Traders to Rulers (II)
ICSE Class 8 · History & Civics · Chapter 6
What this chapter covers
- From Bengal to the whole of India
- Methods of British expansion
- Lord Wellesley and the Subsidiary Alliance
- Effects of the Subsidiary Alliance
- Lord Dalhousie and the Doctrine of Lapse
- The annexation of Awadh
- A practice report
- British paramountcy by 1857
Key points
- A policy of expansion is a plan to increase the area a government rules or controls; the Company expanded by war, the Subsidiary Alliance, the Doctrine of Lapse and annexation on the pretext of misrule.
- Lord Wellesley (Governor-General from 1798) introduced the Subsidiary Alliance: a Company army in the ruler's state, paid for by the ruler, with the ruler giving up control of his foreign affairs.
- Hyderabad (1798) was the first to sign; Mysore, Awadh and the Peshwa followed; Tipu Sultan refused.
- The Subsidiary Alliance gave the Company an army at no cost and new territory, and left Indian states dependent, in debt and badly governed.
- Lord Dalhousie (1848–1856) used the Doctrine of Lapse to annex dependent states whose rulers died without a natural heir, refusing to accept adopted sons.
- Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur were annexed by lapse; Nana Saheb's pension was stopped.
- Awadh was annexed in 1856 on the pretext of misgovernment; the real reasons were its wealth, its trade and its position.
- By 1857 the Company was the paramount power: British India was ruled directly, and the princely states accepted British supremacy.
- The anger of dethroned rulers, landholders, soldiers and sepoys caused by these policies helped to bring about the uprising of 1857.
Questions answered
What is meant by the British policy of expansion? Name two methods it used other than war.
It was the Company's plan to increase the area of India under its direct or indirect control. Two methods other than war were the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse; annexation on the pretext of misrule is a third.
Who introduced the Subsidiary Alliance, and why?
Lord Wellesley, Governor-General from 1798. He wanted to make the Company the supreme power in India, to shut out the French and to control Indian states without fighting a war against each one.
State any four terms of the Subsidiary Alliance.
Any four of: a permanent Company army in the ruler's state; the ruler to pay for it, or give territory instead; no war, peace or alliance without the Company's permission; dismissal of non-British Europeans; a British Resident at his court; in return, protection from outside attack.
Name the first ruler to accept the Subsidiary Alliance, and one ruler who refused it.
The Nizam of Hyderabad accepted it first, in 1798. Tipu Sultan of Mysore refused it.
Give two ways in which the Subsidiary Alliance harmed Indian states.
Any two of: loss of independence in foreign affairs; heavy debts and loss of territory to pay for the troops; rulers neglecting their people; unemployment of disbanded soldiers; interference by the Resident.
What was the Doctrine of Lapse?
It was Lord Dalhousie's policy that a dependent state passed to the Company if its ruler died without a natural heir, because an adopted son was not accepted as the new ruler.
Name three states annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse.
Any three of: Satara (1848), Jaitpur, Sambalpur (1849), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854).
Why did the Doctrine of Lapse anger Indians?
Adoption of an heir was an old and respected Hindu custom, so refusing it was seen as interference with religion and tradition. Rulers without natural sons feared for their thrones, and families who served the old courts lost their living.