Schule: Gymnasium Pfarrkirchen

  Schuljahr: 2005/06 
Kurs: 3E2  Fach:
Leistungskurs Englisch

  Name des Schülers:
Philipp Eglseer

  Thema:

  India, a colonial dominion 

  Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde am 27.01.2006 eingereicht.

 

 

Table of Contents

 

1 Introduction

2 India, a colonial dominion
2.1   The arrival of European trading companies
2.1.1 The Portuguese traders
2.1.2 The Dutch East India Company
2.1.3 The French East India Company

2.2   The British East India Company
2.2.1 The early years of the East India Company
2.2.2 Developments after the conquest of Surat

2.3   The British conquest of Bengal
2.3.1 Situation at the outset
2.3.2 The battle of Plassey and the battle of Buxar
2.3.3 Circumstances leading to British sovereignty after the annexation of Bengal

2.4   The establishment of British rule in India
2.4.1 The Mysore
2.4.2 The Marathas
2.4.3 The two Sikh wars
2.4.4 The doctrine of lapse

2.5   The mutiny of  1857 (The Sepoy Revolt)
2.5.1 Political Reasons
2.5.2 Religious and social reasons
2.5.3 The course of the revolt and its result

2.6   India′s way from being a colony to independence
2.6.1 Reforms and the Dismissal of the East India Company
2.6.2 The Indian National Congress and the Non-Cooperation Movement
2.6.3 The Civil Disobedience Movement
2.6.4 The Quit India Movement and Independence

3 Conclusion

4 Chronology of events

5 Appendix

6 Bibliography

 

 

1. Introduction

 

As far as I am concerned, India is one of the world′s most impressive countries. Since the time of the first permanent settlements, around 9000 BC, India has been the melting pot for innumerable civilizations, religions and thoughts, which inspired many generations. Innumerable conquerors tried to seize its provinces, fortresses and cities in order to exploit the country and benefit from its affluence and great variety. India’s history is therefore characterized by atrocities and major sufferings on the one hand, and by amazing triumphs on the other.

One of the great triumphs is marked by the events on 15 August 1947, when India, after centuries of colonial dominion, gained independence from the British Empire. That is why it is appropriate to consider it as the most important date for modern India. With the gain of its independence in 1947 however, India’s history seemed to repeat itself: The triumph of its independence was to be directly accompanied with violence and the division of the subcontinent into Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Looking at India today, its numbers still remain very impressive: It is the seventh largest country in the world, with a population of well above a billion and more than 30 languages including numerous dialects.

When I started to work on this paper, I was trying to give a brief overview of the whole Indian history, but soon had to realize that it is quite impossible to sum up India′s diverse history in a mere twenty pages. Therefore I changed my aim from presenting India′s complete history to giving an overview of modern India from 1500 to 1947 under European colonial dominion, highlighting the role of the British and their conquest of the subcontinent.

European colonial dominion is an important restriction, as strictly speaking, from 1500 to 1947 India was not only a colony of European countries but also of Asian and Muslim civilizations. The most important of these were the Moguls who, during their rule, conquered the major part of the Indian subcontinent.

 

2. India, a colonial dominion

2.1 The arrival of European trading companies

2.1.1 The Portuguese traders

During the 15^th century the Portuguese were the leading maritime power of Europe. The history of European colonies in India starts at the end of the fifteenth century with Vasco da Gama′s arrival in Calicut in 1498.[1] At the beginning the Indians were rather hospitable and curious about the European new-comers, who were mainly attracted by the possibility of trading in spices.

  After some time the Portuguese entered into religious wars with the Muslim rulers of Gujarat[2] because of ideological differences and the Portuguese creating a trading monopoly on pepper. Mahmud I Begarha (1459-1511), Muzaffar II (1511-1526) and Bahadur Shah (1526-1537)[3] all tried to combat the Portuguese but, whilst they almost succeeded, neither of them was able to drive the invaders away from India.

In 1510 the Portuguese settled in Goa, the seat of the State of India (“estado da India”[4]), which remained Portuguese till 1961. In 1537 the Portuguese killed Bahadur Shah and eventually put an end to Gujarat′s interference. Although Portugal was now in a position to become a territorial power in India, they did not take over Gujarat, but only Diu, a small island off Gujarat′s mainland.

This conduct clearly explains the main interests of the Portuguese in India: Whilst other colonial powers, like the French and the British, tried to become vast territorial empires, the Portuguese were interested in creating trade monopolies. In order to achieve this, it was enough to own small, well-protected settlements on the coastal regions of India. After a 70-year-presence in India the Portuguese had created a tremendous trade monopoly and owned about 10 major bases in India.

