Question : Can you explain how, after acquiring Diwani, the government of the East India Company functioned like ‘an Indian ruler’?
(2022)
Answer : Function of East India Company after acquiring Diwani
As an active trader in Bengal, the British East India Company had witnessed the autonomous power of the centrally appointed diwans whom they then gave, to earn their favour, peshkash on their appointment.
They also knew that the autonomous nawabs could make the institution obsolete because of the weakness of the centre.
Robert Clive, who came in 1765 for the second time to lead the affairs of the Company in ....
Question : "It was Dupleix who had first showed the way of intervening in disputes of the Indian rulers and thereby acquiring political control over vast territories — a technique which was later perfected by the English East India Company." Elaborate.
(2020)
Answer : Dupleix was an influential governor-general (1742–1754) of the French East India Company during his three decades in India. He expanded the commercial, political, and military operations of the French East India Company, and his administration marked the apex of French colonial ambitions in India. His accumulation of an enormous personal fortune led to suspicions about his integrity and, eventually, his recall to France.
Dupleix's Techniques with Indian Rulers
Dupleix successfully protected French interests from threats from local ....
Question : Do you subscribe to the view that the Anglo-French tussle in Carnatic demonstrated the internal decay of the provincial chieftains of South India?
(2019)
Answer : Though the British and the French came to India for trading purposes, they were ultimately drawn into the politics of India. Both had vision of establishing political power over the region. The Carnatic wars, which were the result of internal conflicts of the native rulers of Hyderabad and Carnatic in the first Carnatic War; the dynastic dispute in the second and the direct Anglo-French confrontation over St. David Fort, provided this opportunity. The first Carnatic ....
Question : Comment on the French ambition of building a territorial empire in India.
(2016)
Answer : The French were late by six decades in India. As with other European colonists — British and the Dutch, the French too started their colonisation through commercial activities. The first French factory in India was established at Surat in 1668 and later one at Machillipatnam.
The French settlement in India began in 1673 with the purchase of land at Chandernagore from the Mughal Governor of Bengal. The next year they acquired Pondicherry from the Sultan of ....
Question : “Plassey did not complete the British conquest of India. Had the English been convincingly defeated in any subsequent battle in India, then (the battle of) Plassey would have remained as a minor episode in the history of India.”
(2014)
Answer : The battle of Plassey was a conspiracy of the British. Through that, the British wanted to keep the Nawab as figurehead and they wanted to hold the real power.
On June 23rd of that year, at the Battle of Plassey, a small village and mango grove between Calcutta and Murshidabad, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive defeated the army of Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The aspirant to the Nawab’s throne, ....
Question :
Why Mysore was considered a threat by the British to their possessions and mercantile interests in the south? Do you think that Tipu Sultan’s posturing became his undoing?
(2009)
Answer : East India Company had both strategic and commercial interest in Mysore province. From commercial point of view the Karnataka regionwas important for export and import. There weresome important ports located in the province of Mysore.
Firstly with the capture and annexation of Mysore would give East India Company an added advantage in the trade. Secondly, the Mysore plain was also very fertile and it would have been very good source of revenue for the company administration. ....
Question : “Neither Alexander the Great nor Napoleon could have won the empire of India by starting from Pondichery as a base and contending with a power which held Bengal and the command of the Sea.”
(2006)
Answer : 18th century India was marked by conflict between English and French for establishing political sway in India. In this conflict English defeated French. Important factors which contributed for the victory of England were capture of Bengal by the British and command of sea.
England and France started to struggle among each other for political supremacy in India. Three Carnatic wars were fought between them. These wars ultimately resulted into the victory of England. And by the ....
Question : The battle of Plassey was 'not a great battle but a great betrayal'.
(2000)
Answer : G.B. Malleson puts it 'There never was a battle in which the consequences were so vast, so immediate and so permanent. From the very morrow of the victory the English became virtual masters of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, 'The Battle of Plassey was of immense historical importance. It paved the way for the British mastery of Bengal and eventually the whole of India. It boosted British prestige and at a single stroke raised them to ....
Question : After 1757 there grew up a state of Bengal which was a 'sponsored state' as well as a 'plundered state'.
(1999)
Answer : The battle of Plassey (1757) was followed in the words of the Bengali poet Nabin Chandra Sen, by 'a night of eternal gloom for India'. The English proclaimed Mir Jafar the Nawab of Bengal and set out to gather the reward. The Company was granted undisputed right to free trade in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It also received the Zamindari of the 24 Parganas near Calcutta. Mir Jafar paid a sum of Rs. 17,700,000 as ....
Question : The British conquered India 'in a fit of absent mindedness'.
(1997)
Answer : The English East India company had very humble beginnings in India. From the very beginning, it tried to combine trade and diplomacy with war and control of the territory where their factories were situated. Conditions in the South were more favourbale to the English as they did not have to face a strong Indian government there. The great Viayanagar Kingdom had been overthrown in 1565 and its place taken by a number of petty and ....
Question : 'By certain of his actions Clive had marred both the glory and usefulness of his work'.
(1995)
Answer : Robert Clive was sent to Madras in 1744. He participated in first two Carnatic wars. He reached the zenith of fame due to his contribution in seize of Arcot and Pondicherry. But very soon he had to return due to illness. In 1755, Clive again came as Governor of Madras. Hearing of Black Hole Tragedy, he reached Fulta with his army and played a very important role in Battle of Plassey. In 1765 he came ....
