Explore the key factors behind British success in India, such as superior arms, military discipline, financial strength, and strategic battles like Plassey and Buxar. Learn how treaties, wars, and policies shaped British dominance.

Key Factors Behind the British Success in India

• Superior Arms
• Military Discipline
• Civil Discipline
• Brilliant Leadership (which did not bother about adopting unscrupulous practices)
• Financial Strength
• Nationalist Pride

Conflict Between the British and the Nawabs of Bengal

• Battle of Plassey (June 23, 1757): Robert Clive’s victory over Siraj-ud-daula laid the territorial foundation of British rule in India.
• Battle of Buxar (1764): Clive’s victory over the combined armies of the Nawab of Bengal, Nawab of Awadh, and the Mughal Emperor at Buxar laid the real foundation of English power.
• Treaty of Allahabad (1765): Granted the Diwani Rights of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the English.
• Treaty with Nawab of Awadh
• Treaty with Shah Alam II, Mughal Emperor
• Dual Government—1765-72

The British Conquest of Mysore

• First Anglo-Mysore War (1767-69); Treaty of Madras
• Second Anglo-Mysore War (1779-1784); Treaty of Mangalore
• Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92); Treaty of Seringapatam
• Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799); Mysore is conquered by British forces

Anglo-Maratha Struggle for Supremacy

• First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82); Treaty of Surat (1775), Treaty of Purandhar (1776), and Treaty of Salbai (1782)
• Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05); Treaty of Bassein, 1802
• Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1819)
• Causes for the defeat of the Marathas:
  • Inept leadership
  • Defective state structure
  • Loose political setup
  • Inferior military system
  • Unstable economic policies
  • Superior English diplomacy and espionage
  • Progressive English outlook

The British Conquest of Sindh (1843)

• Lord Ellenborough was the Governor-General of India.

The British Conquest of Punjab

• Treaty of Amritsar (1809), Ranjit Singh and the British
• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46)
• Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49)

British Paramountcy in Action

• Ring-fence Policy of Warren Hastings
• Subsidiary Alliance of Wellesley:
  • Subsidized States:
    • Hyderabad (1798; 1800)
    • Mysore (1799)
    • Tanjore (October 1799)
    • Awadh (November 1801)
    • Peshwa (December 1801)
    • Bhonsle of Berar (December 1803)
    • Sindhia (February 1804)
    • Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bundi (1818)
• Doctrine of Lapse:
  • Lapsed States under Lord Dalhousie (1848-56):
    • Satara (1848)
    • Sambhalpur (1849)
    • Jhansi (1855)

Relations of British India with Neighboring Countries

• Anglo-Nepal Relations (Treaty of Sagauli, 1816)
• Anglo-Burma Relations:
  • First Anglo-Burma War, 1824-26
• Anglo-Tibetan Relations:
  • Treaty of Lhasa (1904)