Expansion and Consolidation of India Notes


EIC AND BENGAL

  •  Bengal, the richest province of the Mughal Empire included present day Bangladesh, and its Nawab had authority over the region constituting present day states of Bihar and Odisha.
  • Exports from Bengal to Europe consisted of raw products such as saltpetre, rice, indigo, pepper, sugar, silk, cotton textiles, handicrafts, etc.
  • The Company paid a sum of Rs 3,000 (£ 350) per annum to the Mughal emperor who allowed them to trade freely in Bengal.
  • In contrast, the Company’s exports from Bengal were worth more than £ 50,000 per annum.


MURSHID QULI KHAN: 1700-1727
SHUJAUD DIN: 1727-1739
SARFARAZ: 1739-40
ALIVARDI KHAN: 1741-1756
SIRAJ-UD-DAULA: 1756-57


ENEMIES OF SIRAJ-UD-DAULA

  • The Nawab of Purnea, Shaukat Jang
  • Mir Jafar
  • A dominant group in his court comprising Jagat Seth, Omichand, Rai Ballabh, Rai Durlabh
  • British


MISUSE OF POWER BY BRITISH

  •  Rampant misuse of its trade privileges that adversely affected the nawab’s finances.
  •  Gave asylum to a political fugitive, Krishna Das, son of Rai Ballabh who had fled with immense treasures against the nawab’s will.
  •  Fortification of Calcutta without the nawab’s permission.
  •  EIC was suspicious of the closeness between Siraj and French.


SIRAJ’S REACTION

  •  Siraj attacked and seized the English fort at Calcutta, leading to open hostility.
  •  ‘Black Hole Tragedy’, 20 June 1756
  •  Siraj-ud-daula is believed to have imprisoned 146 English persons who were lodged in a very tiny room due to which 123 of them died of suffocation.


THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY

  • The arrival of a strong force under the command of Robert Clive forged a secret alliance with the traitors of the nawab—Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh, Jagat Seth (an influential banker of Bengal) and Omichand.
  • Under the deal, Mir Jafar was to be made the nawab who in turn would reward the Company for its services.
  • So, the English victory in the Battle of Plassey (June 23, 1757) was decided before the battle was even fought.
  • Siraj-ud-daula was captured and murdered.
  • Mir Jafar became the Nawab of Bengal. He gave large sums of money plus the zamindari of 24 parganas to the English.


Mir Kasim and the Treaty of 1760

  •  EIC helped Mir Kasim to become the Nawab who agreed to cede to the Company the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur and Chittagong.
  • The Company would get half of the share in chunam trade of Sylhet.
  • Mir Kasim shifted the capital from Murshidabad to Munger in Bihar.
  • The move was taken to allow a safe distance from the Company at Calcutta.
  • His other important steps were reorganizing the bureaucracy.


THE BATTLE OF BUXAR

  • Immediate Reason: By an imperial farman, the English company had obtained the right to trade in Bengal without paying transit dues or tolls.
  • The combined armies of Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Awadh and Shah Alam II were defeated by the English forces under Major Hector Munro at Buxar on October 22, 1764 in a closely contested battle.


THE TREATY OF ALLAHABAD, 1765

Robert Clive concluded two important treaties at Allahabad in August 1765—one with the Nawab of Awadh and the other with the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.

Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula agreed to:

  1. Surrender Allahabad and Kara to Emperor Shah Alam II
  2. Pay Rs 50 lakh to the Company as war indemnity

Shah Alam II agreed to:

  1. Reside at Allahabad under the Company’s protection
  2. Issue a farman granting the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company in lieu of an annual payment of Rs 26 lakh


DUAL GOVERNMENT IN BENGAL (1765-72)

  •  Robert Clive introduced the dual system of government, i.e., the rule of the two—the Company and the Nawab—in Bengal in which both the diwani, i.e., collecting revenues, and nizamat, i.e., police and judicial functions, came under the control of the Company.
  • The dual system led to an administrative breakdown and proved disastrous for the people of Bengal.
  • It was finally ended under Warren Hastings in 1772.


MYSORE’S RESISTANCE TO THE COMPANY


THE WODEYAR / MYSORE DYNASTY

  •  In 1612 a Hindu kingdom under the Wodeyars emerged in the region of Mysore.
  •  Mysore emerged as aformidable power under the leadership of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.

RISE OF HAIDAR ALI

  •  Haidar Ali became the de facto ruler of Mysore in 1761.
  •  Haidar Ali took the help ofthe French to set up an arms factory at Dindigul (now in Tamil Nadu), and also introduced Western methods of training for his army.


