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Consolidation under British rule

Conquest of Bengal (Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar)

• Bengal was one of the fertile and wealthy regions of India. The English ascendancy in Bengal proved to be the basis for the expansion of English rule in India. The conflict between the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula and the English led to the Battle of Plassey held on 23rd June 1757.
• Robert Clive, the Commander of the British troops emerged victorious by defeating the Nawab’s army. The easy English victory was due to the treachery of Mir Jafar, the Commander of Nawab’s army. However, the victory of the British in the Battle of Plassey marked the foundation of the British rule in India.
• In 1764, the English once again defeated the combined forces of the Nawab of Oudh, the Mughal Emperor and the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Buxar. The English military superiority was decisively established.
• In 1765, Robert Clive was appointed as the Governor of Bengal. In the same year, the Treaty of Allahabad was concluded by which the Mughal Emperor granted the Diwani rights to the English East India Company. Thus the dual government was established in Bengal.

Consolidation under Warren Hasting

• The Rohilla War (1774)
• Warren Hastings with Nawab of Awadh invaded Rohilakand and Rohillas were defeated.
• First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82)
• In 1775, there was a dispute for the post of Peshwa
  between Madhav Rao and his uncle Ragunatha Rao.

The British authorities in Bombay concluded the Treaty of Surat with Raghunatha Rao in March 1775 but later shifted towards Madhav Rao by

• As per the treaty, Salsette and Bassein were given to the British, Raghunath Rao was pensioned off and Madhav Rao II was accepted as the Peshwa.
• The Treaty of Salbai established the British influence in Indian politics. It provided the British twenty years of peace with the Marathas.
• The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84)
• In the first Anglo-Mysore war (1767-69), Haider Ali emerged victorious against the British and at the end of the War a defensive treaty was concluded between Haider Ali and the British, but it failed to ensure peace.
• The British captured Mahe (a French settlement) inside Mysore whereas Haider Ali formed a grand alliance with Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas to fight against British.
• The peace pact between British and Maratha; and Brit ish and Mizam of Hyderabad, left Ryder Ali isolated without an alliance.
• He was defeated by British under Sir Eyre Coote at Porto Novo in March 1781. In December 1782, Haider died at the age of sixty and his son Tipu Sultan succeeded him
• Post defeat, ‘Treaty of Mangalore’ (1783) was signed between Tipu Sultan and the British.
• Consolidation under Lord Cornwallis
  • Third Mysore War (1790-92)
  • The reasons for the war includes – Tipu Sultan’s internal reforms created worries to the British, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas, Tipu’s attempts to seek the help of France and Turkey by sending envoys to those countries, annexing territories of the Raja of Travancore (an ally of British), and In 1789, the British concluded a tripartite alliance with the Nizam and the Marathas against Tipu.
  • The war started in 1790 was fought in three phases and concluded with the defeat of Tipu. Tipu Sultan concluded the Treaty of Srirangapattinam, as per the treaty, Tipu lost half of his dominion.

  Consolidation under Lord Wellesley

  • Consolidation via Subsidiary Alliance
  • It was an agreement between the British and the Indian state by which it was the duty of the British to help that state from external threat and in return the protected state would give some money or give part of its territory to the British.
  • Hyderabad: Hyderabad was the first state which was brought under Wellesley’s Subsidiary System in 1798. In accordance with the treaty, all the French troops in Hyderabad were disbanded and replaced by a subsidiary British force.

  Awadh: The threat of invasion by Zaman Shah of Afghanistan was the pretext for Wellesley to force the Nawab of Awadh to enter into a subsidiary treaty. The Nawab gave the British the rich lands of Rohilkhand, the lower Doab and Gorakhpur for the maintenance of an increased army which the British stationed in the capital of Awadh concluding the treaty of Salbai in 1882.

• • Tanjore, Surat and Karnataka:

  The company assumed the administration of Tanjore, Surat and the Karnataka by concluding treaties with the respective rulers of these states.

  • The Fourth Anglo-Mysore war (1799)

  The reasons for fourth Anglo-Mysore war were — growing  proximity between Mysore and British enemies , Tipu Sultan’s support for Napoleon’s cause and Tipu’s grudge against British following humiliation in third Anglo-Mysore war.

  • Wellesley wanted to pursue Tipu for subsidiary alliance but Tipu declined, this led to fourth Anglo-Mysore war.
  • The war was short and decisive. British won easily. Although severely wounded, Tipu fought till his capital Srirangapattinam was captured and he himself was shot dead.
  • The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05)
  • Peshwa Baji Rao II signed the Treaty of Bassein with British in 1802 which allowed British to interfere in Maratha infighting.
  • Daulat Rao Scindia and Raghoji Bhonsle took the Treaty of Bassein as an insult to the national honour of the Marathas. Soon the forces of both the chieftains were united and they crossed the river Narmada. Wellesley seized this opportunity and declared war in August 1803.
  • British defeated Marathas completely and signed Treaty of Deogaon with Bhonsle and treaty of Surji-Arjungaon with Scindia.

  Consolidation under Lord Hastings

  • Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-19)
  • Peshwa began disobeying the provisions of subsidiary alliance which angered British. On 5th November 1817, Peshwa attacked the British residency but was soon defeated.
  • Both Scindia and Bhonsle began to disobey their respec tive treaties which drew the British wrath. Both Scindia and Bhonsle alongwith Holkar were defeated by British one by one.
  • Similarly the Gaekwar of Baroda, while accepting the Subsidiary Alliance, agreed to hand over certain areas of Ahmedabad to the British.
  • Thus, the dream of a Mighty Maratha Confederacy was shattered.

  Consolidation under Lord Dalhousie

  Doctrine of Lapse

  • Due to British supremacy, it was customary for a ruler without a natural heir to ask the British Government whether he could adopt a son to succeed him
  • According to Dalhousie, if such permission was refused by the British, the state would “lapse” and thereby be come part of the British India.
  • Dalhousie maintained that there was a difference in principle between the right to inherit private property and the right to govern. This principle was called the Doctrine of Lapse.
  • The Doctrine of Lapse was applied by Dalhousie to Satara and it was annexed in 1848, Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed in 1854. As a result of these annexations, a large part of the Central Provinces came under the British rule.
  • Annexation of Awadh
  • Awadh was an ally of British as the ruler was a puppet planted by British post Treaty of Allahabad.

  The mismanagement of Awadh was overlooked by suc cessive Governor-Generals for long but Dalhousie acted different. He annexed Awadh by citing mismanagement/ poor management and ruler was sent on pension.