Col. G. B. Malleson brings his scientific understanding of the military events that encompass 100 years of British involvement in India, prior to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. He sets out the causes that led to each battle, and the connection to each successive war. Malleson consulted original documents and writings, including some that were unpublished, when compiling this work, it is also to be borne in mind that many of the battles we still in living memory when this important tome was published.
The author was a voluminous writer, his first work to attract attention being the famous 'Red Pamphlet', published at Calcutta in 1857, when the Sepoy Mutiny was at its height. Among his books, the most valuable are History of the French in India (2nd ed., 1893) and The Decisive Battles of India (3rd ed., 1888).