Beginning of colonial

rule in India
By Bhavya Rustagi
8F
Expansion of the British Empire

After establishing the supremacy over Bengal, the

company adopted a variety of methods to extend their
influence and began their expansion policy by
annexing Indian kingdom
 Subsidiary alliance
The Subsidiary alliance was a political instruement
introduced by lord wellesey Governor general of India(1798-
1805), to bring the Indian states under the power of
company. It was an agreement signed between the ruler and
the company for which, the ruler would get protection from
his enemies

East India Company Logo Lord welleseley

Under the subsidiary alliance,
 The Indian ruler had to disband his native armies. Instead he was required to maintain a
British army within his state.

 The ruler had to pay for the maintenance of the army. A part of his territory was surrounded
to the British for this purpose.

 A compony official called resident was placed at his court.

 The ruler would not employ official at any other European power in his service without the
consent of the British.

 The ruler would not negotiate or form an alliance with any other ruler without the
permission of the British.
• The Indian states virtually lost their Independence by signing this alliance and in
reality, Indian rulers became subservient to the English resident who interfered in
the internal affairs of Indian states and served the company.

• Eventually, Indian rulers such as Nizam of hydrabad, the ruler of Mysore, the
Nawab of Awadh, the Peshwa Baji Rao 2 and several other rulers accepted the
subsidiary alliance and came under the direct rule of the compony.

Peshwa Baji Rao 2

 Doctrine of lapse

 Doctrine of lapse was an annexation policy conceived by lord Dalhousie, the governor-general from 1848-1856.
 According to this doctrine, if an Indian ruler, under the direct influence of the English East India company, died
without a mail heir, his kingdom would ‘lapse’. Means it would became the part of British dominion.
 According to the Hindu law, an individual or a ruler could a adopt a male child in the absence of a natural heir.
 However, it was asserted that such adoption would have to seek the prior approval of the British.
 In reality they refused adoption and on thes pretext annexed several kingdoms such as those in Satara,
Sambalpur, Udaipur, Nagpur and Jhansi
 In 1856, Awadh was annexed by the Company on the grounds of the ‘misgovernment’ of the Nawab. This caused
great unrest among the people of Awadh. They were enraged by the humiliating way of Nawab Wajid Ali shah’s
deposition and revolted against the british.
 Conquest of Mysore(Anglo-Mysore Wars)
 Mysore was the threat to the growing British influence in India. The company had to
face stiff opposition under the leadership of Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan and
resorted to direct military confrontation.
 The rulers of Mysore did not encourage trade with company.
 On the other hand, Tipu Sultan’s close alliance with the French infuitated the British.
This animosity resulted the four Anglo-Mysore wars(1764-1799) between the company
and the rulers of Mysore.
 The war ended with the defeat and death of Tipu who died while fighting gallantly in
defence of his capital, Serinapatam(present-day srirangapatna). The British annexed
some of the territories of tipu which were given to the marathas and Nizam of hydrabad
for their. However, the marathas refused accept it.
 War against the marathas (Anglo-Maratha Wars)
 The third battle of Panipat (1761) resulted in humiliating defeat of the
marathas. Further, the Maratha empire was didvided into loose
confederacy and ruled by independent Maratha chieafs such as Sindhias,
Holkars, Giakwads and Bhonsles. After the death of Peshwa Madhav Rao
1 in 1772, internal quarrels among the Marathas enabled the British to
interfere their internal affairs and this led to series of wars
 Series of anglo-Maratha wars

 The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-1782) ended with the treaty of Salbai which guaranteed peas with
the Marathas for twenty years, thus ending the war but there was no clear victory
 In Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805), peace was concluded with the British securing Odisha, and
parts of western Gujrat and Bundelkhand from the Marathas.
 The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818) was a final and a decisive war fought between the
Marathas and the British leaving the Marathas defeated. The British destroyed the confederacy. The
peshwa was removed and sent to Bithur near Kanpur on a pension of eight lakh a year and all his
territories came under the British control. With this War company had completed control over all
present day India, South of the Sutlej River.

Peshwas