Question : “Annexation of Punjab was part of a broad north-west frontier policy set in motion after the exit of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.”
(2015)
Answer : The-North-West Frontier of India, the most sensitive strategic frontier of the British Empire, posed a complex defence problem for the British Imperialist in India. Inhabited by the fiercely independent Pakhtún tribes, the area was one of the most ungovernable, hazardous and dangerous place in the midstof the British Empire’s many frontiers spread across the globe.
The North West Frontier had considerable geo-political and geo-strategic importance because for the British maintaining peace and stability along the border ....
Question : “Dupleix made a cardinal blunder in looking for the key of India in Madras: Clive sought and found it in Bengal.”
(2013)
Answer : In 1742, Joseph Dupleix was appointed governor general of all French settlements in India and dedicated himself to exerting French power. He envisioned a French empire and to this end began to interfere in local Indian politics, playing local rulers against each other for his French benefit. But he could not plan the way the English did and went ahead having a vanguard like Robert Clive.
Clive’s victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which ....
Question : “Compared to their English counterparts, the French East India company enjoyed little discretionary power and had to always look up to Paris for all major decisions. This partly explains the failure of the French in India”
(2012)
Answer : The English and the French had properly established their settlements in India by 1740 and had become serious rivals of each other. They fought three wars in India and by 1763 the English had completely crushed the French military and political power in this country. Several factors contributed to the ultimate failure of French but most important was that French East India Company enjoyed little discretionary power and had always had to look up to ....
Question : “The current practice of categorization of early modern India is based on a shift from the old imperialist periodization of ‘Muslim India-British India’ to the more secularist chronological structure”.
(2012)
Answer : The common division of most history into ancient, medieval and modern is on the assumption that there are certain characteristics which distinguish each of their periods from the others. The imperialist or Cambridge school of historiography divided Indian history on communal lines into Hindu period, Muslim India and British India. In reaction to imperialist school, the Marxist school of historiography divided Indian history into ancient, medieval and modern Indian history that is based more on ....
Question : Punjab’s fate after Ranjit Singh was foredoomed as the impulse of neo Victorian imperialism was bound to overwhelm it. Elucidate.
(2010)
Answer : The history of Punjab in the years following the death of Ranjit Singh was history of plots, counter plots, murders, desertion and treachery.
The army size increased and became unbearable to state exchequer. The unpaid soldier got out of hand. The powerful rival faction and jealous Jagirdar kept in contral by Ranjit Singh got. out of hand and converted Punjab in arena of Power politics. Apart from the Punjab witnessed frequent succession, court fight and powerful ....
Question : How did the East India Company became the dejure power in India?
(2009)
Answer : The British with their superior naval power support from home were the next who like the numerous invaders and adventurers of the past would establish their dominion in India. The diplomatic moves of East India Company were clever. The favourable conditions created by the disintegration of the Mughal Empire invited the English to seek political power in India.
The political aspirations of the Company bore fruit from Bengal. Owing to the incompetence of Siraj-ud daula the ....
Question : Examine the circumstances which led to the Third Mysore War. Could Cornwallis have avoided it?
(2006)
Answer : The British in their way to establish their supremacy and control over India had to wage wars with many Indian powers. One of the most formidable powers they had to face in their task of conquering India was the Mysore. The British had to fight four rounds of wars with the Mysore State before it could be brought under its control. A survival episode in this context was the third Anglo-Mysore war fought between 1790 ....
Question : “Upon the whole, then, I conclude that the Treaty of Bassein was wise, just and a polite measure”.
(2005)
Answer : The treaty of Bassein was concluded in 1802 between the British Company and the Peshwa Baji Rao II. It was a treaty of perpetual and general alliance with the English. Upon the whole then it was conclude to be a wise, just and a polite measure.
As per the treaty, Peshwa agreed to receive from the company a regular army to be stationed in his territories. Peshwa had to surrender territories yielding 26 lakhs of rupees ....
Question : ‘The Treaty of Salbai (1782) was neither honourable to the English nor advantageous to their interests.’
(2004)
Answer : The Treaty of Salbai was signed on May 17, 1782 by representatives of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company after long negotiations to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War. Under its terms, the Company retained control of Salsette and acquired guarantees that the Marathas would defeat Hyder Ali of Mysore and retake territories in the Carnatic. The Marathas also guaranteed that the French would be prohibited from establishing settlements on ....
