DIVIDE AND CONQUER!THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA

1710-1785

Gradual decay of Mughal Empire; British East India Co. defeats French rivals, gains control of Bengal

1785-1823

Company troops conquer Mysore & the Maratha Confederacy, defeat Nepal and Burma

1838-42

First Afghan War leads to catastrophic defeat for the British

1845-49

The Punjab is conquered in the Sikh Wars

1857-58

The great Sepoy Rebellion leads to direct rule by 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, Governor-General 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 thisscene of the march toward Kabul

THE COMPANY’S WORST DEFEAT:THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR, 1838-42

May 1838

Lord Auckland and William Macnaghten resolve to depose Dost Mohammad as Emir of Afghanistan and replace him with Shah Shuja

April-Aug 1839

British army of 12,000 troops occupies Kandahar and then Kabul

Oct 1841Budget cuts by the Company encourage a national uprising, led by Akbar Khan

Dec 1841-Jan 1842

Macnaghten is killed trying to bribe Akbar Khan; 3,500 troops & 12,000 camp followers evacuate 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 10Rebellion in Meerut and massacre of European women and children; rebels withdraw to Delhi

June/JulyNana Sahib massacres the defenders of Cawnpore plus 125 women & children

SeptemberBritish 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 61882: Not yet 17, he returns to India to work as a journalist1889/90: Travels across USA, settles in London to be a writer1907: Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature1914-16: Appeals for volunteers for the British army and U.S. intervention in the First World War