The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

 in India before the partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

 in 1947. The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empire's forces, both in India and abroad, particularly during the First and Second World Wars.

It was responsible for the defence of both directly governed British India and the Princely State

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

s (which could also have their own armies).

The first army officially called the "Indian Army" was raised by the government of India in 1895, existing alongside the three long-established presidency armies

Presidency armies

The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India...

 (the Bengal Army

Bengal Army

The Bengal Army was the army of the Presidency of Bengal, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia. Although based in Bengal in eastern India, the presidency stretched across northern India and the Himalayas all the way to the North West Frontier Province...

, the Madras Army

Madras Army

The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of the British India within the British Empire.The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all three...

 and the Bombay Army

Bombay Army

The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia.The Presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all three presidencies to the direct...

) of the Presidencies of British India.