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The effect of the British empire on India
Gandhi and India's independence movement
British imperialism
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How did Britain’s relationship with India change as a result of the 1857 Rebellion?
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After the arrival of Lord William Bentinck in 1828 at Calacutta, this began the “unprecedented era of reform and innovation in India” that was led by the British Empire . During the early stages of this era, Britain passed many reforms and policies that made considerable refinements towards India’s the educational and administrative system, through doctrines of liberalism and evangelicalism . Yet, such policies generated resentment and religious offences towards the native Indians. As the list of grievances that affected them grew, the Indian sepoys (Hindu and Muslim soldiers) had begun to take matters into their own hands, and rallied together to form the Rebellion of 1857, which was one of the signs of India’s early attempts of planning to achieve national liberation from Britain . The aftermath that followed the Rebellion of 1857, changed India’s relationship with Britain for worse, as it created mistrust, suspicion, racial antagonism, discrimination, and a “war of races” .
The relationship between India and Britain can be dated far back at the appearance of British East India Company (who held the paramount power in India until the end of the Rebellion), and the beginning of textile trading between Britain and India . However, it was not just the power the East India Company had in India that Britain was interested in, but India’s “vast reservoir of wealth, upon which individuals, institutions, and governments could draw without restraint” . Britain saw that if India became part of its Empire and was under its control, it could “gain absolute control over its riches and resources” . Britain also saw India having a pract...
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2. Edwardes, Michael. British India 1772-1947 A survey of the nature and effects of alien rule. New York, New York; Taplinger Publishing Company, 1967
3. Edwardes, Michael. RAJ The Story of British India. London, England; Pan Books Ltd, 1969
4. Heyck W, Thomas. The Peoples of the British Isles – A New History From 1688-1870 (3rd ed, Vol 2). Chicago, Illinois; Lyceum, 2008
5. Kulkarni V,B. British Dominion in India and After. Bombay, India; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1964
6. Metcalf R, Thomas. The Aftermath of Revolt India, 1857-1870. Princeton, New Jersey; Princeton University Press, 1964
7. Pemble, John. The Raj, The Indian Mutiny, And The Kingdom Of Oudh, 1801-1859. Britain; The Harvestor Press, 1977
8. Yadav, Sanjay. “The Indian Mutiny Of 1857: Why Britain Succeeded And The Rebels Failed” Journal of Asian History 28, no.2 (1994): 136-153.
Much like chapter two, chapter four provides an overview of the East India Company's Bengali sepoy regiments. Chapter five addresses the major causes of the Sepoy Rebellion, and summarizes its events and participants. Chapter six provides a short historiographical review of three Indian texts on the Sepoy Rebellion, exposing the reader to Indian interpretations of the events. Finally, part three consists of chapter seven, which is a comparison of the major similarities and differences of Batavian Revolt and Sepoy Rebellion, and serves to highlight key aspects of both.
Marshall, Peter. "The British Presence in India in the 18th Century." http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml (accessed June 8, 2014).
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
Glick, J, Schaffer, C. 1991. "The Indian Homeland." U.S. News and World Report. July 8, vol.111, n2, pg26 (6)
Khan, Syed Ahmed. "The Causes of the Indian Revolt." In Meridians: Sources in World History., edited by Mark Kishlansky, New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010.
The war of independence is thought to have been a war of revolution. It is not, it is the breaking of colonial rule. It was based on politics and a separation of powers. In my paper I will go from the start of a rising discontentment amongst the indigenous population and how those above them exploit the failures for their own gain in a system where they have always been favored more over.
James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
Some believe that India’s non-participation in the Industrial Revolution was due to British colonization. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, India had clout as a world leader in cotton textiles (Majumdar 62). The British plundering subsequently lead to the destruction of the textile industry, and eventually the economy. It is believed that much of the money necessary to the Industrial Revolution was obtained by the looting of India. After all, India had the three things necessary to start an endeavor such as this: raw materials, wealth, and a market. The Industrial Revolution itself began only a few years after the colonization of India (Majumdar 62). In the end, India was unable to participate in the Industrial Revolution. According to Majumdar, “Consequences of not being able to participate in the Industrial Revolution included not democratizing invention and the democratization of markets”. India’s own industrial revolution began after Independence in 1947, wh...
" India was where the riches of the world came from, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. The British needed to dispel the threat of other Europeans in Africa to maintain control of India, and they did so efficiently. They quickly gained control of both the major sea routes to India and then turned their eyes to the rest of the continent. Whether the British were trying to foster public support or prevent another nation from becoming a threat, all British actions in Africa were directly or indirectly linked to India. The British were motivated by their desire to become powerful, and they skillfully combined enterprise and conquest to create a globe spanning empire centered around the wealth of India.
To begin, British Imperialism had many political effects on India’s people throughout the years. The forcefulness of Europe’s invasion brought plenty of fear and destruction among the government, which in the following years would become run completely by British officials. According to document two, “The Indians have no control whatsoever over their own taxation...The entire civil government is now carried on by men who live lives quite remote from the people they govern.” According to Dr. Lalvani in paragraph twelve, Imperialism brought Indians together. He states, “perhaps the most innovative of all was the bringing together of several different states into one unified India.” That may have been the result in sight, but the truth is, as shown in document one, when Gandhi states, “For a hundred years, you have done everything for us. You have given us no responsibility for our own
The British considered Indian civilization to be inferior and implemented their western ways, overriding ancient Indian customs. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that British imperialism in India resulted in both positive as well as negative reforms in political, economic and social aspects of its new colony. To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4. The adage of the adage.
The mutiny lasted thirteen months: from the rising of Meerut on 10 May 1857 to the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858.The sepoys were quickly joined by large numbers of civilians supporting the reinstatement of both a Moghul and a Maratha emperor and by landlords, particularly those of Oudh, penalised by the new administration and its policy of exporting raw materials for manufacture in Britain. Historians agree that the mutiny was characterised by violent reprisals on either side but, at least in British historical tradition, the most significant events are the massacres at Meerut, Cawnpore and Lucknow; post-mutiny literature dwelling on the fate of women and children especially.
1 Moore, Robin J., "Imperial India, 1858-1914", in Porter, Andrew, Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001a, p.422-446,
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
Nicholas B. Dirks. (2011). Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton University Press