The Most Famous

MILITARY PERSONNELS from India

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This page contains a list of the greatest Indian Military Personnels. The pantheon dataset contains 2,058 Military Personnels, 14 of which were born in India. This makes India the birth place of the 15th most number of Military Personnels behind Spain, and Austria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Indian Military Personnels of all time. This list of famous Indian Military Personnels is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Indian Military Personnels.

Photo of Kim Philby

1. Kim Philby (1912 - 1988)

With an HPI of 63.14, Kim Philby is the most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages on wikipedia.

Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secrets to the Soviets during the Second World War and in the early stages of the Cold War. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been the most successful in providing secret information to the Soviets. Born in British India, Philby was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1934. After leaving Cambridge, Philby worked as a journalist, covering the Spanish Civil War and the Battle of France. In 1940 he began working for the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6). By the end of the Second World War he had become a high-ranking member. In 1949 Philby was appointed first secretary to the British Embassy in Washington and served as chief British liaison with American intelligence agencies. During his career as an intelligence officer, he passed large amounts of intelligence to the Soviet Union, including the Albanian Subversion, a scheme to overthrow the pro-Soviet government of Communist Albania. Philby was suspected of tipping off two other spies under suspicion of Soviet espionage, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, both of whom subsequently fled to Moscow in May 1951. Under suspicion himself, Philby resigned from MI6 in July 1951 but was publicly exonerated by then-Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan in 1955. He resumed his career as both a journalist and a spy for MI6 in Beirut, but was forced to defect to Moscow after finally being unmasked as a Soviet agent in 1963. Philby lived in Moscow until his death in 1988.

Photo of Baji Rao I

2. Baji Rao I (1700 - 1740)

With an HPI of 55.65, Baji Rao I is the 2nd most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Bajirao I (born as Visaji, Marathi: [ˈbaːdʑiɾaːʋ bəˈlːaːɭ̆]; 18 August 1700 – 28 April 1740) was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. He, after Shivaji, is considered to be the most charismatic and dynamic leader in Maratha history. He was just twenty years old and already had a reputation for rapid decisions and a passion for military adventure. In the Deccan region, the Nizam of Hyderabad emerged as a significant threat. Bajirao then led a campaign against the Nizam in which Nizam suffered a decisive defeat at Palkheda. This victory solidified the Marathas’ authority in the Deccan region. In Bundelkhand, he rescued the Bundela ruler Chhatrasal from a Mughal siege, gaining independence for Bundelkhand. Gratefully, Chhatrasal granted Bajirao a jagir and his daughter's hand in marriage. In the 1730s, Bajirao asserted Maratha tax rights in Gujarat, defeating rebel Trimbak Rao Dabhade in 1731 at Battle of Dabhoi; he also engaged in a diplomatic mission to persuade Rajput courts for chauth payments. Further efforts to establish Maratha dominance saw him responsible for the Battle of Delhi (1737) which may be said to mark the pinnacle of his military career. He secured the important territory of Malwa after defeating the combined forces of Mughal-Nizam-Nawab of Awadh in Battle of Bhopal (1737). Bajirao's adventurous life has been picturized in Indian cinema and also featured in novels. Bajirao had two wives Kashibai and Mastani. Bajirao's relationship with his second wife Mastani is a controversial subject; very little is known with certainty about it. She was generally referenced cryptically in books, letters or documents from that era.

Photo of Tatya Tope

3. Tatya Tope (1814 - 1859)

With an HPI of 54.29, Tatya Tope is the 3rd most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Tantia Tope (also spelled Tatya Tope, Marathi pronunciation: [t̪aːt̪ʲa ʈoːpe]; 16 February 1814 — 18 April 1859) was a notable commander in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Photo of Rash Behari Bose

4. Rash Behari Bose (1886 - 1945)

With an HPI of 53.42, Rash Behari Bose is the 4th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Rash Behari Bose ( ; 25 May 1886 – 21 January 1945) was an Indian revolutionary leader and freedom fighter who fought against the British Empire. He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and founded the Indian Independence League. Bose also led the Indian National Army (INA) which was formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh. He was behind the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy to assassinate the Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, in 1912. After the failed assassination attempt, Bose fled to Imperial Japan. He sided with Imperial Japan against Britain in World War II.

Photo of Orde Wingate

5. Orde Wingate (1903 - 1944)

With an HPI of 53.11, Orde Wingate is the 5th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of the Second World War. Wingate was an exponent of unconventional military thinking and the value of surprise tactics. Wingate was a dedicated Christian Zionist. In Mandatory Palestine, he set up a joint British–Jewish counter-insurgency unit called the Special Night Squads. Under the patronage of the area commander Archibald Wavell, Wingate was given increasing latitude to put his ideas into practice during the Second World War. He created units in Abyssinia and Burma. At a time when Britain was in need of morale-boosting generalship, Wingate attracted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's attention with a self-reliant aggressive philosophy of war, and was given resources to stage a large-scale operation. The last Chindit campaign may have determined the outcome of the Battle of Kohima, although the offensive into India by the Japanese may have occurred because Wingate's first operation had demonstrated the possibility of moving through the jungle. In practice, both Japanese and British forces suffered severe supply problems and malnutrition. Wingate was killed in an aircraft accident in March 1944. The casualty rate the Chindits suffered, especially from disease, is a continuing controversy. Wingate believed that resistance to infection could be improved by inculcating a tough mental attitude, but medical officers considered his methods unsuited to a tropical environment.