Question : "The rise and expansion of British empire was an accident rather than the result of a deliberate policy and design." Critically examine this statement.
(2002)
Answer : The growing commercial interest of the English East India Company and its officials brought them in direct confrontation with the Indian rulers. The weaknesses in the prevailing Indian polity helped the British to win the battle against them and alienation of different groups from the rulers made the system vulnerable to external forces.
What made the British conquer India is quite an intricate and intriguing question. They were defeated on many occasions by Haider Ali and ....
Question : “The verdict at Plassey was confirmed by the English victory at Buxar.”
(2002)
Answer : The death of Alivardi in 1756 gave rise to dissensions among various groups within the court on the questions of succession to the throne of Bengal and the battle of Plassey showed the depth of functionalised in the Nawab’s court. The treachery of the close lieutenants of the Nawab rather than the might of the English decided the fate of the battle. The battle of Plassey was followed, in the words of the Bengali Poet ....
Question : Were the Marathas restricted by their geopolitical limitations from becoming the paramount power of India?
(2001)
Answer : A large portion of Maratha kingdom was a plateau, full of rocks. The rocky nature of the soil made the people struggle hard for a living and thus made them courageous and sturdy. The whole area enjoyed every kind of facility for defence including the construction of strong and almost impregnable forts at every hill top. While it gave strong defence and security to the inhabitants of the land, it made difficult for any foreigners ....
Question : ‘Dalhousie changed the map of India with speed and thoroughness no campaign could equal’.
(2001)
Answer : Within a span of eight year (1848-1856) Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, brought into harmony the work of his predecessors and consolidated the scattered territories under the company’s direct rule. In the north-west the British became the warden of the passes, in the north the boundries of the British India became contagious to Tibet and the Chinese empire, in the south-east the British controlled the entire coast line on both sides of the Bay of ....
Question : Sir Charles Napier said, 'we have no right to seize Sind, yet we shall do so, and a very advantageous, useful, human piece of rascality it will be.'
(2000)
Answer : The conquest of Sindh occurred as a result of the growing Anglo-Russian rivalry in Europe and Asia and the consequent British fears that Russia might attack India through Afghanistan or Persia. To counter Russia, the British Government decided to increase its influence in Afghanistan and Persia. It further felt that this policy could be successfully pursued only if Sindh wasbrought under British control. The commercial possibilities of the river Sindh were an additional attraction. The ....
Question : The British 'fought the First Maratha War in a period when their fortunes were at the lowest ebb'.
(1998)
Answer : An intense struggle for power was taking place at that time among the Marathas between the supporters of the infant Peshwa Madhav Rao II, led by Nana Phadnis, and Raghunath Rao. The British officials in Bombay decided to intervene on behalf of Raghunath Rao. They hoped thus to repeat the exploits of their countrymen in Madras and Bengal and reap the consequent monetary advantages. This involved them in a long was with the Marthas which ....
Question : How did the British conquer Bengal in the 18th century? What circumstances helped them?
(1998)
Answer : Bengal was the most fertile and richest of India's provincess. Its industries and commerce were well developed. The East India company and its servants had highly profitable trading interests in the province. The company had secured valuable privileges in 1717 under a royal farman by the Mughal Emperor, which had granted the Company the freedom to export and import their goods in Bengal without paying taxes and the right to issue passes or dastaks for ....
Question : 'The verdict of Plassey was confirmed by the English Victory at Buxar'
(1996)
Answer : The war between Mir Qasim and the company broke out in 1763. In the series of encounters that followed, Mir Qasim was worsted. He escaped to Oudh and organised a confederacy with Nawab of Oudh and the Emperor Shah Alam II in a final bid to oust the English from Bengal. The combined armies of the three powers numbering between 40,000 to 60,000 met an English army of 7, 072 troops commanded by Major Munro ....
Question : The British conquest of Sind was both a political and moral sequel to the first Afghan was. Comment.
(1995)
Answer : By 1818, the entire Indian subcontinent except Punjab and Sindh had been brought under British control. Part of it was ruled directly by the British and the rest by a host of Indian rulers over whom the British exercised paramount power. These states had virtually no armed forces of their own, nor did they have any independent foreign relations. They paid heavily for the British forces stationed in their territories to control them. On the ....