Eventually the Portuguese had to repulse the attacks of Muslim traders, who became more and more determined to regain control of the pepper trade. Also the unification with the Spanish Crown in 1580, presented a problem, as it forced the Portuguese to get involved in the dispute of the Habsburg Crown with the English and Dutch in Europe. As they had to assist Madrid, their resources in India were being reduced. As a result of the incidents in Europe, the Dutch, who, on various occasions, had blockaded Goa from the sea during the 17^th century and the British, who had attacked many Portuguese settlements, both significantly reduced the Portuguese power in India. However, Goa itself was never conquered.

2.1.2 The Dutch East India Company

On 20^th March 1602, about a century after the arrival of the Portuguese in India, the “Vereenigde Ooste Indische Compagnie (VOC)”[5] (The Dutch East India Company) was founded. It was established in the United Provinces because “land was rare [...] land tax high [and] a large number of people wanted to invest in seaborne commerce.”[6] The whole country was enthusiastic about the idea of the United Provinces becoming a world power.

In Asia, the Dutch gained most of their influence over the islands which now belong mainly to Indonesia. As far as India was concerned, the United Provinces never gained too much influence. It was only after they established their colonies in Indonesia that they came to realize that for lucrative colonial politics between Java and the United Provinces it was necessary to control at least a few trading posts in India.

At the beginning the Dutch tried to get permission from the Portuguese, to set up trading posts, using local intermediary rulers who were in contact with Goa. Unfortunately it turned out that Goa was unwilling to negotiate as it was afraid to lose its monopoly in the pepper trade.

After this failure, the VOC was able to establish a trading post in Masulipatnam (1605), on the West Coast of India, far away from the trading posts of Portugal, which were almost entirely on the East Coast of India (except for some in the Bay of Bengal).

At the beginning of the 17^th century the Dutch had to endure a variety of Portuguese attacks which they were able to repulse, and even succeeded in obtaining trading posts from the Portuguese, and extended their influence by signing treaties with Indian kingdoms.

Finally, their decay was a result of awkward commercial politics and a lost battle in 1759 against the English, whose outcome was the loss of all trading posts in India in favor of the British. 

2.1.3 The French East India Company

After the Dutch lost their influence in India to the British, the French were able to gain influence on the subcontinent. In 1664 Colbert[7] launched the “Compagnie des Indes Orientales”[8] which was destined to fill the treasury of Paris and to decrease the profits of the Dutch and the British in India.

In 1668 the General Company[9] was able to construct the first French factory in Surat and in Masulipatnam (1669). In 1672 they were able to seize San Thome, their first colony on Indian territory. In 1673 Chandernagore became French and eventually, in 1674, the French were able to establish their later principal settlement, in Pondicherry. In 1723 they set up a French settlement in Yanaon and in 1739 in Karikal, two of their later principal cities. Until 1742 the French had no ambitions for territorial expansions.

  In 1742, the arrival of the most famous French governor of Pondicherry, Joseph François Dupleix, marked a change in the focus of the French: The dream of France as a territorial power in India was born.

Under the command of Dupleix the French successfully conquered vast parts of Indian′s mainland. At their height they were only about 90 kilometers away from Bombay, a British settlement, and from crossing the whole subcontinent.[10] The French were therefore the First European power to control parts of India′s mainland.

With France′s vast territorial annexations the “Franco-British Rivalry”[11] was born, as the British were not willing to accept the French expansion. It initiated a time of attacks and counterattacks, which a British army, under the leadership of the highly talented officer Robert Clive, finally won in 1761. This defeat marked the end of French India and its ambitions to become a major territorial power.

In 1816, after the Napoleonic Wars, a total of five settlements (Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Karikal, Mahé and Yanam) was returned to the French, which they were able to keep until India′s independence. The governors of these five cities now only focused on “improving infrastructure, industry, law and education over the next 138 years.”[12]

2.2. The British East India Company

2.2.1 The early years of the East India Company

In 1600 the East India Company was inaugurated after an association of British merchants obtained the commission from Queen Elizabeth I to start a private enterprise. Like the Dutch, the British became interested in India because of the outstanding success of the Portuguese. During the first years however, the East India Company had to face a number of  difficulties and the trade with India made profits which were well below expectations.

At its beginning the British “had only one-tenth of the VOC′s capital”[13], the Portuguese were in charge of almost the whole west coast, the Dutch were present in Masulipatnam and the local Indian tribes and merchants became increasingly distrustful of Europeans. However a number of right decisions made by the East India Company helped the newcomers to settle in India:

Whilst the Portuguese were entering into a number of religious conflicts with the Muslims, the British deliberately kept out of these disputes and protected the ships of Muslim pilgrims. This helped them to obtain both important trade privileges (e.g. to make business with Indian kingdoms) and also the friendship of the local rulers, who became increasingly impatient with the constant Portuguese interference. These important diplomatic relations made it possible for the British to attack the Portuguese in Surat in 1612, a coastal town near the island of Diu in the province of Gujarat, where they established their first settlement and also proclaimed it as “the seat of the presidency of the East India Company”, which it remained until 1687.

