If there was no British India, would Britain have colonized Australia?

I think Britain would be even more eager to colonize part of the East Indies sans India. Which would then lead them to Australia. Don't forget there would still be a hugely profitable Eastern trade going on without India being controlled by Europeans.
 
The Company Armies were the best because they controlled large portions of India to recruit. These were "European" Armies.

No, they were the best armies because they were trained to European standards, which made them far more disciplined in battle. Indians believed European troops had near magical qualities in their ability to withstand fire and survive. The earliest armies were European troops - people not good enough for the British army often joined that of the EIC. They then recruited Indian troops as they got more involved in local affairs. Sometimes this was from controlled territory - sometimes it was just recruiting Indians from next door. The French had a decent sized Indian chunk of their company army, and they never had major territorial concessions.

The other advantage the Europeans had in the early days was their navies. The battles were close to the coast, and the Europeans could remove their army if it was going to lose, or reinforce one that had the potential to win.
 
No, they were the best armies because they were trained to European standards, which made them far more disciplined in battle. Indians believed European troops had near magical qualities in their ability to withstand fire and survive. The earliest armies were European troops - people not good enough for the British army often joined that of the EIC. They then recruited Indian troops as they got more involved in local affairs. Sometimes this was from controlled territory - sometimes it was just recruiting Indians from next door. The French had a decent sized Indian chunk of their company army, and they never had major territorial concessions.

The other advantage the Europeans had in the early days was their navies. The battles were close to the coast, and the Europeans could remove their army if it was going to lose, or reinforce one that had the potential to win.


Good point, I should have said "Europea-STYLE Armies".

Though I think we're digressing from the Australia topic.
 
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