There were three periods of change in South Asian warfare immediately prior to the introduction of European military practice from 1750 to 1850: the eleventh- and twelfth-century rise to dominance of cavalry, primarily horse-archers; the advance of siege techniques in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and the “false dawn” of the gunpowder age from 1400 to 1750. This chapter will survey these three periods to adumbrate the military developments that underlay the political and social structure before the post-1750 South Asian military revolution. This groundwork will allow a later comparison with the other polities, particularly China, and show how earlier military technologies were adopted and incorporated into South Asian warfare.

In the first period, Central Eurasian tribes in northern India and warrior tribes in south India rose to political prominence through horse-archer based military power. This established a cavalry-focused military elite, whose values continued up to and even after the introduction of more effective guns in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the second period, gunpowder weapons reached South Asia through the advancing Mongols, and counterpoise trebuchets arrived from the Middle East. Together these two new technologies overwhelmed existing fortifications and caused significant changes in military architecture. Some of these changes presaged the kind of alterations that true cannon would later require, putting fortifications somewhat ahead of siege artillery. Of particular importance was siting installations in inaccessible locations.