Anglo Mysore Wars


FIRST ANGLO-MYSORE WAR (1767-69)

  • The Nizam, the Marathas, and the English allied together against HaidarAli.
  •  English conclude a treaty with Haidar on April 4, 1769—Treaty of Madras.
  • The treaty provided for the exchange of prisoners and mutual restitution of conquests.
  •  Haidar Ali was promised the help of theEnglish in case he was attacked by any other power.


SECOND ANGLO-MYSORE WAR (1780- 84)

  •  Haidar forged an anti-English alliance (tried to capture Mahe) with the Marathas and the Nizam.
  •  Fed up with an inconclusive war theTreaty of Mangalore (March, 1784 was conducted under which each party gave back the territories it had taken from the other.
  •  Haidar Ali died of cancer on December 7, 1782 and Tipu came to power.


THIRD ANGLO-MYSORE WAR

  •  Tipu was defeated by Britishers.
  •  Treaty of Seringapatam- Under this treaty of1792, nearly half of the Mysorean territory was taken over by the victors.


FOURTH ANGLO-MYSORE WAR

  • The war began on April 17, 1799 and ended on May 4, 1799 with the fall of Seringapatam.
  •  Tipu was defeated first by English General Stuart and then by General Harris.
  • The English were again helped by the Marathas and the Nizam.
  • The new state of Mysore was handed over to the old Hindu dynasty (Wodeyars) under a minor rulerKrishnaraja III, who accepted the subsidiary alliance.
  • In 1831 William Bentinck took controlof Mysore on grounds of misgovernance. In 1881 Lord Ripon restored the kingdom to its ruler.


ANGLO-MARATHA STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY


RISE OF THE MARATHAS

Bajirao I (1720-40), considered greatest of all the Peshwas, had started a confederacy of rapidly expanding Maratha power


ENTRY OF THE ENGLISH INTO MARATHA POLITICS

The English in Bombay wanted to establish a government on the lines of the arrangement made by Clive in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.


The Maratha families which emerged prominent were:

  1. Gaekwad of Baroda
  2. Bhonsle of Nagpur
  3. Holkars of Indore
  4. Sindhias of Gwalior
  5. Peshwa of Poona


FIRST ANGLO-MARATHA WAR (1775-82)


TREATY OF SURAT

  •  Raghunathrao, unwilling to give up his position in power, sought help from the English at Bombay and signed the Treaty of Surat in 1775.
  •  Under the treaty, Raghunathrao ceded the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the English along with a portion of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts.
  •  In return, the English were to provide Raghunathrao with 2,500 soldiers.


TREATY OF PURANDHAR

  •  It ratified the Treaty of Purandhar, 1776) with the regency renouncing Raghunath and promising him a pension
  •  In 1777, Nana Phadnavis violated this treaty by granting the French a port on the west coast.


TREATY OF WADGAON

  •  Marathas lured the English army into the ghats (mountain passes) near Talegaon and trapped the English from all sides.
  •  The English surrendered by mid-January 1779 and signed the Treaty of Wadgaon that forced the Bombay government to relinquish all territories acquired by the English since 1775.


TREATY OF SALBAI (1782)

  •  Warren Hastings, the Governor-General in Bengal, rejected the Treaty of Wadgaon and captured Ahmedabad in February 1779, and Bassein in December 1780 under Colonel Goddard
  •  Another Bengal detachment led by Captain Popham captured Gwalior in August 1780.
  •  In February 1781 the English, under General Camac, finally defeated Sindhia at Sipri.
  •  Sindhia proposed a new treaty between the Peshwa and the English, and the Treaty of Salbai was signed in May 1782
  •  It was ratified by Hastings in June 1782 and by Phadnavis in February 1783.
  •  The treaty guaranteed peace between the two sides for twenty years.


SECOND ANGLO MARATHA WAR (1803-1805)

  • On October 25, 1802, Holkars defeated the armies of the Peshwa and Sindhia
  • A terrified Bajirao II fled to Bassein and concluded a treaty with the English Treaty of Bassein (1802)

Under the treaty, the Peshwa agreed:

  1. to receive from the Company a native with the usual proportion of field artillery and European artillery men attached, to be permanently stationed in his territories (Subsidiary Alliance)
  2. to surrender the city of Surat
  3. to give up all claims for chauth on the Nizam’s dominions
 Defeat of Bhonsle (December 17, 1803, Treaty of Devgaon)
 Defeat of Sindhia (December 30, 1803, Treaty of Surajianjangaon)
 Defeat of Holkar (1806, Treaty of Rajpurghat)


THIRD ANGLO-MARATHA WAR (1817-19)

  •  Bajirao II made a last bid in 1817 by rallying together the Maratha chiefs
  • The Peshwa attacked the British Residency at Poona
  • The Peshwa was defeated at Khirki, Bhonsle at Sitabuldi,and Holkar at Mahidpur.
  • Important treaties were signed.
 June 1817, Treaty of Poona, with Peshwa.
 November 1817, Treaty of Gwalior, with Sindhia.
 January 1818, Treaty of Mandasor, with Holkar
 In June 1818, the Peshwa finally surrendered and the Maratha confederacy was dissolved.


