British Logistics and the Conduct of the Carnatic Wars

Abstract

All armies must feed to exist and move to engage the enemy, so logistical operations are crucial to warfare. Logistical provision for the Madras army was so restricted in its wars between 1746 and 1783 that it dominated strategy rather than served it. This was due to the enemy’s light cavalry being so superior that it could invariably cut British communications. But the enemy was unable to defeat the British in pitched battles or take their fortresses. So the East India Company survived to become dominant in India by keeping the Madras field army ‘in being’, supported by its invulnerable Bengal supply base and usual command of coastal waters.