Auranangzeb was the last powerful Mughal ruler. After the death of
Auranagzeb the later rulers proved to be inefficient and foreign powers got
opportunity to establish their rule in India.
East India Company comes East:
i.
In 1600 royal charter
granted to East India Company granting the sole right to trade with the East.
ii.
East India Company
bought goods at a cheap price and sold them at higher price in Europe.
iii.
Cotton and silk produced
in India had a big market in Europe.
iv.
Pepper, cloves, cardamom
and cinnamon were in great demand.
v.
East India company and
its officials accumulated wealth by the trade of India and caught attention of
other european powers.
vi.
English east India
company had to compete with other europian companies such as Franch, Dutch and
Portugese.
vii.
Because of the powerfull
naval force British won over other european powers and became the champiion of
struggle of monotony of trade.
East India Company begins Trade in Bengal:
i.
In 1651, the first
English factory was set up on the banks of river Hugli and first english
factory was opened up at Surat in 1608.
ii.
Aurangzeb issued a
farman granting the company the right to trade duty free.
iii.
The company tried to
press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges.
iv.
For trading purpose the
passes were issued to company officials but they misused these passes for
private trade and accumulate wealth on the name of company.
v.
Soon because of private
trade company suffered and went into loses. To cure this anamoly British
government made strict rules.
How did Trade Lead to Battles:
i.
After the death of
Aurangzeb, the Bengal Nawabs asserted their power and autonomy.
ii.
The Nawabs of Bengal
refused to grant the company concessions as it was making the revenue
from Bengal trade less profitable.
iii.
The British wanted the
duties to be abolished but Bengal nawabs refused.
iv.
British official knew
the condition of administration in Bengal and tried their autonomy by use of
force.
The Battle of Plassey:
i.
As a result of denial of
trading rights, on 23rd June 1757, Battle of Plassey was fought and
it was the first major victory of English in India.
ii.
Alivardi Khan died in
1756 and Sirajuddaulah became the Nawab of Bengal.
iii.
In 1757, Robert Clive
led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey.
iv.
Main reason for defeat
of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah’s
commanders, betrayed sirajuddaula and never fought the battle.
v.
Mir Jafar was promised
by Clive to be made Nawab after crushing Sirajuddaulah.
vi.
As par the deal Mir
Jafar became the nawab of Bengal after the defeat and death of Sirajuddaula.
But he was the nominal head of Bengal and actual power remained in the hands of
British.
The Battle of Buxar:
i.
After the defeat at
Plassey, Sirajuddaulah was assassinated and Mir Jafar was made the Nawab.
ii.
Mir Jafar was just a
puppet in the hands of Britishers.
iii.
In 1764, the battle of
Buxar was fought between Britishers and Mir Qasim, when Mir Qasim
denied the privilages given to Britishers.
iv.
Mir Qasim abolished the
trade duty for everyone and transfered his capital from Murshidabad to Mungair.
But this was against the interest of British and they declared war.
v.
In this battle Mir
Qasim,the nawab of Bengal; Shujauddaula, the nawab of Awadh and Shah
Alam the Mughal King fought against British and British forces were led by
Hector Munro.
vi.
In this battle British
become victorious and they decided to control the territory by there own.
vii.
In 1765, the Mughal
emperor appointed the company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal and they
also got the diwani rights of Bihar and Odisha.
Company Officals became ‘Nabobs’:
i.
In 1764, Robert Clive
was appointed Governor of Bengal.
ii.
‘Nabobs’-an anglicized
version of the Indian word Nawab as British were leading a levish life similar
to nawabs and everyone was on the mercy of British.
Company Rule Expands:
i.
The process of
annexation of Indian states by the East India Company from 1757 to 1857 brought
forth some key aspects like the company rarely launched a direct military
attack on as unknown territory.
ii.
After battle of Buxar,
the company appointed residents in Indian states.
iii.
The company forced the
states into a ‘subsidiary alliance’ and the king had to put an army of
British.
iv.
In the case of non
payment to army the nawab or the king had to give some part of its
territory.
v.
The Nawab of Awadh and
the Nizam of Hyderabad were forced to cede territories and accept the
subsidiary alliances.
Tipu Sultan-‘The Tiger of Mysore’:
i.
Tipu Sultan was the son
of Haidar Ali, ruler of Mysore.
ii.
Tipu Sultan ruled Mysore
from 1782 to 1799.
iii.
Tipu Sultan took
the help of French to modernise his army and sent foreign delegates to
gether the foreign help against British.
iv.
Four wars were fought
between Britishers and Mysore and were known as the Anglo-Mysore
wars(1767-1769, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799).
v.
In 1799, the Britishers
won the battle of Seringapatam against Mysore.
vi.
Tipu Sultan was killed
defending his capital Seringapatam.
Anglo - Maratha wars:
i.
After the defeat of
Maratha in battle of Panipat in 1761, they get divided in various small
dynastied such as Sindhia, Holkars, Gaikwad and Bonsle.
ii.
Three wars were fought
between Marathas and British in 1782,1803-05 and 1817-19. The third war was the
decisive war and after this peshwa was deposed and the sent to the Northern
India on a pension.
iii.
Now the company had
control over the south of vindhiyas..
Claim to paramountacy:
i.
As British were proving
themselves as the best power across the India, this enhanced their desire to
rule whole territories and they started direct conquest under
lord Hastings (1813-23).
ii.
British also wanted to
sercure North West front of their empire in India. For this they fought wars
with Afganistan and Punjab and finally won over its territories in 1843
and 1849 respectively.
Doctrine of Lapse:
i.
Under the reign of Lord
Dalhousie (1848-56), they adopted the policy of Lapse .
ii.
According to this
policy, the rulers who does not have any legal heir could not pass on their
property to the adopted son and it would be taken over by British.
iii.
Satara (1848),
Sambhalpur (1850), Jhansi (1854) were annexed by this policy.
Adminstration under British:
i.
In 1773, Warren Hastings
become the Governor General of Bengal and controled the governors of other
presidencies of Madras and Bombay.
ii.
Separate civil and
criminal courts were set up under the supervision of collector.
iii.
New set of laws were
compiled by muftis and Brahmins for the religious interpretation.
No comments:
Post a Comment