Reviews for India's Ad Hoc Arsenal: Direction or Drift in Defense Policy?

The average rating for India's Ad Hoc Arsenal: Direction or Drift in Defense Policy? based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-01-24 00:00:00 Jean Gerardot Life was good for India's Great Mughal Emperors. The empire was vast,their power was absolute,they had great wealth,and they indulged in all kinds of luxury. At the height of their power,they were the envy of European monarchs. This is the companion volume to Abraham Eraly's excellent book,The Mughal Throne. This time,the focus is on the Mughal way of life,rather than the battles for the throne. Eraly knows how to do his homework. It is meticulously researched, and draws from contemporary sources,including the diaries of European travellers,who were awestruck by the opulence of the Mughal court. Parts of it are very colourful,when the author looks at the Imperial harem, the patronage of the arts and the building of magnificent monuments like the Taj Mahal,which stand to this day. Other chapters are relatively dry,including those about how the Mughals administered their empire,collected taxes,and rewarded their noblemen. The Mughals could also be very cruel,and this was even shown in some of the activities they took for sport. At times,the book does get bogged down by too much detail. But overall,a fine effort,which I enjoyed.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-03-11 00:00:00 Scotty Helmut A massive, indeed exhaustive, look at the Mughal empire--administration, military organisation, food, sexual mores, religious structure, class structure. It's massive, and obviously some parts are really not for the general reader (or not this one anyway). Along with his book The Mughal Throne I feel like I have a lot more sense of what/when/how the Mughal empire was, which is a start to a shamefully neglected part of my education. Highly informative and colourful, if not light reading. Author feels very strongly that the empire was administratively speaking basically a disgrace and shambles after Akbar, and makes a case for this whose merits I am in no way equipped to judge, but it's fascinating to read. The empire was just too big, and the Mughals (except Akbar) too focused on their own enrichment--emperor after emperor presiding over a system of squeezing the poor till the pips squeaked, and effectively discouraging investment in the country's future by people at all levels in favour of personal enrichment by whatever means. Also, Aurangzeb is still a dick.