German Soldiers in Colonial India

Tzoref-Ashkenazi presents a detailed study of two German regiments which served in India under the British between 1782 and 1791. He asks if the Germans identified with the goals of the British colonial power, how they felt about local people and traditions, and whether their level of education affected the likelihood that a German soldier would adopt the colonial ideologies of their British employers. Tzoref-Ashkenazi also explores the transnational character of colonial institutions such as the East India Company, as well as the cultural exchanges between Hanoverian Britain and Germany, before finally setting his findings within the wider context of German Enlightenment thought.