The British Small Wars against the tribes on India’s northeast frontier, 1826–1870

British small wars before the twentieth century were generally understood as purely military conflicts involving military tactics against the indigenous. In India’s Northeast frontier, during the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, the British launched small wars, a combination of military and non-military measures, which included money allowances and gift exchanges. This paper probes both the military and non-military aspects of these, especially the latter, which scholarship on small wars has tended to disregard.