Blogs, which started as personal diaries or weblogs (daily logs maintained on the web), have diversified into news commentaries, collections of specialized articles, and entire manuscripts for books. Blogs are maintained on web servers, powered by complex software, and in most cases are financially supported by advertising. It is easier to write directly on a blog than it is to maintain a personal website——in the latter case you first write articles on your computer, then upload them to your website, and then repeat the cycle to make the most minor corrections.

 

For the latter reason I started a blog http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com for Indian Military History. Because the desired page title was not available at blogger, I had to modify it to Military History and Fiction, which made sense as I later placed a link to my military fiction novel Op Kartikeya in the sidebar! The first series of posts took off from the military analysis articles written by me for the Security Research Review of the Bharat-Rakshak website. These centered on the emergence of muskets in India and their adoption by certain Indian communities, and the reasons why there was no consequent RMA (revolution in military affairs) in the Indian armies of that age.

 

Horsesandswords took the story further back to the battles fought in the 17^th Centuries where artillery was a factor, but which still could not overwhelm the ferocity of the Rajput cavalry charge. At the same time another set of posts was in response to an email, which complained of the falsification of history and hollow self-glorification in some casteist and foreign websites:

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/01/battle-of-samugarh.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/01/battle-of-dharmat-ii.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2005/12/battle-of-dharmat-i_28.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2005/12/rajputs-and-aurangzeb_113397918787229908.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2005/12/question-of-resistance.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2005/12/rajputs-in-school-textbooks.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/hindu-defeats-or-hindu-victories.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/marwari-horses.html

 

 

Another phase of world history, which had remarkable links to (and impact on) the bloody Turk-Rajput conflict, was the Mongol conquest under Chingiz Kha-Khan. This phase has been usually ignored in Indian History or is mentioned as a footnote of the Delhi Sultanate court drama. The Mongol cataclysm expelled large numbers of Turks into India and consequently propelled the Turk expansion of the 14^th Century under the Khaljis and Tughluqs. In this age the Mongols dominated northwestern India for a full century, i.e. longer than the so-called Indo-Greeks in the post-Mauryan period——and yet while colonial-leftist-islamist historians readily claim that the inhabitants of the region (modern Pakistan) have some “Greek” blood, they avoid a discussion on the more obvious Mongol impact!

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/mongols-in-india.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/discovery-of-europe.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/cry-of-jehad-mongol-cataclysm.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/fall-of-muslim-turks-mongol-cataclysm.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/china-campaigns-mongol-cataclysm.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/statecraft-mongol-cataclysm.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/02/humble-beginnings-mongol-cataclysm.html

 

The second part of Op Kartikeya, titled Knockout and free to read on the web, was based in Baluchistan. For the purpose of book research, and other online articles, a slew of posts followed on the troubled land occupied by the Pakistan Army since 1947:

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/ethnic-tensions-in-baluchistan-and.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/foreign-interests-in-baluchistan.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/baluchistan-economy-and-infrastructure.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/administrative-control-over.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/armed-groups-in-baluchistan.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/baluchistans-political-leadership.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/baluchistan-struggle-for-identity.html

 

Contemporary military history received attention for an article written jointly for the SRR, which eventually turned out to be too long, and was hence placed as blog posts. These covered the Indian Armed Forces internal security operations in 2004:

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/un-missions.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/northeast.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-orchid_30.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-hifazat-ii.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-rhino-ii.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-rakshak-iii.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-vijay.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/op-meghdoot.html

 

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/ia-ops-2004.html

 

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