Photo of Mad Mike Hoare

6. Mad Mike Hoare (1919 - 2020)

With an HPI of 53.06, Mad Mike Hoare is the 6th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare (17 March 1919 – 2 February 2020) was an Irish military officer and mercenary who fought during the Simba rebellion and was involved in carrying out the 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt.

Photo of Sam Manekshaw

7. Sam Manekshaw (1914 - 2008)

With an HPI of 52.08, Sam Manekshaw is the 7th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (4 April 1914 – 27 June 2008), also known as Sam Bahadur ("Sam the Brave"), was an Indian Army general officer who was the chief of the army staff during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, and the first Indian to be promoted to the rank of field marshal. His active military career spanned four decades, beginning with service in World War II. Manekshaw joined the first intake of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun in 1932. He was commissioned into the 4th Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment. In World War II, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. Following the Partition of India in 1947, he was reassigned to the 8th Gorkha Rifles. Manekshaw was seconded to a planning role during the 1947 Indo-Pakistani War and the Hyderabad crisis, and as a result, he never commanded an infantry battalion. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier while serving at the Military Operations Directorate. He became the commander of 167 Infantry Brigade in 1952 and served in this position until 1954 when he took over as the director of military training at the Army Headquarters. After completing the higher command course at the Imperial Defence College, he was appointed the general officer commanding of the 26th Infantry Division. He also served as the commandant of the Defence Services Staff College. In 1962, he was accused in a politically motivated treason trial, he was eventually found innocent but thus could not serve in the 1962 war. In 1963, Manekshaw was promoted to the rank of army commander and took over Western Command, then was transferred in 1964 to Eastern Command. In this role, in 1967, he was involved in the first Indian victory against a Chinese offensive during the Nathu La and Cho La clashes. Manekshaw was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 1968 for responding to the insurgencies in Nagaland and Mizoram. Manekshaw became the seventh chief of army staff in 1969. Under his command, Indian forces providing them with arms and ammunitions to fight against the strong regular army of Pakistan in the Bangladesh-Pakistani War of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of India, in 1972 for his services to the nation. Manekshaw was promoted to the rank of field marshal in January 1973, the first of only two Indian officers to be ever promoted to this rank. He retired on 15 January 1973, a date celebrated as Army Day in India. Manekshaw died on 27 June 2008 due to complications from pneumonia.

Photo of Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts

8. Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (1832 - 1914)

With an HPI of 51.41, Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts is the 8th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914), was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Irish family, Roberts joined the East India Company Army and served as a young officer in the Indian Rebellion during which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. He was then transferred to the British Army and fought in the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in which his exploits earned him widespread fame. Roberts would go on to serve as the Commander-in-Chief, India, before leading British Forces for a year during the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904. A man of small stature, Roberts was affectionately known to his troops and the wider British public as "Bobs" and revered as one of Britain's leading military figures at a time when the British Empire reached the height of its power. He became a symbol for the British Army and in later life became an influential proponent of stronger defence in response to the increasing threat that the German Empire posed to Britain in the lead up to the First World War.

Photo of John Frost

9. John Frost (1912 - 1993)

With an HPI of 50.89, John Frost is the 9th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Major General John Dutton Frost, (31 December 1912 – 21 May 1993) was an airborne officer of the British Army, best known for being the leader of the small group of British airborne troops that actually arrived at Arnhem bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in Operation Market Garden, in the Second World War. He was one of the first to join the newly formed Parachute Regiment and served with distinction in many wartime airborne operations, such as in North Africa and Sicily and Italy, until his injury and subsequent capture at Arnhem. He retired from the army in 1968 to become a beef cattle farmer in West Sussex.

Photo of Somnath Sharma

10. Somnath Sharma (1923 - 1947)

With an HPI of 50.46, Somnath Sharma is the 10th most famous Indian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Somnath Sharma, PVC (31 January 1923 – 3 November 1947), was an Indian military officer and the first recipient of India's highest military decoration, Param Vir Chakra (PVC), which he was awarded posthumously. Sharma was commissioned into the 8th Battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment, in 1942. He served in Burma during the Arakan Campaign in World War II, for which he was mentioned in despatches. Fighting in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948, Somnath Sharma was killed in action on 3 November 1947 while repulsing Pakistani infiltrators near Srinagar Airport. For his gallantry and sacrifice during the Battle of Badgam, he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra.

People

Pantheon has 21 people classified as Indian military personnels born between 1700 and 1994. Of these 21, 5 (23.81%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Indian military personnels include Padma Bandopadhyay, Sanjay Kumar, and Abhinandan Varthaman. The most famous deceased Indian military personnels include Kim Philby, Baji Rao I, and Tatya Tope. As of April 2024, 8 new Indian military personnels have been added to Pantheon including Somnath Sharma, William Birdwood, and Bakht Khan.

Living Indian Military Personnels

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Deceased Indian Military Personnels

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Newly Added Indian Military Personnels (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Military Personnels were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 13 most globally memorable Military Personnels since 1700.