to move.

Artillery

Artillery produced the clearest break with the military world of the misls.

Earlier Sikh forces had used firearms and lighter guns, but Ranjit Singh required artillery capable of supporting an empire. He needed mobile guns for the battlefield and heavier cannon that could break fortified walls.

The Lahore Durbar captured and purchased guns while also developing workshops capable of making and repairing them. Punjabi gunners and commanders remained central to this system, even after European specialists entered the army.

Artillery required far more than cannon. Guns needed trained crews, ammunition, transport animals and roads strong enough to carry them. Heavy pieces could become useless if a wheel broke, a river flooded or the supply of gunpowder failed to arrive.

Military power now depended upon transport, engineering and administration as much as courage.

This was demonstrated during the capture of Multan in 1818. Cavalry could surround the city and cut its connections, but only a sustained siege supported by artillery could break through its formidable defences.

Artillery allowed the Lahore Durbar to conquer places that horsemen alone could never permanently control.

The Standing Army

A standing army had to be maintained even when it was not fighting.

Soldiers needed wages, food, clothing and accommodation. Horses required fodder. Muskets had to be repaired, while gunpowder and ammunition had to be safely stored. Forts needed permanent supplies in case they were surrounded.

The Lahore Durbar therefore maintained garrisons, arsenals, workshops and military stores across the empire.

This also strengthened Ranjit Singh’s control. Troops supplied and paid by Lahore became more closely connected to the state rather than solely to a local sardar. Military reform reduced the independence of powerful chiefs while allowing the Durbar to send armies far beyond their home districts.

The standing army was not simply a weapon of conquest. It became one of the institutions holding the empire together.

The End of the Old Style

Guerrilla warfare and irregular cavalry did not disappear under Ranjit Singh.

Mounted formations remained valuable for scouting, raiding, pursuing defeated armies and moving across difficult country. On the north-western frontier, where terrain and distance restricted large formations, their speed remained essential.

The difference was that cavalry no longer had to perform every role.

Artillery could weaken an enemy position. Infantry could defend the guns and hold the battlefield. Cavalry could protect the flanks, attack exposed troops or pursue an enemy once it began to retreat.

The older methods survived wherever they remained useful. What ended was their dominance.

By the end of Ranjit Singh’s reign, Punjab’s military strength rested increasingly upon trained battalions, permanent garrisons, organised artillery and supplies controlled by the state. The mobile warrior of the misls had not vanished, but he now fought beside infantrymen and guns belonging to a central government.

The older Sikh forces had survived because they could disappear and return.

The army of the Lahore Durbar was built to conquer, occupy and remain.