The Kitchener Reforms, carried out during Lord Kitchener's tenure as Commander-in-Chief, India (1902–09), completed the unification of the three former Presidency armies, the Punjab Frontier Force, the Hyderabad Contingent and other local forces into one Indian Army.

Kitchener identified the Indian Army's main task as the defence of the North-West Frontier against foreign aggression (particularly Russian expansion into Afghanistan) with internal security relegated to a secondary role.

The Army was organized into divisions and brigades that would act as field formations but also included internal security troops.

[4] Other than a period from September 1920 until 1927 when it was simply numbered as 1st Indian Cavalry Brigade, it retained this identity until finally broken up in November 1940.

[18] At Dakka[e] on 16 May, the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards made the last recorded charge by a British horsed cavalry regiment.