After the victory in Surat, the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan gave the British the permission to trade with the rich province of Bengal. After the British inflicted a devastating defeat on the Portuguese 1613 the British government in London, previously questioning the Company′s intrusion in Asia, now decided to expand its allocation of funds to the East India Company. 

2.2.2 Developments after the conquest of Surat

The establishment of a British settlement in Surat, the friendship between the English and the Moguls and the allocation of funds by the British government all made it possible for the East India Company to address the Portuguese pepper-monopoly on the entire west coast, to buy privileges and favors from local leaders, to extend their export to London and to acquire new trading posts and settlements all around India.

They achieved the supremacy of the route through the Persian Gulf at the expense of the Portuguese and then focused on enhancing their exports to London (mainly in the spice and pepper trade). In order to achieve success it was necessary to take control over more Portuguese trading posts, like Ormuz in 1622 (now belonging to Iran), Malacca (1641), Colombo (1656), Cochin (1663) and the fortresses of Malabar.

Also non-Portuguese settlements like Madras (1639), Bombay (1661) and Calcutta (1690) were established to meet the increasing European demand for spices and pepper. Despite of the British making lucrative process during this era, they were still far away from establishing a British Empire in South-Asia.

2.3 The British conquest of Bengal

2.3.1 Situation at the outset

At the beginning of the second half of the 18^th century the East India Company governed a number of settlements in India. Surat and Bombay were the most important ones on the West Coast, Madras on the East Coast and Calcutta was the most significant British colony in the Bay of Bengal. All of these colonies were surrounded by Indian kingdoms and, despite of the existence of interurban trails between the isolated exlcaves, the Company could not use them for trade or transport due to constant danger of ambush attacks. The only way to travel between the cities was by sea, which involved long and strenuous journeys.

However, since the end of the wars against the French, in 1761, with the triumph at Wandiwash and the capture of France′s principal Indian settlement, Pondicherry, the Company commanded an army which could be used for the conquest of Indian kingdoms. The talents of this army were later proved by the victories at Plassey and Buxar in Bengal. But the eventual impetus for the conquest of Bengal was on the one hand the declining Mogul Empire and the thereby upcoming rivalries between the successor states making it easy for the East India Company to seize one province after another and on the other hand, Sirajuddaula, the aggressive nawab[14] of Bengal who seized Calcutta without any obvious reason in 1756 

2.3.2 The battle of Plassey and the battle of Buxar[15]

The nawab′s aggression was not only a shock for the British, but also for Bengal′s upper-class who was benefiting from the income created by British trade as well as the European know-how in heavy industry.

The British reacted promptly by sending Robert Clive, who easily recaptured the city in 1757. In the same year Clive also succeeded at Chandernagore and in June 1757, in the decisive battle of Plassey, he defeated the Bengal army where Sirajaddaula was killed.

  The Battle of Plassey is often described as the event that led to all further British expansions. However, at this time neither the Indians nor the the British expected what would happen in India for the next 100 years. As for Clive, he was only interested in protecting the British trade in Bengal and in re-establishing the status-quo.

  As a certain level of political stability was needed to ensure the continuity of the Company′s presence in Bengal, the British gradually became involved in the internal quarrels of Bengal.

These disputes were mainly provoked by Sirajaddaula′s successors, who tried to impose additional taxes on British trade and were playing double-games by trying to mobilize “a large anti-British coalition”[16] between Bengal and its neighbor provinces. Eventually these power struggles escalated in 1763, with the slaughter of British traders. The East India Company, fearing the loss of all its influence in Bengal, decided to mobilize its troops - now under the command of Major Hector Munro – in order to end the interference of the nawabs. In 1764, at Buxar (also Baskar) the Company′s army had to face a coalition summoning up all Muslim powers of the northern subcontinent. Only after a hard fight involving heavy casualties, the army defeated the Indian coalition.

In retrospect, the Battle of Buxar turned out to be even more significant in the history of India than the Battle of Plassey as the Company had now defeated all powers of Northern India which made it the undisputed leading power of the northern subcontinent.

In 1675 after the two successful British crusades, Robert Clive was appointed “governor and commander-in-chief of Bengal”[17]. Against Clive′s will, who preferred satellite states, the Company established a sovereign state mainly on the territory of the former kingdoms of Bengal and Bihar (northwest of Bengal) whilst Oudh, in the west of Bengal, remained free but still very dependent on British Bengal.

Bengal′s population however had to face a period of great distress which was caused by the British exploitation. The British maximized the taxes and constantly involved themselves in matters of religion and caste.

