Loot and the Making of British India
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- ISBN 9781041196112
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 12 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Loot and the Making of British India unveils the intricate and often contentious role of military looting and prize practices in shaping British imperial expansion on the Indian subcontinent. From the eighteenth century onward, the British army developed a unique system that transformed plundered property into "booty" and redefined it as prize money, distributed under royal prerogative. This study explores how these practices incentivized soldiering, constrained unregulated plunder, and fueled tensions between officers, soldiers, and colonial authorities. Through detailed case studies, including the Banda and Kirwee affair, the book examines the legal, political, and social conflicts surrounding prize distribution, revealing how these disputes reflected broader struggles over imperial sovereignty and military discipline. By situating looting and prize within the broader context of empire building, the book offers fresh insights into the dynamics of colonial warfare, the professionalization of the British army, and the transformation of martial customs in India and beyond.
This groundbreaking work is essential for scholars and researchers interested in British imperial history, modern South Asian history, especially the colonial period, and military history.
James L. Hevia is Professor Emeritus in the History Department and the College at the University of Chicago. His research has involved Anglo-Chinese relations in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and military intelligence and logistics of the British Indian Army. His most recent publications are Animal Labor and Colonial Warfare and “Diplomacy through Rituals in the Qing Empire, in the Cambridge History of International Law, Vol. 2, International Law in Asia.
