Successful Strategy of War

1. Declare war on your enemies.

On the path to success, many people will hide their true intentions and pretend to be on your side.
Determine who and what you stand against or compete with and use them to motivate you.
2. Do not fight the last war.
Learn from failures, but do not let them weigh you down; cherish your victories, but do not let
them make you complacent.
3. Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind.
Unexpected challenges and setbacks will tempt you to respond with anger or anxiety, which will
only create more difficulties for yourself. Learn to refrain from imposing your emotions onto
reality and see things objectively so that you can react with a calm mind.
4. Create a sense of urgency and desperation.
Even if you are optimistic, aspirational, and self-confident, you will never become successful if
you do not have something compelling you to action. Create deadlines for concrete goals to push
yourself forward.
5. Avoid the snares of groupthink.
Your team will not follow you if you make your collective mission centered on yourself, but it is
also dangerous to give in to chaotic collective decision making. Warrant respect by enforcing your
commands, but also reward your team for their victories.
6. Segment your forces.
Avoid micromanaging, which can frustrate your team members and slow everyone down. Instead,
create independent groups that can accomplish tasks on their own.
7. Transform your war into a crusade.
The way to keep people motivated is to align their personal interests with those of the group.
Determine a worthy cause that everyone will want to fight for.
8. Pick your battles carefully.
You will not always have the time, energy, or resources to take your competition head on. It's
necessary to keep the long term in mind.
9. Turn the tables.
Sometimes it is best to let your opponents make the first move. Wait for them to make a poor
decision out of impatience and then move in to bring them down.
 Failure Strategy of War
1. Lack of vision, strategy and planning: Although ground was ripe for such an eventuality, the
uprising itself was a spontaneous and hence unplanned act. According to Malleson and Wilson,
the revolutionaries had planned to start the War throughout the country on 31st May, 1857.
However the cartridge incident resulted in its premature outbreak. It was doomed to fail right
from the start because of this lack of any vision, strategy and planning on the part of the rebel
forces.
2. Leadership Failures: Lack of strong political and capable military leadership played the most
crucial part in this fiasco. The rebellious forces selected a dying old frail man as their political
leader who had no desire to play the role. He was neither a brave general, nor an astute leader of
the people. Same was the case with the military leadership of the rebels which was no match to
the brilliant British leadership. On top of it was the non-existence of any well managed
centralized command and control system which could provide the proper guidance and planning
to the rebel forces.
3. Technology and Techniques: The British proved to be formidable foes, largely due to their
superior weapons, training, and strategy which play a decisive role in any military contest. The
very Enfield rifle which the rebels had refused to operate became their nemeses for its accuracy.
Similarly the use of wireless by the British played a key role in their success as they were able to
convey the news about the outbreak of rebellion to their field commanders in all the areas under
their control. Once informed, the respective governors took effective measures to arrest the
spread of the uprising. As luck would have it, the main arsenal of the rebels in Delhi was
destroyed in fire, accidently or by the traitors, leaving the defending forces with limited quantity
of ammunition. Attempts of the rebels to collect modern equipment from Russia failed as their
one member delegation (Rao Tularam) sent to Russia for this purpose died on the way.
4. Internal Rifts: After the euphoria of the initial revolt was over, inter-communal, inter-racial and
inter-regional rifts started among the rebels. Battle cry of the Muslims to wage Jihad became an
anathema for the Hindus. In fact, many Indians supported the British, due to their dislike of the
idea of return of the Mughal rule. Durbar intrigues and personal rivalries precluded any common
strategy of war. The role played by the favourite wife of the Mughal King, Zeenat Mahal was
quite dubious. Same was the case with regard to the loyalty of several of his confidants,
particularly of Ahsanullah Khan. In Awadh, Sunni Muslims, perceiving it to be a Shia rebellion,
 refused to join it as they did not want to see a return to Shiite rule. Instead they declared Haji
Imdadullah as their Ameer who led the Sunni forces against the British in the famous Battle of
Shamli.
5. Desperate Fight: British were fighting with their back against the wall because they knew there
was no option for them. It was a do or die situation for them. Once the British got a foothold,
they mustered all their resources and made a big assault on Delhi with full force.
6. Lack of Response: Only three other big cities rebelled with the result that the British didn’t have
to fight on different fronts. If the rebels had been successful in getting similar revolts and uprising
in a dozen cities across the country, the situation would have been different. Most of the southern
India remained passive with only sporadic and haphazard outbreaks of violence. Many states did
not take part in the war as these were ruled by the Nizams or the Mysore royalty and were thus
not directly under British rule.
7. Local Support: Finally the moral, political, financial and physical support extended by the
feudal elite as well as the rulers of the states played a decisive role in crushing the uprising of the
lower middle classes of Bengal. The Sikhs who wanted to avenge the annexation of Punjab 8
years ago by the British with the help of the Bengalis, fought with a vengeance. Similarly, Pathans
from the North-West Frontier Province and Potoharis from the Northern Punjab supported the
British and helped in the capture of Delhi. The Gurkhas of Nepal, who were known for their
valour and ferocity in the battlefield fought alongside the British although Nepal remained an
independent country throughout the rebellion.
8. Unequal Fight: In the last analysis it was an unequal fight between a decaying agricultural
empire and a rising industrial empire in which the die was cast before the battle started. Although
India used to produce 25% of world GDP in the 1600s but more than 80% of her income was
produced by the agricultural sector. Her growing population ensured that there was enough
supply of labour force, obviating the necessity to use machines in agricultural operations or its
value addition. Consequently her industrialization process was painstakingly slow, keeping her
status as an agricultural empire which did not produce enough surpluses to be ploughed into R&D
and technological advancements. An agricultural empire is inherently weak when pitted against
the industrial one which has sufficient resources and need for technology.