DIVIDE AND CONQUER!
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA
17101785
Gradual decay of Mughal Empire; British East India
Co. defeats French rivals, gains control of Bengal
17851823
Company troops conquer Mysore & the Maratha
Confederacy, defeat Nepal and Burma
First Afghan War leads to catastrophic defeat for
1838-42
the British
1845-49 The Punjab is conquered in the Sikh Wars
The great Sepoy Rebellion leads to direct rule by
1857-58
the British Crown
1877
Queen Victoria becomes “Empress of India”
The Mughal Empire, 1530-1857
It achieved its
greatest power in
the reigns of:
Emperor Akbar
(1556-1605)
Emperor Aurangzeb
(1658-1707)
But old princely
houses and new
war lords gained
control of many
regions thereafter…
The English Fort at Bombay [Mumbai], 1672.
The English East India Company was founded in 1600
and acquired bases at
Madras in 1639, Bombay in 1664, and Calcutta in 1696.
The first stage of
British rule, 1785:
The French at
Pondicherry began
to intervene in local
civil wars in 1740,
but the British
proved far more
successful.
The Maratha
Confederacy and
Rajpootana were
conquered in 1818.
Robert Clive installed an ally as Nawab of Bengal by defeating
50,000 Indian troops with 1,000 Europeans and 2,000 sepoys:
“Robert Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757”
Sepoy Grenadiers, ca. 1800.
The Company recruited them from both Muslim warrior
families and high-caste Hindu Brahmins and Rajputs
Clive: “To stop is
dangerous; to recede, ruin.”
Warren Hastings, GovernorGeneral of India, 1773-85
The Marquess Wellesley,
Governor, 1798-1805
“Colonel Mordaunt’s Cock Match”
(at the court of the Nawab of Oudh, 1785)
Joshua Reynolds, “George Clive and His Family with an
Indian Maid” (1765): By 1789 returned “nabobs”
held 45 of the 558 seats in the House of Commons.
East India Company recruiting poster, England, 1810:
In 1836 there were about 17,000 British troops in India
Many different peoples live in Afghanistan. Pashtuns
make up about 40% of the population, and Tajiks, 30%
“The Opening in to the Narrow Path above Siri Bolan”
1839: A surgeon with the British army painted this
scene of the march toward Kabul
THE COMPANY’S WORST DEFEAT:
THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR, 1838-42
May 1838
April-Aug
1839
Oct 1841
Lord Auckland and William Macnaghten resolve
to depose Dost Mohammad as Emir of
Afghanistan and replace him with Shah Shuja
British army of 12,000 troops occupies Kandahar
and then Kabul
Budget cuts by the Company encourage a
national uprising, led by Akbar Khan
Macnaghten is killed trying to bribe Akbar Khan;
Dec 18413,500 troops & 12,000 camp followers evacuate
Jan 1842
Kabul, and most of them perish
March
1842
“Army of Retribution” invades Afghanistan,
rescues hostages, and restores Dost Mohammad
to the throne
The original
British advance
took the
indirect route
through
Kandahar, but
the panicky
evacuation of
Kabul took the
direct route
through the
Khyber Pass
“Remnants of an Army” (William Brydon arrives at the gates
of Jalalabad at the end of January 1842)
Artillery of the Sikh Khalsa, the most modern Asian army
Map of the Battle of Aliwal, January 28, 1846:
The British plan of attack was the simplest possible
Charge of the 16th Lancers, Battle of Aliwal, Jan. 1846:
They broke two Sikh infantry squares and decided the battle
Raja Lal Singh,
general of the Khalsa
Colonel Samshur
Bahardur Singh, his
grandson, fought for the
British in World War I
British dominions
in 1857,
on the eve of the
“Great Mutiny”
(or “Indian War of
Independence”)
Reforms of Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General, 1848-1856
• Western-style land tenure
• The Doctrine of Lapse: if
any prince died without a
direct male heir, the
principality reverted to
company rule
• Grossly incompetent or
cruel rulers were deposed
• Sepoys were obliged to
serve overseas
• New Enfield rifles were
introduced, with cartridges
coated in animal fat
“The death of Colonel Finnis on the parade ground at
Meerut,” Illustrated London News, 1857
Bahadur Shah II,
the last Mughal Emperor
Nana Sahib, whom the British
refused to recognize as
Maharaja of Cawnpore
Fortunately for the British, only about 1/6 of India was
affected by disturbances. Many Indians did benefit
from British reforms.
THE “GREAT MUTINY,” 1857/58
(or Sepoy Rebellion, or War of National Independence)
March 29,
1857
Mangal Pande of the 34th Bengal NI vows to
shoot the first white man he sees
May 10
Rebellion in Meerut and massacre of European
women and children; rebels withdraw to Delhi
June/July
Nana Sahib massacres the defenders of
Cawnpore plus 125 women & children
September
British troops capture Delhi and arrest Bahadur
Shah
March 1858
Sir Colin Campbell takes Lucknow
March 1859
Tanti Topi, the last rebel general, is hanged
Memorial Well at Cawnpore (1860),
where 125 European women and children were murdered
“General Havelock’s Attack on Nana Sahib at Futtyporer, 1857”
The mass execution of Sepoy rebels by the
British in Peshawar, 1857
Queen Victoria, Proclamation of November 1, 1858
(see Scott Cook, p. 119)
“We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian
territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all
our other subjects….
“Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of Christianity, …we
disclaim alike the right and desire to impose our convictions
on any of our subjects. We declare it to be our royal will and
pleasure that none be in anywise favoured, none molested or
disquieted, by reason of their religious faith or observances,
but that all alike shall enjoy the equal and impartial protection
of the law....
“And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects,
of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted
to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be
qualified, by their education, ability, and integrity, duly to
discharge.”
The great “durbar”
held in Delhi in 1877
to celebrate the
proclamation of
Queen Victoria as
Empress of India
Sir Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
1865: Born in Bombay to an
educated English family, sent to
boarding school in England at 6
1882: Not yet 17, he returns to
India to work as a journalist
1889/90: Travels across USA,
settles in London to be a writer
1907: Wins the Nobel Prize for
Literature
1914-16: Appeals for
volunteers for the British army
and U.S. intervention in the
First World War