India Flashcards
How much did the EIC pay the government a year prior to 1773 and why did this become a problem
£40,000 per year - by 1768 they could no longer afford to pay this amount due to the loss of tea sales in America
How did Britain react to the EIC’s financial problems in 1773 (2)
1773 Tea Act - Allowed the EIC to export tea to the USA with no tariffs to undercut the prices of those smuggling tea in
1773 Regulating Act - Limited dividends to 6% until the company paid off a £1.5 million loan. Created a council of 5 (2 EIC, 3 Gov) who ran the EIC
What did the 1784 Pitt’s India Act do (4)
- Made the EIC subordinate the crown and therefore established a board of control to regulate India
- The Board of Control included the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 4 privy councillors from London
- By 1786 a supplementary act meant the Governor had even more power
- The Act discouraged military conquest in India
What was the National Debt of the UK after the AWOI vs in 1792
Post-AWOI: £243 million
1792: £170 million
How did the UK reduce their National Debt following the AWOI (4)
- Invested 1/3 of the National Budget into paying interest each year
- PM Pitt the Younger introduced a sinking fund of £1 million annually which was saved to collect interest and eventually used to help pay off the debt
- Lowered tariffs on goods like wine and tobacco which were easy to smuggle in order to reward honest and fair merchants
- Introduced Income Tax in 1798 (also to fund Napoleonic Wars)
Give a timeline of the impact of the Napoleonic Wars on conflict in India (4)
- 1797: Lord Mornington replaces Cornwallis as Governor-General and is tasked with preventing French involvement in the region
- 1798: France forms an alliance with the Tipu Sultan of Mysore
- 1799: Lord Mornington employs his brother Arthur Wellesley (later known as Duke of Wellington) to invade Mysore and the battle is a success and the Tipu Sultan is killed
- 1803: The son of the Tipu is killed in the 2nd Maratha War which ends any French connections to India
What were the 3 Indian Presidencies and was there a superior one
Bengal, Bombay, Madras
Bengal was considered superior and superseded the rest after the 1786 Amending Act
Describe the 1813 Charter Act
- Removed the commercial monopoly of the EIC, except for the trade of opium and tea as well as the trade with China
- This reduced the EIC’s control of India and increased government control
- The Act explicitly asserted the Crown’s control of India, and allotted 100,000 rupees a year to improve literacy and science in India
- It opened up India to missionaries
Which colony was partially founded as a result of the 1813 Charter Act and why
Singapore - The EIC became more dependent on trade with China after losing their monopoly on India and therefore needed an outpost to help improve the safety of the trade route to China
What years were the following people Governor- General:
Warren Hastings
The Earl Cornwallis
William Bentinck
Charles Canning
Warren Hastings: 1774-85
Earl Cornwallis: 1786-1793
William Bentinck: 1833-1856
Charles Canning: 1856-1862
When were telegraphs introduced to India, where between and what was the significance of this
1854 between Agra and Calcutta
Before telegraphs, the Governor had far greater control of India as it was more difficult to relay communications between India and the UK, but after this the UK government were able to have a more direct control from London
What was the composition of the army in India in the 1820s
Each of the 3 Presidencies had their own private armies of about 20,000 men combined. These armies were racially segregated into regiments of White People and Sepoys (Native Indians)
In 1857 what was the size and composition of the combined army of the 3 Presidencies
278k men, of which 46k was British
What 4 things made Bengal’s army different to that of Madras and Bombay
- Double the size
- Often recruited higher class people
- Sourced most of their army from the outside Awadh region
- Taught to have a sense of social superiority which led to them annexing the Sikh Punjab region
Describe the 1793 Cornwallis Code (4)
- Categorised EIC employees into judicial, revenue and commercial employees
- Banned EIC employees trading independently outside of the EIC but in return improved their salaries
- Changed the land revenue system by organising land into districts ran by collectors and landowners overseen by the EIC
- Reformed the judicial system and allowed Muslims and Hindus to be judged under their own religious laws
Who are Nabobs
White men who moved to the India to become rich
What % of British men in India married local Indian women in 1780 vs 1850
1780: 33%
1850: almost 0%
What was Thagi/Thuggee
A practice amongst some Indians who held th belief that by strangling people, those dead people would go to the afterlife. They would then oftens tea their valuable belongings
What act banned Thuggee, when, and was the ban popular and why
Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Act, 1836
It was popular as people feared the Thuggees and did not want to be killed
What was Sati
A Hindu tradition where when a Hindu man is cremated, his widow would be thrown onto the fire with him and burned alive
What act banned Sati, when, and was the ban popular and why
Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829
It was unpopular with men as they saw the ban as interfering with their religious beliefs and customs
Name an example of a Princely State who ignored the Sati ban and when did it eventually get banned there
Punjab - eventually banned there in 1861 after being directly absorbed by the UK
How many Thuggees were persecuted and hung following the ban
3000 prosecuted, 1400 hung
What change did Bentinck make to government in 1835
Made English the official language of Government
What was the impact of missionaries on India
After being unbanned in 1813, they moved to India and began teaching English in schools and mixing with local populations to try and promote Christianity. This largely fuelled tensions and caused anger towards the British
4 infrastructural reforms under governor Dalhousie and their respective years
- 1853: First railway
- 1854: First telegraph
- 1854: Introduction of penny-post
- 1854: Completion of Ganges Canal
2 social reforms under governor Dalhousie and their respective years
- 1854: Education Despatch (provided education for women)