2.3.3 Circumstances leading to British sovereignty after the annexation of Bengal

If we look back at the history of India, it seems logical that after the subjugation of Bengal the East India Company tried to conquer the rest of the subcontinent. However, on closer examination it becomes clear that after the annexation of Bengal the British did not instantly set out to conquer more native kingdoms. The circumstance for a trading company to conquer a whole subcontinent seems rather strange.

The desire for expansion became ber with Governor General Wellesley′s[18] arrival in India, as he had always felt inclined to expand Britain′s territory and was therefore using every interference of native kingdoms in British politics as an excuse for conquests or making economically or territorially advantageous treaties for the British.

However, it cannot be denied that some native kingdoms constituted a possible mortal threat to the British colonies in India. In order to protect their settlements and presence the British had to react and antagonize them.

Another reason for British expansions was the involvement of the British crown that increasingly favored a British empire in India. This also applied increasingly to the East India Company itself, because of its status as a commercial organization with income from trade and expansion of territory, it was always striving to open new markets and gain additional revenues.

Despite all these facts the question arises how the Europeans, by far outnumbered were able to conquer so much land in such a short interval of time?

Although the British army was technically superior to the the Indian armies, it did not seem so overwhelming to justify the outcome and could not be the reason of the rapidity of British achievements. The organization of the British army seems a more convincing argument:

They relied on a mainly native army led by a number of British officers, which gave them the advantage of knowledge of climate and terrain as well as the brilliance of British leadership. But why would the Indians be prepared to betray their own country and fight in the name of a foreign army? The answer is simple: In the British army the earnings were higher and many Indians simply preferred to fight in an army they considered likely to win than in an army where they would probably be killed.

As important as the mixture of nationalities in the Company′s army is the fact that the Indian kingdoms never achieved durable and powerful coalitions to compete with the East India Company.

2.4 The establishment of British rule in India[19]

Almost simultaneously with the Conquest of Bengal the British defeated the French at Wandiwash and, in 1761, conquered the French capital, Pondicherry, which ended any French hopes in India.

The East India Company now focused on protecting its present possessions and on widening its influence on the whole subcontinent. Whilst it mainly succeeded with a system of advantageous treaties which integrated many smaller kingdoms into its area, it also had to realize that not all states were willing to cooperate. Predominantly the Sikhs in the north-west, the Mysore in the south and the Marathas in central India turned out to be powerful rulers who were ambitious to protect their kingdoms. This resulted in four Mysore wars, three Maratha wars and two Sikh wars and a number of smaller wars as well.[20] 

2.4.1 The Mysore

The first Mysore war (1769) ended with a British defeat, but fortunately the Mysore leader, Haidir Ali, did not insist on territorial annexations. The second Mysore war (1780-84), once more led by Haidir Ali and his son Tipu, was again a disaster for the Company, and only a second army sent from Calcutta, was able to stop the Mysore from driving the British out of South India. After the ceasefire agreement of 1784 the British were utterly determined to crush the Mysore and therefore mobilized a vast army to conquer them.

The third Mysore war (1791) ended with the defeat of the Mysore army and consequently the British annexed huge parts of Mysore. With the end of the war, Mysore ceased to be a threat but, nevertheless, General-Governor Wellesley insisted on bringing down the whole Mysore and , with the end of the fourth Mysore war (1801) the Company was controlling the Mysore empire, which meant that the whole southern Peninsula was directly or indirectly (protectorates) under British reign. 

2.4.2 The Marathas

The first war against the Marathas (1775), which is nowadays described as “unreasonable, impolitic, unjust and unauthorized”[21], was the result of weaved plots by General Hastings, a British officer. Unfortunately for Hastings, his campaign brought no territorial gain for the Company whatsoever.

The second war against the Marathas (1803-04) broke out in a fit of enthusiasm on account of Wellesley′s preceding success in Mysore. After a number of victories the Company′s army proceeded with great velocity through the Maratha kingdom. Finally the Marathas had to accept all the claims of the winners and the East India Company was now the unrestricted territorial power of the central part of the subcontinent which allowed it to enlarge its empire towards the frontiers of the Sikh kingdom. The Marathas, now powerless and poor, had no possibility to rebel against the intruders, but consequently many of their soldiers broke away and joined marauding gangs (the Pindaris) creating anarchy throughout the whole region.[22]

Due to the high contributions the Marathas were forced to pay to the Company, they were unable to eliminate the Pindari-threat. This made new British operations necessary. However, this time without major difficulties, and so the Company proceeded to eliminate the Pindaris. At the end of the third war against the Marathas in 1818 it had proved its reputation as the leading power of the subcontinent, but there were still regions in India which had slipped through the British net.

2.4.3 The two Sikh wars

The Sikhs lived in the Punjab, a region in Northern India, which is divided by the Indian-Pakistani frontier today. Until the 1840′s the Sikhs were gradually expanding their territory towards the north into the Kashmir region.

