Subsidiary Alliance and Political Control
The Subsidiary Alliance System was a political tool devised by the British East India Company to gradually subordinate Indian princely states without outright conquest. While the concept of using military support for political control was experimented with by the French under Dupleix, it was Lord Wellesley (Governor-General, 1798–1805) who systematized the subsidiary alliance in India, turning it into a cornerstone of British imperial policy.
Under this system, a princely state would accept British military protection, maintain a British garrison within its territory, pay for the upkeep of these troops (either in cash or by ceding territory), and surrender control over foreign ....
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