- 1856: Hindu Women’s Remarriage Act (allowed women to remarry in India)
2 impacts on the Crimean War for India
- Dalhousie’s term extended to 1856 before being replaced by Charles Canning
- Many British soldiers in India were redeployed making the White : Sepoy ration in India 1:9
3 reasons for 1857 Meerut Rising
- Religious tensions caused by missionaries
- Nawab Ali Shah, Awadh leader, was deposed by the British despite him being extremely popular with the Awadh population (who contributed much of the Bengal Army)
- General Service Enlistment Act 1856
Describe the 1856 General Service Enlistment Act
Soldiers of the Bengal Army refused to serve ‘where they could not march’ (the sea) as their beliefs were that it would pollute their souls
The British didn’t like this as they wanted to navally invade Burma as the East of India was too dense and hilly and impossible to penetrate
The act forced the Bengal Army to serve ‘where they could not march’
Describe the start of the Meerut Uprising and therefore the start of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (2)
- 29th March: At Barrackpore, a Sepoy called Mangal Pandey attacked his White Officers and when told to stop him, other Sepoys ignored orders and did nothing
- 10th May: 85 Sepoys who had been imprisoned for refusing to use their animal fat greased cartridges broke out, ransacked the city of Meerut, killing every European they saw, then marched to Delhi
Which 3 cities were involved in the 1857 Indian Rebellion
- Delhi
- Cawnpore
- Lucknow
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in May 1857 (excluding Meerut uprising) (2)
- 11th May: The rebels from the Meerut Uprising take over Delhi, killing Europeans there
- 30th May: Sepoys riot in Lucknow, trapping British people within the city
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in June 1857 (4)
- 5th June: Sepoys lay siege to the British Garrison at Cawnpore for 3 weeks, trapping 1000 Brits there
- 7th June: British forces capture a ridge overlooking Delhi but are too weak to risk going into the city
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in July 1857 (3)
- 1st July: 30,000 mutineers attempted to siege the ridge at Delhi
- 15th July: 120 British women and children were massacred by rebels at Cawnpore
- 16th July: British reinforcements arrive at Cawnpore and recapture the city. They then try to march on Lucknow but are faced with too much resistance and retreat to Cawnpore
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in August 1857 (1)
14th August: 32 guns and 2000 men are sent to help Britain by Punjab
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in September 1857 (3)
- 9th September: 9000 troops (1/3 British, the rest from the subcontinent) reinforce the British army under the leadership of Colin Campbell
- 21st September: Delhi is recaptured by the British under the leadership of Colin Campbell
- 26th September: The British relief force sent to recapture Lucknow is defeated
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in November 1857 (4)
- 14th November: Campbell takes all the soldiers out of Cawnpore to help recapture Lucknow
- 16th November: Campbell arrives in Lucknow with 4,500 men and is able to access the British residency being besieged
- 22nd November: Campbell recaptures Lucknow and escapes with the besieged Brits
- 26th November: Rebels under leadership of Tantya Tope recapture Cawnpore but are immediately defeated by the returning Campbell
Describe the events of the Indian Rebellion in March 1858 (5)
- by the 1st March Lucknow had been recaptured by rebels
- 1st March 1858: Campbell returns to Lucknow
- 5th March 1858: Campbell attacks Lucknow and breaches the walls
- 14th March 1858: Lucknow city palace is recaptured and the British residency is recaptured
- 21st March 1858: The last of the rebels are defeated
3 main reasons for the rebel failure of the 1857 Indian Rebellion
- The rebels were not cohesive, each of Delhi, Lucknow and Cawnpore had their own rules, 2 Muslims and 1 Hindu. This made it easy to isolate each city in combat
- Madras and Bombay’s armies were used together to help fight the resistance in Bengal
- Many Indians were on the side of the British - 82% of the troops who recaptured Delhi were Sepoys. This may be because the British charged cheaper taxes than local rulers
How much did the 1857 Rebellion cost the UK
£50 million
What were the main 3 impacts of the 1857 Indian Rebellion
- Changes in attitudes towards Indians
- Changes to the Indian army
- 1858 Government of India Act
How did attitudes towards Indians change after the rebellion (2)
- After separate massacres of white people at Cawnpore and Lucknow, white fear of Indians increased, creating more prejudice, hatred and separation between white people and Indians
- 2,000 white men controlled 300 million Indians in a small isolated enclave. These people reacted to both nationalist and liberalist attitudes in British politics which influenced their rule of India
How did the Indian army change after the rebellion (5)
- The proportion of Sepoys in the army reduced by 40% and British soldiers increased by 50%, changing the ratio of Indian soldiers from 1:9 to 1:3
- The British mostly recruited native soldiers from Muslim and Sikh backgrounds
- Each army was divided into brigades with 3 regiments, which were segregated into racial backgrounds
- In 1867, Breech-loading rifles were introduced which meant cartridges with cow/pig fat were not needed, making Indians more willing to join the army
- All Indian troops still had white officers
Give 2 political outcomes of the 1858 Government of India Act
- British India to be ruled directly by the British government
- The Viceroy replaced the Governor, and he was answerable to Parliament
How did Britain treat the princely states in the 1858 Government of India Act (2)
- Gave them rights to their land
- Cultivated relations with local princes rather than annexing them, which improved Indian opinions of Britain
3 social outcomes of the 1858 Government of India Act
- Kept the ban on Thagi and Sati
- Promised Indians religious toleration and equal protection under law
- Limited the extent of missionaries in India to reduce interference in Indian culture
How did Britain manage tax in the 1858 Government of India Act
Allowed local landowners and rulers to collect taxes on behalf of the British
When was Victoria pronounced Empress of India
1876
When was the capital moved from Calcutta to Delhi
1911
