General context/Establishing the Raj (1)

Question 1

Why did Britain become seriously involved in India?

Answer 1

Trade, India had many resources such as cotton, calico, pepper and spices.

Question 2

What was granted to the East India Company in 1698?

Answer 2

A charter allowing a monopoly of trade with India. It also resulted in Company affairs being debated in Parliament - who could refuse to renew the charter.

Question 3

Define monopoly of trade

Answer 3

When one company or organisation dominates trade in a certain area or with a specific country or countries, e.g. the EIC was the only British company allowed to trade in India.

Question 4

Where were the EIC’s trading stations?

Answer 4

Bombay
Calcutta
Madras

Question 5

How do you become a writer for the EIC?

Answer 5

Had to be 16 years old

Be sponsored by one of the directors of the EIC - he or his family had to be known to them

Question 6

Why did the EIC increasingly exercise political power in India?

Answer 6

Decline of Mughal Empire created a power vacuum and Indian claimants warred at the regional levels of politics and government. Commerce and trade suffered due to the political instability, so EIC was drawn in to protect their trading interest.

Question 7

How did the British become embroiled in the political struggles of India leading up to the collapse of the Mughal Empire?

Answer 7

Series of wars broke out between France and Britain, spilling into India - where the French were traders too. Both found allies in rival princes and their factions - so were drawn into India’s political struggles.

Question 8

What happened when Robert Clive returned to India in 1765?

Answer 8

The Mughal Emporer made the EIC his diwan - chief financial advisor - and Clive became the first British Governor of Bengal. The British were established as a major political force in India.

Question 9

What did the General Enlistment Order do in 1856?

Answer 9

Imposed the same conditions on sepoys serving in the Bengal, Bombay and Madras armies. All sepoys now expected to serve wherever the EIC deployed them - even abroad.

Question 10

What privilege did this remove from sepoys in the Bengal army?

Answer 10

The payment of batta, an allowance that was paid if they served abroad.

Question 11

What triggered the rebellion of 1857?

Answer 11

The cartridges used in new Enfield rifles were greased with tallow containing pork and beef fat - which offended Hindus and Muslims.

Question 12

Why was this offensive to both Hindus and Muslims?

Answer 12

Beef fat was repugnant to Hindu’s

Pork fat offended Muslim beliefs

Question 13

What happened after the sepoys refused to use them?

Answer 13

The cartridges were withdrawn, but all existing cartridges were suspect and so was everything that was government issued - including items such as flour and cooking oil.

Question 14

What happened in Meerut (9th May 1857)?

Answer 14

The garrison commander court martialled 85 Indians for refusing to use suspect cartridges and publicly humiliated them.

Question 15

What happened the next day (10th May 1857)?

Answer 15

The sepoys mutinied, began massacring Europeans and marched to Delhi - gathering support as they went.

Question 16

What happened in Delhi when the sepoys arrived?

Answer 16

They pledged their support to an elderly Mughal emperor who had ‘ruled’ harmlessly for over 20 years with neither subjects nor troops.

Question 17

How quickly did the mutiny spread through the Bengal army?

Answer 17

Extremely! Within weeks most of the garrisons in the north-west provinces and Oudh were in rebel hands - the British officers, their wives and children slaughtered.

Question 18

How did civilian rebellion spread?

Answer 18

Civilian rebellion was a series of localised responses to separate and different fears of new influences and changing patterns of authority.

Question 19

How did the British react to the rebellion?

Answer 19

As word of the murder of British people spread, the response was violent, entire villages were torched and unarmed Indians and domestic servants were attacked, mutilated and murdered.

Question 20

How long did it take for order to be restored?

Answer 20

By December 1857, key strategic points along the Ganges valley were reoccupied.
Further five months before all resistance was stamped out.
£36 mil was spent on restoring order - a full year’s worth of Indian revenue.

Question 21

What did the troubles of 1857 demonstrate?

Answer 21

Britain was the only power capable of maintaining law and order in India, its authority could be re-established by calling on British armed forces. But this authority could only be maintained by relying on a network of sympathetic Indians or those who were willing to cooperate until better times came.

Question 22

What did the Government of India Act of 1858 do?

Answer 22

Queen Victoria became Queen of India and India’s Governor - General became her Viceroy as well as the government’s chief executive in India. A similar hierarchy of hereditary nobles and honours was established in India too.

Question 23

What was the impact of the Indian Mutiny?

Answer 23

The British set up consultative councils consisting of western-educated Indians to serve as ‘ears to the ground’ to alert the Raj to potential problems and advise on strategies to solve them. They weren’t given any real power as they were only advisers and members were nominated by the Raj and later elected - but with a bias towards educated and wealthy Indians.