Bangladesh'smilitary history is intertwined with the history of a larger region, including present-dayIndia,Pakistan,Nepal,Bhutan andMyanmar. The country was historically part ofBengal – a major power in betweenSouth Asia andSoutheast Asia.
Muslims brought new military technology to the region after the 12th century. According toJoão de Barros, Bengal enjoyed military supremacy overArakan andTripura due to goodartillery.[1] Its forces possessed large guns andcannons. It was also a major exporter ofgunpowder andsaltpeter to Europe.[2][3] Bengal had a cosmopolitan military, includingMuslims,Hindus,Buddhists andmercenaries from Africa,Central and West Asia. TheBengal Sultanate was a powerful kingdom between the 14th and 15th centuries. Bengal became an integral part of theMughal Empire in the 16th century. TheMughal Army builtfortifications across the region and expelled Arakanese and Portuguesepirates from the northeastern coastline of theBay of Bengal. Throughout thelate medieval andearly modern periods, Bengal was notable for itsnavy andshipbuilding. Its shipyards produced ships for the Mughal, Ottoman and British navies.
ABengal Army was established by theBritish East India Company in 1756, including native andEuropean infantry. The native infantry includedBengalis,Punjabis andGurkhas. The Bengal Army was merged into theBritish Indian Army after theIndian Rebellion of 1857. The British Indian Army participated inWorld War I andWorld War II. Bengali veterans of theBurma Campaign served in thePakistan Armed Forces after thepartition of India. Amid theBangladesh Liberation War and agenocide by West Pakistan in 1971, theBangladeshi military was formed by defecting regiments inEast Pakistan, led by theEast Bengal Regiment. The guerrillaMukti Bahini played an important role during the war of independence. In the late 1970s and 1980s, the Bangladeshi military saw severalinsurrections as the country endureddictatorship. Since the restoration ofparliamentary democracy in 1991, the Bangladesh Armed Forces have been subordinate to the civilian governments, including political and technocratic governments.
Since contributing forces to theFirst Gulf War in 1991, Bangladesh has become a major contributor inUN Peacekeeping. Bangladeshi peacekeepers have served in theBalkans,Africa, theMiddle East and theCaribbean. Its recent domestic military history has focused oncounter-insurgency,counter-terrorism andmaritime security operations.
The2008 Bangladesh–Myanmar naval standoff was a notable event of modern Bangladeshi military history.
The earlymilitary history of the Indian subcontinent includedAlexander's invasion of India, which was deterred by the might of Gangaridai Kingdom that was located in present-day Bangladesh, according to most historians.Prince Vijaya of theVanga Kingdom led a naval expedition to conquer Sri Lanka. TheKalinga War was a notable event of theMauryan Empire in the eastern Indian subcontinent. The ancient Indian armies includedchariots.
The Bengal region crystallized as an imperial power during the 8th-11th centuryPala Empire. Many of the empire's cities are located in Bangladesh. The Pala military had a largewar elephant cavalry, according toArab historians. The Palas recruited mercenaries from different parts of the Indian subcontinent. Pala conquests extended across North India. The Palas were engaged in a struggle over theKannauj Triangle with theGurjara-Pratiharas andRashtrakutas.
TheMuslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent heralded new military doctrines and hardware, including well-developedartillery. TheDelhi Sultanate conquered Bengal in 1204 under the leadership of Bakhtiar Khilji, who later proceeded with anIslamic invasion of Tibet. In Bengal, the Delhi Sultanate displaced theSena dynasty. Sultan Iwas Khilji (1212–1227) was responsible for founding the Bengalnavy during the sultanate period.[1] The chief of theadmiralty had various responsibilities, including shipbuilding, transporting personnel, elephants and equipment; recruitment and collecting tolls atghats.[1] The sultanate period saw the settlement of many military officers and soldiers from North India, Central and West Asia and the Horn of Africa. The settlers includedRajputs andPashtuns.
In the 14th century, SultanShamsuddin Firoz Shah andHazrat Shah Jalal conqueredSylhet from Raja Gour Govinda;[4] SultanFakhruddin Mubarak Shah conqueredChittagong from theKingdom of Tripura.[5]Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah became known as theAlexander of the eastern subcontinent after sackingKathmandu,Varanasi andCuttack.
TheBengal Sultanate was amedieval great power and conducted a number of notable campaigns, including theBengal Sultanate-Delhi Sultanate War, theBengal Sultanate-Jaunpur Sultanate War, theReconquest of Arakan, theBengal Sultanate-Kamata Kingdom War and theBengal Sultanate-Kingdom of Mrauk U War of 1512–1516. The naval strength of Bengal was notable during theIlyas Shahi dynasty and theHussain Shahi dynasty.[1]
Sher Shah Suri conquered Bengal in the 16th century and made it part of theSuri Empire. Sher Shah Suri also renovated theGrand Trunk Road aroundSonargaon. His successors later revived the Bengal Sultanate.