However, as they tried to expand to the south, into Sind, a coastal region of Pakistan, they made themselves an enemy of the East India Company, which wanted to obstruct an increase of Sikh power in the Punjab and its frontier provinces, as they were interested in this regions themselves.

When Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikhs, died in 1839, the whole region became involved in a violent fight for Ranjit Singh′s succession. The new Governor-General, Lord Hardinge decided that it would be the right moment to attack the weakened Punjab and to seize the whole region. But the Sikh army was underestimated by the Governor-General and as a result the two wars took place which were the most violent the British had to face during their expansions in India. The British would have lost the first battle at Mudki (1845) decisively, if two high-ranking Sikh military commanders had not betrayed their own fatherland in favor of the British. As a consequence the battle at Mudki brought no clear winner, but after two more battles at Pherushahr (1845) and Sobraon (1846) the British defeated the Sikh army and were able to annex a part of the Punjab and Sindh while the rest remained sovereign.

The peace between the Sikhs and the English was however to be short-lived. In 1848, with Lord Dalhousie, Lord Hardinge′s successor, “an imperial aristocrat convinced of the superiority of the British system and contemptuous towards Indians”[23] reported for office as the Governor-General. He was a man of action, who in 1849, only after one year in action fulfilled his desire to defeat the Sikh and integrated the whole Punjab into the British hemisphere.

2.4.4 The “doctrine of lapse”[24]

General-Governor Dalhousie, was constantly looking for a possibility to take over more and more Indian kingdoms. The East India Company either controlled the Indian kingdoms directly or indirectly as satellite states. Dalhousie′s plan was to fully integrate all the satellite states into British India.

Therefore, with the doctrine of lapse he introduced a law which meant that the kingdom of every ruler of a satellite state who died without leaving a “natural heir to the throne“[25] would become part of British India. The doctrine also contained a paragraph which abolished the ancient Hindu rule used in all parts of India, and proclaimed that every sovereign would be able to adopt a heir from another dynasty if need be.

As a result of the doctrine the British were able to annex a number of Indian satellite states, including the prosperous region of Oudh (1856).

This time Dalhousie′s imperial greed had gone too far. The doctrine of lapse in connection with other conditions, contributed to a massive revolt in 1857.

2.5 The mutiny of 1857 (“The Sepoy Revolt”[26])

The year 1857 marks an important date in the history of modern India because it was the starting point for India′s fight for independence and the end of the East India Company.  During the riots the doctrine of lapse was abolished and the time of territorial expansions came to an end. After the mutiny of 1857 only a few small kingdoms at the frontiers of the British Empire were integrated into its hemisphere.

The riots themselves were provoked by the widespread animosity of India′s population against the British and eventually broke out in Calcutta with a mutiny of Bengal′s sepoys, who were the biggest and most important native army of the British. But only shortly after Calcutta the mutinies spread over the whole northern and central part of India.

On account of its importance for modern India it is worth to take a closer look at the main events and causes provoking the happenings of 1857: 

2.5.1 Political reasons

Britain′s political greed for territorial expansion was the main factor leading to the revolt of 1857. Wherever possible the East India Company tried to expand its territory. The British interference was mainly justified by the wish to secure their existing territory or by other poor excuses.

In the course of the 19^th century every Indian ruler was aware of the fact that the continuity of his kingdom was in deep danger and could always be attacked by a British army. The indigenous kingdoms were therefore deeply distrustful of and angry with the British invaders.

When General-Governor Dalhousie introduced the doctrine of lapse he went too far as it not only meant an unjust interference in the domestic policy of the kingdoms but also broke an old respected Hindu law which was used all over India.

Dalhousie repealed annuities and the allocation of funds to the leaders of dependent Indian kingdoms, enacted degrading laws and also abolished ancient designations. He abolished the title, Mogul Emperor, which was an indescribable affront against all Muslims living in India.

2.5.2 Religious and social reasons

Due to the spread of British influence on the subcontinent the native population feared that the foreigners wanted to “convert them to Christianity”[27] In fact the East India Company never had intended to do this, as it realized that such an attempt could bring down the Empire in India.

This fear was not unfounded as many British officials lacked the wisdom of the Company and, influenced by their Christian education in Great Britain, used their own initiative to spread Christianity.

As a consequence many sepoys were forced to convert from Hinduism or Islam to Christianity.

Also European inventions which gained currency in India (e.g. the railway and the telegraph) were observed with skepticism and the attempt to abolish Indian traditions such as the caste system was seen as an offense against their own culture.

2.5.3 The course of the revolt and its result

Although the Sepoy Revolt was a consequence of an all-Indian discontentment, it was initially stirred up by the native part of the Bengal army, the sepoys. It broke out in Calcutta, but soon after its outbreak the sepoys enjoyed the ideological support of a majority of India′s population. Although they supported the rebels, only an average number of men had the courage and bravery to actively participate in the revolt.

