IMPERIAL HISTORY WRITING

PRESENTED BY: CHARVI KWATRA

UID: UGJ21-06
PRESENTED TO: MS. NITU KUMARI
( PROFF. OF HISTORY)
 HISTRIOGRAPHY

 IMPERIALISM

 REASONS FOR IMPERIALISM

BASIC IDEOLOGIES OF IMPERIALIST WRITINGS
 Belief that India had no unity until the British integrated the country
 Social Darwinist views of India, the fittest to rule should be ipso facto regarded
stronger.
 Of the opinion that India is a stagnant society, arrested at a stage of
development; and that British rule would show the path of progress
 Hostility in their denigration of Indian nationalism movement
 The focus was on the British protagonists and the entire country and its people
were just a shadowy background.
SOME LEADING IMPERIALIST INTELLECTUALS:

 MAX MULLER: He stated that Indians lacked a sense of history and chronology. He
said that The ancient religion of India is doomed, and if Christianity does not step in,
whose fault will it be?"
 JAMES MILL: Mill painted a very negative picture of Hindu eras. He criticised
every Hindu institution, concept, and deed, and held Hindus accountable for all
the country's woes.
 V. A. SMITH: Smith portrayed India as a dictatorship that did not have unification
until British occupation. He repeatedly mentioned the vulnerability of India's unity, as
well as the start of disorder and decline in the absence of a strong imperial authority.
 WILLIAM HUNTER: He gave favourable and special treatment to the Muslim
community in India, and this special treatment is indictive of the fact that British had
this policy of divide and rule.
 IMPACT OF IMPERIAL HISTORY WRITING:

 Colonialhistorians established the fundamentals of historiography using

methodology developed in modern Europe, their input was also significant in
allowing Indian historians to gain access into the profession and academic research
through various institutions.
 Trained professional Indian historians started to write history as well. Writing modern
history with documentary investigation and the typical scholarly machinery was no
longer a monopoly of amateur historians of British ancestry.
 Studied
histories of England and Europe, which instilled in the consciousness of
educated Indians.
 Prompted some of the country's brightest nationalist minds to seek a fresh
interpretation of history. As a result, a Nationalist view of Indian history emerged,
marking the end to British colonial historiography's authority.
UNDERSTANDING IMPERIALIST WRITINGS IN CURRENT
SCENARIO:
Al-Qaeda was blamed for the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York and the
attempted attack on Washington. In March 2003, Iraq was invaded. President
George W. Bush and other American authorities began publicly preparing for an
invasion of Iraq in 2002. The US government swayed popular sentiment by
fraudulently stating that Saddam Hussain was related to al-Qaida and that the
Iraqi government owned or was producing nuclear arms.

To justify hegemonic measures after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US
looked to the attitude and acts of European rulers in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
CONCLUSION
• Imperial historians’ entire approach was to provide such interpretations of Indian
history in order to disparage Indian character and achievements while justifying
colonial authority.
• Condemnation of Indian society and culture
• Had few positive impacts as well
• They founded the colonial school of history, which condemned the subject people while
celebrating the imperial state.