After the Bengal Sultanate collapsed in the late 16th-century, the aristocratIsa Khan led a confederation ofzamindars (known asBaro-Bhuyan) to challenge theMughal invasion of Bengal, often withnaval battles on thePadma River,Meghna River andJangalbari Fort inEgarasindhur. Isa Khan defeated Mughal governorsKhan Jahan I in 1578,Shahbaz Khan in 1584 andMan Singh I in 1594. His son and successorMusa Khan continued to lead the confederation until succumbing to the Mughals led byIslam Khan I in 1610.[6]
Bengal remained relatively stable and prosperous during the 17th century. A key challenge during the early Mughal period waspiracy from theKingdom of Mrauk U and thePortuguese settlement in Chittagong. In 1666, the Mughal Empire-Kingdom of Mrauk U War expelled the Arakanese and Portuguese fromChittagong. The Mughals also engaged in theAhom-Mughal conflicts. During the 18th century, Bengal endured theinvasions by theMaratha Army- the military of theMaratha Confederacy. It fell to the conquest of theBritish East India Company after theBattle of Plassey.
Mud forts were common in Bengal, such as the Ekdala Fort used in theBengal Sultanate-Delhi Sultanate War. By the 17th century, the Mughals constructed a series of riverside fortifications in the Bengal delta. Some of the surviving forts include the following.[7]
The artillery was a vital part of the Bengal military. The Mughal emperorBabur saw it as a very effective part of the Bengal army. Portuguese historianJoão de Barros opined that the military supremacy of the Bengal army over that of Arakan and Tripura was due to the efficiency of its artillery. The artillery usedcannons andguns of various sizes.[8] TheBibi Mariam Cannon and theJahan Kosha Cannon are examples of early modern Bengali artillery.
Bengal was a major exporter ofgunpowder andsaltpeter to Europe until the 19th century.[3][2]
Foreign mercenaries were an important part of the Bengal Sultanate army. Bengal recruited mercenaries fromAbyssinia.[9]
In the 14th century,Ibn Battuta reported of large fleets of war boats in the Bengal Sultanate. According to the traveler Frederick Caesar,Chittagong was a leading shipbuilding center in the 15th century. During the 17th century, the shipyards of Chittagong were reported to have built an entire fleet of warships for theOttoman navy. During theMughal Empire, Bengal was the leading producer ships in the subcontinent.[10]
The BritishRoyal Navy had many of its ships built in Chittagong, including vessels used in theBattle of Trafalgar.
TheBengal Army was formed in 1765 by theBritish East India Company. The first native infantry was formed in 1757.[1] In the 19th century, the Bengal Army was merged into theBritish Indian Army under theBritish Raj. TheRoyal Indian Navy was formed in 1830. The Royal Indian Air Force was formed in 1932. TheBangladesh Armed Forces were raised from the armed forces of the British Raj, which included theBengal Regiment and major installations such as theDhaka Cantonment,Chittagong Cantonment and theBogra Cantonment.The following includes a list of conflicts which occurred within the territory of Bangladesh under British rule.
There was strong opposition to British involvement against theTurkish War of Independence, as bothMustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Ottoman caliphate enjoyed support in Bengal.
With thepartition of India on 15 August 1947 the territory constituting modern Bangladesh waspartitioned from the province ofBengal asEast Bengal, joining the newly created state of Pakistan. Ethnic and sectional discrimination hampered the role and function of the Pakistani military. Bengalis were under-represented in the Pakistan military. Officers of Bengali origin in the different wings of the armed forces made up just 5% of overall force by 1965.[12] West Pakistanis believed that Bengalis were not "martially inclined" unlikePashtuns andPunjabis; the "Martial Races" notion was dismissed as ridiculous and humiliating by Bengalis.[12] Moreover, despite huge defence spending, East Pakistan received none of the benefits, such as contracts, purchasing and military support jobs. TheIndo-Pakistani War of 1965 overKashmir also highlighted the sense of military insecurity among Bengalis as only an under-strengthinfantry division and 15combat aircraft withouttank support were in East Pakistan to thwart any Indian retaliations during the conflict.[13][14]
Khwaja Wasiuddin was the most senior Bengali officer in the Pakistani military.
