The Conquest of India
When Portuguese merchants arrived in in the late fifteenth century, they found it quite factionalized, and were easily able to enforce their will along ‘s coasts. The small Portuguese forces were unable to contend with the Indians for control of the country itself, and by 1526, the Mughal Empire – the latest in a series of conquest dynasties to assume control of northern – had established itself as ‘s supreme power. The Mughals would maintain their rule until the eighteenth century, but soon after their collapse, the entire country was controlled by the British Empire. The conditions in at the end of Mughal rule left the country – a land as large and as populated as all of Europe – ripe to be conquered by European imperialists.
The Mughal Empire was an Islamic power that invaded from the north in the early sixteenth century and ruled the northern part of the country from their capital at Delhi for nearly two hundred years. The Mughal dynasty arose following several previous foreign conquerors of the area. Early Islamic invaders had established a Sultanate at Delhi; it was controlled by five dynasties, none of which were native Indians. The Sultanate was weakened in a series of invasions and rebellions until it was eventually defeated by the first Mughal Emperor, Babur. had previously been invaded by Alexander the Great, and even the Aryans who dominated in the pre-modern era had originally invaded the country. The transition to another period of foreign rule – in this case, British colonialism – was a natural progression.
The Mughals never managed to conquer southern , although the last Mughal ruler who wielded any real power, Aurangzeb, did make an attempt. European imperialism took its original hold on in the south, where power was divided among several smaller states. Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who captained the first European ships to arrive in , had achieved his trading goals through the use of military power, bombarding the city of Calicut on his first voyage to . The Portuguese were unconcerned with any conquest of , however, and were content to profit from their monopoly on the spice trade. By the seventeenth century, the English had taken an interest in , and they defeated the Portuguese in a series of naval battles that led the Mughal Empire to favor the English over their previous Portuguese trading partners. The English were interested in territorial gain alongside the more traditional financial motivations, and they founded the cities of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta on land that was under the control of the British crown. In 1714, the British East India Company was given the right to collect taxes in the areas they controlled; they had already been enjoying other governmental powers. This set the British on a course that would eventually lead to the military conquest of all of .
Aurangzeb was a ruthless tyrant who viciously persecuted Hindus in the areas he controlled. He led invasions into the south that stretched the resources of the empire and weakened its hold on the northern part of . His strict enforcement of Islamic law and hatred of other religions led to rebellion among many major Indian groups, including the Rajputs, Sikhs, and the Marathas. By the end of Aurangzeb’s rule, the Marathas appeared poised to assume control of the remnants of the Mughal Empire, but infighting weakened them and the Europeans were eventually able to play one side against the other, making them an effective non-entity in the race to control .
The Indian economy also played a part in the British conquest. The East India Company was able to extend its control with lessened resistance because of the benefits they offered Indian bankers and merchants. In some cases, native Indian bankers even actively worked to help the British, paying loosely organized Indian troops to stay home from decisive battles. The British also seemed attractive rulers because of their active support of trade; the Mughals had been disinterested at best. The taxing of the population seemed fairer under the British, since the absolute rulers of the several Indian states had been known to tax unfairly and without regard for the welfare of the people.
Benefiting from their superior commanders and better discipline, the British frequently won battles against larger Indian armies. One notable British victory was the battle of Plassey, when a British army, outnumbered over ten to one, overwhelmingly defeated an Indian army and their French armies. ‘s unstable political climate contributed to British success; although most of the Indian states spent prodigious amounts of money raising large armies, but they were used for fighting other Indian states. was never able to present a united front against .
By the time the British had assumed control of most of in the early nineteenth century, they had begun to introduce technological improvements, such as the railroad and telegraph to . Their educational system was used to produce English-speaking, Europeanized Indians, many of whom were given a place in the government of the new colony. It would take time before the Indians realized that they were barred from the highest levels of authority, and for a time, the British rulers were preferred to the despots who had ruled after the fall of the Mughal Empire. By the time of World War II, the political climate had changed, and a new generation of Indian leaders would work to gain their independence.
The situation that was faced with in the early eighteenth century left it ripe for British domination. The decline of the Mughal Empire left several factions vying for control of what had once been a unified northern . The rulers of were tyrannical, and the population was eager to help another conquering power unseat them, especially one that was concerned with trade. When failed to unite against the Europeans, British forces under able commanders like Robert Clive were able to assume control of the country in a series of military victories.