  At its outbreak the British troops were dramatically inferior in numbers and mainly stationed in the just conquered area of the Punjab. So the revolt could expand over the whole northern- and central part of India. For many months the British entirely lost control over this part of India.

At first, the British focused on recapturing Delhi, because on the one hand it was a focal point of the revolt and on the other hand recapturing the city, which previously had been the seat of the throne of the Mogul Emperors, could demoralize the revolutionary troops. After the recapture of Delhi the tide turned in favor of the British, not because of the success in Delhi, but because of reinforcements from other British colonies arriving in India.

Finally on 8 July 1858 the British declared the revolt as put down although few Indians were still fighting against the British, but after July 1858 it was only a matter of time until the last troublemakers were defeated. Thereafter British aimed to murder everyone who supported the sepoys.

At the end of the Sepoy Revolt, the British had survived a revolt that could have meant the end of British India whilst India′s population suffered a loss of more than a 100,000 people, either killed in the fightings or massacred afterwards.

2.6 India′s way from a being colony to independence

2.6.1 Reforms and the Dismissal of the East India Company

As a direct result of the Sepoy Revolt the British government decided to abolish the East India Company. It considered it as incapable of administering India. India was then “under the direct sovereignty of the British Crown.”[28] At that time Queen Victoria I was the Head of State of India.

The first act of the new government was to improve the interrelationships between the Indian elite and Britain. Therefore the “Queen′s proclamation”[29] of 1858 ensured the power and the territory of Indian′s elite. That was a complete break with the doctrine of lapse and the policy of Dalhousie. With the proclamation the British tried to reassure the Indians and prevent a new revolt.

After 1861 Indians were able to access legislationand laws were introduced to promote European-like education in India. Taxes were limited and education was promoted, but only children of India′s upper-class were able to attend this new educational system.

2.6.2 The Indian National Congress and “The Campaign of Non-Cooperation”[30]

The Indian National Congress, at its inauguration in 1885, had nothing to do with its later key role in the movement for independence. It was rather an elitist circle where Indian′s upper-class met to discuss internal and regional happenings. Understandably, at that time, the British government showed little interest in the resolutions of the Indian National Congress.

During its first years, the members of the Congress were only able to influence British policy on a very moderate scale because its members merely promoted their own interests. Therefore the Congress lacked unity. The majority of Hindu representatives and the minority of Muslims also led to constant quarrels because the Muslims feared that the Congress would only represent Hindu interests.

The situation changed with World War I and the appearance of India′s probably most famous man: Gandhi. During World War I India was forced to support Britain with more than one million soldiers and also financially, as the British imposed a number of taxes to relieve the strain on their fatherland. This promoted b anti-British feelings and stirred longing for independence.

When Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer from Gujarat, arrived in India in 1915 after more than twenty years in South Africa, the future ideological leader of India′s independence movement was found. During his first years in India, Gandhi visited huge parts of the country promoting the interests of local farmers.

After becoming an idol for the poor farmers, Gandhi succeeded in uniting the Indian National Congress which had been separated earlier into a Hindu and a Muslim camp and therefore had become unmanageable. When he gained the leadership in 1919, the Congress was eventually in a position to exert influence on the course of the the independence movement.

In 1920 Gandhi made an important speech in front of the Congress where he was able to convince both Muslims and Hindus and to lay down the course of the movement:

  The British rule in India was unfair towards Indians and it should be every Indian′s task to drive the foreigners out of India. Violence, however, would be the wrong approach as the English were also humans capable of making mistakes. Independence should be accomplished by the Non-Cooperation movement, imposing a boycott on British education, British law and products, by resigning from government employment, refusing to pay taxes and by forsaking British titles and honors.[31]

After Gandhi convinced the Congress to support his course of peaceful resistance and after leading the first national-wide protests against the English the government in London realized that Gandhi was a danger to the status-quo in India. In 1922 he was arrested for six years but after serving two years he was released.

2.6.3 “The Civil Disobedience Movement”[32]

After the two years in prison, Gandhi almost disappeared from the political scene for a while. His next great success was the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930, which started with a conference between Gandhi and British representatives where he and the Indian National Congress demanded that the British should lower the taxes imposed on Indians.

The keystone of this conference was the salt tax, which had been imposed on every Indian citizen. Particularly the poor peasants were suffering from these taxes. The British government however showed no signs of cooperating with Gandhi and the National Indian Congress. As a consequence of the British unwillingness to change the current situation, Gandhi began the famous Salt March from Ahmedabad to the salt works of Dandi (about 400 kilometers on foot) to produce his own salt. This famous walk was the keynote of the non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement.

The march brought on a tremendous feedback from Indian′s population and in the whole country people decided to break British laws, mainly by refusing all further tax payments to the British government.

