![Memoranda and papers by General Herbert Vaughan Cox, Military Secretary to the India Office, regarding British military strategy in Central Asia and the Middle East [‎125r] (249/460)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000465.0x000300/IOR_L_MIL_5_806_0249.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Memoranda and papers by General Herbert Vaughan Cox, Military Secretary to the India Office, regarding British military strategy in Central Asia and the Middle East [‎125r] (249/460)")
Memoranda and papers by General Herbert Vaughan Cox, Military Secretary to the India Office, regarding British military strategy in Central Asia and the Middle East [125r] (249/460)
The record is made up of 1 file (223 folios). It was created in 19 Feb 1918-8 Jan 1920. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
concealed opinion among military authorities at home and what was
not good enough for England would do quite well fpr India.
5. The system of selection in India to Mgher Commands and Staffs
requires alteration and should he assimilated to Ihe English system.
In my opinion the C.I.G.S. should be consulted on all such appointments.
6. It is true that the Indian Army had no reserve of British Officers
for war; but that was due to local neglect and want of foresight;
and the "method" has little or nothing to do with it.
7. The
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
of the paper under discussion is ri^it to quote the
Iniian Mountain Artillery as an excellent example of efficiency under
leaders who are not permanently with it. There are, however, one or
two facts where it differs from the Indian Cavalry or Infantiy. It
is a small and very select service - In fact a Corps d f 61ite. The
proportion of British officers is higher than in Cavalry or Infantry.
It only forms a very small part of the Indian Army and naturally - to
a great extent - takes its tone from the mass of that Army by which it
is sufrounded. Moreover Indian Mountain Artillery is recruited entire
ly from two classes of Indians - Sikhs and Punjabi Musalmans.
A cavalry or infantry officer often finds half a dozen different
classes of Indians in any regiment he joins.
8. The main disadvantages of the temporary system of British
officers for the Indian Army are -
(i) They cannot possibly get to know the men or their languages, or
their manners and customs, or their country, as officers do whose
whole active life is spent in India.
(ii) The Indian soldier is devoted to his "old officer^ by which
he does not mean old in point of agp, but those who have served
some time with him in his regiment.
Are the advocates of the temporary system prepared to say that
the knowledge that his officers are with him for all their service
has not had much to do with the loyalty of the
sepoy
Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
and his
devotion to his leaders in action, and are they quite sure that in
proposing such a sweeping change they are not going to throw away
something more precious than anything they will gain?
(iii) It is personality and sympathy that count in the East. The
About this item
- Content
The file chiefly comprises typescript and some manuscript copies of letters, memoranda, notes and minutes by General Herbert Vaughan Cox. There are three letters to Cox from external correspondents, some printed memoranda and one cutting from the Morning Post .
Folios 1-2 comprise a list of the file documents, numbered 1-55, including type of document, addressee, date, and normally an indication of the subject. The fifty-five documents are numbered in blue pencil in the top right hand corner of the first page. Note that the contents list is not exhaustive and there are sometimes related documents between those marked with blue pencil. (There is duplication of some memoranda in the file; duplicates contain very minor differences).
The content comprises information, advice and opinions of General Cox to the War Cabinet, War Office and other government and military officers, mainly relating to British military strategy in Afghanistan, Persia [Iran], Trans-Caspia [Central Asia], the Caucasus, Mesopotamia [Iraq] and India, including:
- Securing British interests in Persia, Afghanistan, the Caspian Sea and British India, against Turco-German threats, prior to the November 1918 Armistice
- Fall of Baku (in modern Azerbaijan) to Turkish forces in September 1918 and the role of commanding officer Major General Lionel Charles Dunsterville
- Strategic importance of the Siestan [Sistan] railway (part of the Trans-Baluchistan railway)
- British policy regarding interests in ‘the East’ at the Paris Peace Conference 1919, notably North West Persia, Mesopotamia, the new republics west of the Caspian Sea, new Armenia, Syria and Palestine
- The Malleson Mission, led by Major General Sir Wilfrid Malleson, whose role after the Armistice was to protect North East Persia (or Trans-Caspia, modern Turkmenistan), from Bolshevik incursions and influence
- British military and diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, notably frontiers after the Armistice and following the assassination of Habibullah Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, in February 1919
- Turbulent situation in Waziristan, October 1919 and impact on Indian Army
- Indian Army organization, command, military requirements, training and instruction, and composition
- Command structure of the British Imperial Army in the East, senior appointments, organization and military requirements.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (223 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in chronological order from the front to the back of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 230; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 79-229; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Memoranda and papers by General Herbert Vaughan Cox, Military Secretary to the India Office, regarding British military strategy in Central Asia and the Middle East [125r] (249/460), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/5/806, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093239023.0x000032> [accessed 18 January 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/5/806
- Title
- Memoranda and papers by General Herbert Vaughan Cox, Military Secretary to the India Office, regarding British military strategy in Central Asia and the Middle East
- Pages
- 1r:91v, 93r:153v, 155r:157v, 158v:165v, 167v:230v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence