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Ascendancy of The British
Carnatic Wars
First War 1746-48 AD
A war between France and England
Nawab of Carnatic’s army was defeated by French under Duplex in the Battle at St Thome
The war ended with Treaty of Alx-la-Chapelle 1748 which also ended the Austrian war of succession
Second War 1749-54 AD
Dupleix alligned with Muzaffar Jung (Hyderabad) and Chanda Sahib
After initial victory of the French ultimately Robert Clive emerged victorious
War ended with treaty of Pondicherry/Treaty of Godehu
The Siege of Arcot 1751 made Clive a national hero in England
Third War 1758-63 AD
French Governor Count de Lally captured Fort St David
French were defeated by British in the decisive Battle at Wandiwash in 1760 AD
Pondicherry was returned to France by Treaty of Paris
Anglo – Mysore Wars
First Anglo-Mysore war (1767-69),
Haider Ali defeated the British Treaty of Madras Signed
The Second Anglo-Mysore war (1780-1784)
Warren Hastings attacked French port Mahe, which was in Haider Ali’s territory
In 1781 Haider Ali was defeated at Porto Novo by Eyre Coote
Treaty of Mangalore was signed by Tipu Sultan on the basis of all mutual restitution of conquests
Tipu Sultan, invaded the nearby state of Travancore, which was a British ally.
The war ended with the defeat of Tipu Sultan and the signing of the Treaty of Seringapatam.
According to the treaty, Tipu had to surrender half of his kingdom to the British East India Company and its allies.
Fourth Anglo–Mysore War (1799),
The British defeated Tipu Sultan.
Tipu used the iron cased rockts in the 3rd and 4th Anglo Mysore Wars
Tipu died while defending his capital. Nearly half of Mysore territory was divided between the British and the Nizam.
Anglo Maratha Wars
First War 1775-82
Englosh favoured Raghunath Rao to become the Peshwa but were defeated and signed the convention of Wadgaon
British later signed Treaty of Salbai renouncing the cause of Raghunath Rao
Second War 1803-06
The peshwas signed the treaty of Bassein which was a treaty for subsidiary alliances
Third War 1817 – 19
Lord Hastings moved against Marathas and Marathas were decisively defeated
Anglo Sikh Wars
Began after the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839
First War 1845-46
Sikh were defeated Treaty of Lahore ended the war
Second War 1948 – 49
Dalhousie annexed Punjab
Sir John Lawrence became the first Commissioner of Punjab
Anglo Burmese Wars
Burma was united by king Aloung Paya between 1752-60
His successor Bodopaya repelled many Chinese invasion and conquered the states of Arakan and Manipur 1813
First War 1824
British Indian authority declared war on Burma and occupied Rangoon and reached the capital Ava peace came in 1826 by Treaty of Yandabo
Second war 1852
Annexation of Pegu the capital province only remained free
Third War 1885
British attacked over Burma and Thibaw surrendered
Anglo Afghan Wars
First War 1839 -42
British replaced Dost Muhammad by placing Shah Shuja
British faced a popular revolt but were able to re-occupy Kabul
They had to restore the throne to Dost Muhammad
British occupied Kabul in 1842
Second War 1878-80
British India attacked Afghanistan during period of Sher Ali
Sher Ali was defeated by Loard Lytton and his sons signed the Treaty of Gandamak – Yakub Khan
British adopted the principle non interference
Third War 1845-46
Durand line was reaffirmed between British India and Afghanistan
Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed
Afghan independence with full sovereignty in Foreign Affairs
Ecomomic Impact of British rule
Early phase 1600-1757
The East India Company was purely a trading company dealing with import of goods and precious metals into India and export of spices and textiles
First phase – the Mercantile phase – 1757-1813
They imposed their own prices and had no relation with the cost of production
The company used its political power and monopolized trade and dictated terms to the weavers of Bengal
The company used revenue of Bengal to finance exports of Indian goods
Industrial Phase 1813-1858
The British mercantile industrial capitalist class exploited India
Charter Act of 1813 allowed one way free trade for British citizens resulting in Indian made imported goods from Britain
Indians not only lost their foreign markets but their Indian markets also
Indians were forced to export raw materials and import finished goods
Heavy import duty on Indian products to England to discourage them in the market
Finance Imperialism 1858 onwards
This phase saw export of capital from India and also chains of British controlled banks export import firms and managing agency houses
Heavy British investment in India and burden of public debt increase
Industries came into existence
Drain of Wealth
Drain of Wealth refers to a portion of National product of India which was not available for consumption of its own people
Dadabhai Naoroji first cited the drain of wealth theory in his book titled Poverty and Un-British Rule in India
RC Dutt blamed the British policy for Indian economics ills in his book Economic History of India
Drain of Wealth began in 1757
The company acquired the diwant of Bengal and began the purchase of Indian goods out of the revenue of Bengal and exported them
These purchase were known as Company’s investments
Remittances or salaries and other incomes by company officials send to England
Home charges or cost of salaries and pension of company officials in India were paid from the treasury of India
Hefty interests were paid to British investors
Effects
It stunted the growth of Indian enterprise and checked and retarded capital formation in India
It financed capitalist development in Britain
India was kept as a zone of free trade without allowing it to develop the ability to compete
Land Revenue System
Permament Settlement
Introduced in Bengal,Bihar and Orissa districts of Banaras and Nothern districts of Madras by Lord Cornwallis in 1793
John Shore planned this settlement
It declared Zamindars as the owners of the land
They could keep 1/11th of the revenue collected to themselves while the British fot a fiexed share of 10/11th of the revenue colledted
The Zamindars were free to fix the rate
The entire village (Mahal) was considered as a single unit for tax collection.
The village headman or villages committee was assigned the responsibility to collect tax.
Ownership rights were vested with the peasants.
The tax rate was excessive in this system too.
The Mahalwari system had many provisions of both the Zamindari System and Ryotwari System.
Ryotwari System
- Ryotwari System was introduced by Thomas Munro in 1820.
- This was the primary land revenue system in South India.
- Major areas of introduction include Madras, Bombay, parts of Assam and Coorg provinces of British India.
- In Ryotwari System the ownership rights were handed over to the peasants. British Government collected taxes directly from the peasants.
- The revenue rates of the Ryotwari System were 50% where the lands were dry and 60% in irrigated land.
- Though ownership of land was vested with the farmers, excessive tax impoverished them. Furthermore, the tax rates were frequently increased.
Mahalwari System
- Mahalwari system was introduced in 1822 by Holt Mackenzie. Later, the system was reformed during the period of William Bentick (1833).
- This was the primary land revenue system in North-West India.
- It was introduced in Central Province, North-West Frontier, Agra, Punjab, Gangetic Valley, etc of British India.
- In this system, the land was divided into Mahals. Each Mahal comprises one or more villages.
- The entire village (Mahal) was considered as a single unit for tax collection.
- The village headman or villages committee was assigned the responsibility to collect tax.
- Ownership rights were vested with the peasants.
- The tax rate was excessive in this system too.
- The Mahalwari system had many provisions of both the Zamindari System and Ryotwari System.
Impact of British Land Revenue Policies
The land revenue policies implemented by the British affected the agricultural sector.
When the farmers were unable to pay tax in the form of money before the deadline, they had to take a loan from moneylenders at a high rate of interest. The loans were obtained by mortgaging
agricultural land. The agricultural land of the farmers, who could not pay back the loan and interest, was seized by the money lenders.