Following the victory of theAwami League in the 1970 elections, then-president GeneralYahya Khan refused to appoint its leaderSheikh Mujibur Rahman as theprime minister and launched a brutal attack namedOperation Searchlight on the civilians of the then East Pakistan, using the Pakistani army to repress political movements.[15] Figures of people killed by Pakistani forces vary from a minimum of around 300,000 to a maximum of around 3 million.[16][17] Responding to Mujib's call for rebellion, many students, workers and other civilians mutinied against Pakistan and raised theMukti Bahini, aguerrilla force. Later on, many Bengali officers and units fromPakistan Army andEast Pakistan Rifles mutinied against their West Pakistani counterparts and joined the Mukti bahini.[18][19][20] On 17 April 1971,Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani took oath as the commander-in-chief of Mukti bahini. While the war raged on, the necessity of a well-trained armed force was always felt. During the first Bangladesh Sector Commanders Conference, held from 11 to 17 July 1971, theBangladesh Forces was formed from the revolting Bengali members of the Pakistan Army and EPR.[21] In this historic conference the field command structure, sector reorganization, reinforcement, appointment of field commanders and tactics of warfare were decided upon and carried out. On 21 November 1971, the Bangladesh Forces was divided into three separate services asBangladesh Army,Bangladesh Navy andBangladesh Air Force.
The Bangladesh Forces received modest assistance from the Indian Government soon after the start of the war.[22] On 3 December 1971, India-Pakistan war broke out and Indian troops enter Bangladesh allied with the Bangladesh Armed Forces.[23] On 16 December 1971 the Pakistani Military force in Bangladesh surrender to a joint force of Indian and Bangladesh forces.[24]
The newly formed Bangladeshi armed forces incorporated some of the units and guerrillas of the Mukti Bahini.[25] Gen. Osmani, who had led the Mukti Bahini was appointed theGeneral of the Bangladesh armed forces.[26] For many years, there was active discrimination in favour of the inductees from the Mukti Bahini against those Bengali officers who had continued service in the Pakistani armed forces or had been detained inWest Pakistan.[25][27] A group of angered officersassassinated the president Sheikh Mujib on 15 August 1975 and established a regime with politicianKhondaker Mostaq Ahmed asPresident of Bangladesh and newarmy chief Maj. Gen.Ziaur Rahman.[27] The military itself was subject of divisions as Mujib's assassins were overthrown by the pro-Mujib Brig. Gen.Khaled Mosharraf on 3 November, who himself was soon overthrown by a socialist group of officers under Col.Abu Taher on 7 November who returned Ziaur Rahman to power—an event now called theSipoy-Janata Biplob (Soldiers and People's Coup).[28] Under the presidency of Ziaur Rahman, the military was reorganised to remove conflicts between rival factions and discontented cadre.[29] However, Ziaur Rahman was himself overthrown in a1981 coup attempt,[30] and a year later, Lt. Gen.Hossain Mohammad Ershad took power from the elected government of presidentAbdus Sattar. The military remained the most important force in national politics under the regimes of Ziaur Rahman and later Hossain Mohammad Ershad until democracy was restored in 1991.[29]
Having relied primarily onSoviet Union for military aid, Bangladesh has also developed military ties with the People's Republic of China and the United States. The Bangladesh Army has been actively involved in United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO). During the firstGulf War in 1991, the Bangladesh Army sent a 2,193 member team to monitor peace inSaudi Arabia andKuwait. The Bangladesh Army also participated in peace keeping activities inNamibia,Cambodia,Somalia,Uganda,Rwanda,Mozambique, formerYugoslavia,Liberia,Haiti,Tajikistan,Western Sahara,Sierra Leone,Kosovo, Georgia,East Timor,Congo,Côte d'Ivoire andEthiopia. As of October 2008, Bangladesh remained the second largest contributor with 9,800 troops in the UN Peacekeeping forces.
Until a peace accord was signed in 1997, the Bangladeshi military engaged incounterinsurgency operations in theChittagong Hill Tracts fighting theShanti Bahini separatist group. In 2001, Bangladeshi military unitsengaged in clashes with the IndianBorder Security Force (BSF) along the northern border.[31] Controversy also emerged over possible links maintained by the Bangladeshi military and intelligence agencies with Islamic terrorist groups and anti-India secessionist outfits.[32][33][34] Several projects and schemes aiming to expand and modernize the Bangladeshi armed forces were launched by the government of former Prime MinisterBegum Khaleda Zia.
Forces Goal 2030 was launched by the government of Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina to secure new equipment for the Bangladeshi military.
Standoffs have occasionally occurred at theBangladesh-Myanmar border, including in 1991 and 2008. Most of the standoffs took place when Myanmar attempted to forceRohingyas into Bangladesh. In 2008, the two countries deployed warships after Myanmar attempted to explore a disputed Bay of Bengal seabed for oil and gas. The dispute was resolved at an international tribunal in 2012. Bangladesh and Myanmar have also conductedcounter-insurgency operations on the border.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Country Studies.Federal Research Division.
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