European Mercenaries in the Armies of Post-Mughal Successor States, 1775-1849: The Case of Acculturation

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History (MA)

Klaassens, Jorran (2018)

European Mercenaries in the Armies of Post-Mughal Successor States, 1775-1849: The Case of Acculturation

Master thesis | History (MA)

This thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" as a departure point and uses sources left behind by the mercenaries to test his hypothesis that these mercenaries generally acculturated into the societies of the post-Mughal successor states. However, through the analysis of these sources, this thesis argues that there was no acculturation to the degree Dalrymple argued present. Moreover, this thesis argues that there was an active segregation from Indians by most of the mercenaries, with an economic motive.