Commitment and Conquest: The Case of British Rule in India

Contemporary historians usually attribute the East India Company's military success in India to its military strength. In contrast, we argue that, on its own, military strength was a mixed blessing: it could have led to the formation of coalitions against the Company. This did not happen because the Company's commitments to Indian regimes were more credible than their commitments to each other. In this sense, commitment was the key to conquest.