The British, shocked by the dimension of the resistance, reacted with brutal police operations, which ended with tens of  thousands Indians in prison. Although at first the British succeeded in suppressing the Civil Disobedience Movement, the end of their presence in India became foreseeable. In 1934, the Indian National Congress was a powerful opposition to the British rule in India, the Indian population resolute to fight to the end and their icon Gandhi, although yet again in prison after his Salt March, was unimpeachable.

Silencing Gandhi would have meant to provoke a national mayhem putting everything seen before into shade.

2.6.4 The “Quit India Movement”[33] and Independence

During World War II many Indians were unsure whether they should put their fight for independence on a hold until Great Britain would have got over the war against Nazi-Germany, or to take full advantage of Britain′s present weakness.

When the Indian National Congress in 1942 decided to pass a new law, demanding immediate and complete independence with respect to London (this law later became famous as the Quit India Movement) and threatening with “massive Civil Disobedience”[34] not all Indians agreed with this course.

Some members of the Indian National Congress even left the Congress to show their disagreement with what was in their eyes an unfair act, taking advantage of Britain′s crucial plight.

London, itself reacted promptly and arrested every member of the Indian National Congress. What should have been a decisive attack on rebellious nationalists however, ended in a complete disaster. Whilst the Non-Cooperation Movement was shocking and the Civil Disobedience tremendous, the Quit India Movement turned out to be the collapse of the British Empire in India.

The consequence of the internments of 1942 (again Gandhi was amongst them) was a nationwide revolt going beyond the Sepoy Revolt of 1857. The British were forced to use their army to bring the situation under control. Even massive air attacks by the Royal Air Force were necessary to ensure the situation preceding to the Quit India Movement.

When the British finally brought the situation under control, it seemed as if the Quit India Movement had suffered a severe setback and India′s independence again seemed far away. However, the Quit India Movement made it clear for the British government that their presence in India was to come to an end. An agreement was reached that once Germany was defeated talks would be adopted which should achieve India′s independence. The only condition was that India had to support the British during the war (mainly with soldiers). In 1946 the last political prisoners were released and on August 15, 1947 after a centuries of oppression and foreign ruling, India had finally become an independent country.

 

3. Conclusion 

Unfortunately for India′s population the independence of 1947 did not bring an end to sufferings and war. The British, after granting independence to the subcontinent, separated their former great empire into three parts: East- and West Pakistan[35] (Muslim preponderance) and the central part which became present India (Hindu preponderance).

The reason for this was to prevent the blowing up of the seething hostility between Muslims and Hindus.

However, still millions of Muslims and Hindus were living in the “wrong” country. The consequence was their expulsion and one of the worst tragedies in modern history with an estimated number of up to 5 millions[36] of people who lost their live during the riots because as they had the “wrong” faith.

Three big wars were to follow because of boundary disputes between India and Pakistan. Today, 59 years after the British left India, some of these disputes remain unsolved and the two countries, nowadays nuclear powers, are still enemies. They  argue about the affiliation of the Kashmir region[37], a prosperous district in the Himalayas and a solution is still far away although the two countries have started a hesitant dialog. Hopefully it will lead to peace.

 

4. Chronology of events

> >

1498	Vasco da Gama arrives in India
1510	Portuguese settle down in Goa
1459-1511	Rule of Mahmud I Begarha (Mogul Emperor)
1511-1526	Rule of Muzaffar II (Mogul Emperor)
1526-1537	Rule of Bahadur Shah (Mogul Emperor)
1537	The Portuguese kill Bahadur Shah
1580	Unification of the Portuguese with the Spanish Crown
1600	Inauguration of the British East India Company
1602	Foundation of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)
1605	Masulipatnam becomes a Dutch trading post
1612	British establish their first settlement in Surat
1613	The British defeat the Portuguese
1622	Ormuz (former Portuguese settlement) falls to the British
1639	A British settlement in Madras is established
1641	Malacca (former Portuguese settlement) fall to the British
1656	Colombo (former Portuguese settlement) falls to the British
1661	Bombay becomes a British settlement
1663	Cochin and Malabar (former Portuguese settlements) fall under British rule
1664	Establishment of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales by Colbert
1672	The French seize San Thome
1673	Chandernagor becomes a French settlement
1674	France′s principal settlement is established: Pondicherry
1690	Calcutta becomes British (later capital of Bengal)
1723	The French settle down in Yanaon
1739	The French settle down in Karikal
1742	Joseph François Dupleix becomes Governor of Pondicherry
1756	Calcutta is seized by Sirajuddaula, begin of the conquest of Bengal
1757	The British recapture Calcutta. Chandernagore is conquered. Battle of Plassey
1759	English army defeats the Dutch. The Dutch lose all their settlements in favor of the British
1761	Robert Clive, a British governor, defeats the French at Wandiwash and seizes Pondicherry. The French lose their influence in India back to France
1763	Slaughter of British traders
1764	Battle of Buxar/Baskar
1765	Robert Clive becomes the nawab of Bengal
1769	First Mysore war
1775	First Maratha war
1780-1784	Second Mysore war
1791	Third Mysore war
1801	Fourth Mysore war
1803-04	Second Maratha war
1816	After the Napoleonic Wars five former French settlements are given back to France
1818	Third Maratha war
1839	The Sikh Emperor, Ranjit Singh dies
Until 1840	Sikhs expand their territory
1845-46	First Sikh war
1848	Second Sikh war
1856	Oudh is integrated into the British Raj
1857	Sepoy Revolt, end of British expansions
1858	End of the Sepoy Revolt, end of the British East India Company, India comes under the rule of the British crown, Queen′s proclamation
1861	Indians are able to access legislation
1885	Indian National Congress is founded
1915	Gandhi arrives in India
1920	Gandhi unites the Indian National Congress and begin of the Non-Cooperation Movement
1922	Gandhi is arrested
1930	Begin of the Civil Disobedience Movement, Salt March
1942	The Quit India Movement
1947	India gains independence