CONQUEST OF SINDH

  • Lord Auckland and Sindh
  •  Lord Auckland became the Governor-General in 1836
  • In 1839 Sindh accepted Subsidiary Alliance
  • In 1843, under Governor-General Ellenborough, Sindh was merged into the British Empire and Charles Napier was appointed its first governor.


CONQUEST OF PUNJAB: Ranjit Singh

  • In 1799, Ranjit Singh was appointed as the governor of Lahore by Zaman Shah, the ruler of Afghanistan.
  • In 1805, Ranjit Singh acquired Jammu and Amritsar and thus the political capital (Lahore) and religious capital (Amritsar) of Punjab came under the rule of Ranjit Singh.
  • Ranjit Singh agreed to sign the Treaty of Amritsar (April 25, 1809) with the Company.
  •  Gave Ranjit Singh right to extend his rule over the entire Sikh nation by accepting the river Sutlej as the boundary line for his dominions and the Company’s.


DEATH OF RANJIT SINGH AND AFTERMATH

Dalip Singh, a minor son of Ranjit Singh, was proclaimed the Maharaja with Rani Jindan as regent. There were no political stability.


FIRST ANGLO-SIKH WAR (1845-46)

  •  Treaty of Lahore (March 8, 1846): The end of the first Anglo-Sikh War forced the Sikhs to sign a humiliating treaty on March 8, 1846.
  • The main features of the Treaty of Lahore were as follows:
  • The Jalandhar Doab (between the Beas and the Sutlej) was annexed to the Company’s dominions.
  • A British resident was to be established at Lahore under Henry Lawrence.
  •  Kashmir including Jammu was sold to Gulab Singh and he was required to pay Rupees 75 lakh to the Company as the price.


SECOND ANGLO-SIKH WAR (1848-49)

  •  Three important battles were fought before the final annexation of Punjab.
  • These three battles were: (i) Battle of Ramnagar, led by Sir Hugh Gough, the commander-in-chief of the Company. (ii) Battle of Chillhanwala, January, 1849. (iii) Battle of Gujarat, February 21, 1849
  • The Sikh army surrendered at Rawalpindi
  • At the end of the war came the Earl of Dalhousie was given the thanks of the British Parliament and a promotion in the peerage, as Marquess
  • A three-member board to govern Punjab, comprising of the Lawrence brothers (Henry and John) and Charles Mansel was set up.
  • In 1853 John Lawrence became the first chief commissioner.


The Policy of Ring-Fence

  •  Warren Hastings followed a policy of ring-fence.
  • It aimed at creating buffer zones to defend the Company’s frontiers.
  • The states brought under the ring-fence system were assured of military assistance against external aggression—but at their own expense. Subsidiary Alliance (Extension of Ring Fence)


Subsidiary Alliance (Extension of Ring Fence)

  • The subsidiary alliance system was used by Lord Wellesley, who was governor-general from 1798-1805 to eliminate French power and keep away the Napoleonic danger
  • Under the system, the allying Indian state’s ruler was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his territory and to pay a subsidy for its maintenance.
  • The Indian ruler had to agree to the posting of a British resident in his court.
  • Under the system, the Indian ruler could not employ any European in his service without the prior approval of the British.
  • In return for all this, the British would defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of noninterference in the internal matters of the allied state


 Nizam of Hyderabad (1800)
 Mysore (1799)
 Tanjore (October 1799)
 Nawab of Awadh (November 1801)
 Peshwa (December 1801)
 Bhonsle Raja of Berar (December 1803)
 Sindhia (February 1804)
 Rajput states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Macheri, Bundi, Bharatpur (1818)
 Holkars (1818)


Doctrine of Lapse

In simple terms, the doctrine stated that the adopted son could be the heir to his foster father’s private property, but not the state; it was for the paramount power (the British) to decide whether to bestow the state on the adopted son or to annex it.

This policy is attributed to Lord Dalhousie (1848-56)

STATES ANNEXED

  1. Satara (1848)
  2. Sambalpur (1849)
  3. Udaipur (1850)
  4. Jhansi and Nagpur (1854)
  5. Awadh (1856)