  

  Bibliography

 

1. ColonialVoyage / o.V., The Portuguese in India: GOA, " Reinha do Oriente" ,  http://www.colonialvoyage.com/goa.html, (updated: 09.01.2006, seen: 05.01.2006)

2. Keay, J: India a History, London 2004

3. Markovits, C: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, London 2004

4. Peacock, H.L: A History of Modern Britain 1815 to 1977, London 1978

5. Schoolsahead / o.V., History, http://www.schoolsahead.com/sandstime/history.html,  (updated: 13.01.2003, seen: 20.01.2006)

6. Sieper, R: The Student′s Companion to Britain, 5. edition, Munich 1988

7. Wikimedia Commons / o.V., Main Page – Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, (updated: 23.01.2006, seen: 23.01.2006)

8. Wikipedia / o.V., Doctrine of lapse, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_lapse, (updated: 14.11.2005, seen: 20.01.2006)

9. Wikipedia / o.V., French India, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_India, (updated: 01.12.2005, seen: 05.01.2006)

10. Wikipedia / o.V., Mahatma Gandhi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi, (updated: 23.01.2006, seen: 23.01.2006)

11. Wikipedia / o.V., India, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India, (updated: 25.01.2006, seen: 25.01.2006)

12. Wikipedia / o.V., Indian Independence Movement, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence (updated: 20.01.2006, seen: 23.01.2006)

13. Wikipedia / o.V., Indian rebellion of 1857, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rebellion_of_1857, (updated: 19.01.2006, seen: 21.01.2006)

14. Wikipedia / o.V., Pakistan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan, (updated: 25.01.2006, seen: 25.01.2006)

15. Wood, A: Nineteenth Century Britain 1815-1914, 14. edition, London 1980

 

Erklärung

Hiermit erkläre ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst und keine anderen als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel verwendet habe. Insbesondere versichere ich, dass ich alle wörtlichen und sinngemäßen Übernahmen aus anderen Quellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe.

...................................., den .........................................

..........................................

Philipp Eglseer

---

[1]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 5

[2]  Coastal area in the north of India

[3]  All three were Mogul Emperors.

[4]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 133

[5]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 137

[6]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 137

[7]  A minister of Ludwig XIV.

[8]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 144

[9]  A synonym for  Compagnie des Indes Orientales or The French East India Company

[10]  See Appendix number 1

[11]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 209

[12]  Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_India [05.01.2006]

[13]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 139

[14]  nawab means president of a province in India

[15]  See Appendix number 2

[16]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 235

[17]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 236

[18]  Governor General means: Head of the British in India

[19]  Many historians also use the expression: “British Raj“, which is a synonym to “British rule in India“ or simply “British India”

    See Appendix number 3

[20]  Cf. Keay 2004, p. 395

[21]  Keay, John: India: A History, p. 405

[22]  Cf. Keay 2004, p. 411

[23]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 275

[24]  Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_lapse [20.01.2006]

[25]  Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_lapse [20.01.2006]

[26]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 283

    Sepoy (Hindi for soldier) means: Indian soldier serving in an European army, above all the British

[27]  Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rebellion_of_1857 [21.01.06]

[28]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 347

[29]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 347

[30]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 369

[31]  Whole paragraph: Cf. Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence [23.01.2006]

[32]  Markovits, Claude: A History of Modern India 1480-1950, p. 374

[33]  Keay, John: India: A History, p. 478

[34]  Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence [23.01.2006]

[35]  In 1971 after an armed conflict between East- and West Pakistan, West Pakistan gained independence and is nowadays known under the name of Bangladesh

[36]  Cf. Internet: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan [25.01.2006]

[37]  See Appendix number 5