Important Indian Wars History Short Notes

Expansion of British Power

Conquest of Bengal

• The East India Company secured valuable privileges under a royal firm of 1717, given by Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, which had granted the Company the freedom to export and import their goods in Bengal without paying taxes and the right to use passes or dastaks for the movement of such goods.
• Problem arose when the English began to fortify Calcutta as part of preparation of war with French without the permission of the Nawab. Sirajuddaulah asked both the English and the French to pull down their fortifications. The French complied but the English refused to obey. Sirajuddaulah responded by seizing the English factory at Qasim Bazaar and 
• Subsequently Fort William was captured in 1756. It was during this occupation of Calcutta the so called Blackhole episode of Holwell happened. Leaving Calcutta at the hands of Manikchand, Siraj returned to celebrate his victory letting the English escape to Fulta.
• A strong naval and military force arrived from Madras under Colonel Clive and Admiral Watson. Hoogli was plundered and Calcutta reoccupied in the beginning of 1757. The Nawab was forced to sign the treaty of Alinagar in February 1757 wherein all the demands of the English were conceded. By this time the English had decided to remove Siraj and place a puppet in his place. They conspired with the leading men of the Nawab's court such as Manikchand, Amirchand, Jagat Seth, Mir Jaffer and Rai Durlabh. 
• The rivals met each other in the battle field of Plassey. The fateful battle was a battle only in name. The major part of nawab's army was led by traitors. Sirajuddaulah was put to death by Mir Jaffer's son Miran.
• "The English proclaimed Mir Jaffer the Nawab. The company was granted undisputed right to free trade in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. It also received the zamindari of 24 Parganas.
• Besides Jaffer also paid huge sums of bribe to officials of the company. Mir Jaffer's treasury was soon emptied with the demand of the company. When Mir Jaffer hesitated to fulfil all their expectation, they replaced him by his son-in-law Mir Qasim.
• Mir Qasim rewarded his benefactors by granting the company the zamindari of the districts of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong.
• Mir Qasim checked the misuse of the firman of 1717 by the company officials to evade internal custom duties. He therefore took the extreme step of abolishing all duties on internal trade and benefitting his own subjects by giving them the concession that the English had forcefully snatched. 
• The war between the company and Mir Qasim began in 1763 and in a series of encounters the nawab was defeated.
• He fled to Awadh and formed an alliance with Shujauddaulah, the nawab of Awadh and the fugitive mughal emperor Shah Alam-II in a final attempt to oust the English from Bengal.
• The three allies clashed with the company at Buxar on 22nd October, 1764 and were completely defeated. It was the most decisive battle in the history of India. It established the British firmly in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and placed Awadh at their mercy. Mir Jaffer was restored as the nawab of Bengal and after his death Nizam-ud-daulah was placed on the throne.
• " Nizam-ud-daulah signed the treaty called Treaty of Allahabad in 1765 by which most of nawab's army was disbanded and the administration of Bengal was placed in the hands of a deputy Subedar who was to be nominated by the company.
• The company got the Diwani of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa from the Mughal emperor. It legalised their claim to collect its revenue as the Diwan and through the right to nominate the deputy Subedar, it controlled the Nizamat or the police and judicial powers. This system is known in history as the 'dual government'. 
• Clive introduced the dual government in Bengal by which the company acquired the real power while the responsibility for administration rested on the shoulders of the nawab of Bengal [Warren Hastings ended this dual government].

The Carnatic Wars

• For 20 years from 1744 to 1763 the French and the English were to wage three wars for the control over the trade, wealth and territory of India. These anglo-french conflicts in India are generally known as carnatic wars in Indian History. 
• The First Carnatic War (1744-48): In 1742 war broke out in Europe between France and England. The war of Europe spread to India. The second cause of war between English and French was their rivalry in trade.
• Dupleix, the French Governor General of French East India Company was very ambitious to establish a French state in India.
• In 1748, the general war between England and France ended. As a part of peace settlement Madras was restored to the English by the Treaty of Aix-la-chapple.
• The Second Carnatic War (1748-54): Only a few months had elapsed since the end of the first carnatic war when the English and the French had to get themselves involved in another war in 1748.
• The establishment of Chanda Sahib, the ally of French, on the throne of Carnatic was bound to have adverse effect on English trade since the hinterland of Madras would be in the hands of their enemies.
• In the war of succession Dupleix supported Muzzaffar Jung for the subahdarship of Deccan and Chanda Sahib for the Carnatic, whereas the English supported the opponents Nasir Jung for Deccan (Hyderabad) and Nawab Anwaruddin for Carnatic.
• The parties supported by the French won the ensuing battles and secured the throne.
• Robert Clive in the meanwhile made a surprise attack at Arcot, the capital of Carnatic in order to divert attention from Trichinapally. Chanda Sahib rushed to save his capital. The English easily captured Arcot. This proved the success of the English and sealed the fate of Dupleix who was recalled in 1754.
• The new governor Godheau ended the warfare the signed the Treaty of Pondicherry in 1754.
• Third Carnatic War (1758-63): The peace between the English and the French in India proved short lived.
• In 1756, there broke out the well known Seven Years War in Europe and before long the two nations began to fight in India also. Thus the third carnatic war was a mere echo of the seven years war.
• When there ensued a war between the English and the French in Europe, the French government sent a powerful army under the command of count De Lally.
• As soon as he came to India in 1758, he captured fort St. George and decided to attack Madras, but by this time the English had won name and fame by winning the battle of Plassey. At the battle of Wandiwash Eyrecoot defeated Lally in 1760.
• Eyre coot captured Pondicherry and French lost all their possessions to the English.
• With the treaty of Paris in 1763, peace was secured and the lost territories were returned to the French.

Conquest of Mysore
 

• Haider Ali conquered Shera, Bidnur and Sonda. He was defeated by Madhav Rao in 1764 and 1769.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad did not act alone but preferred to act in league with the British which resulted in the First Anglo-Mysore War (1766-69) which ended with the defeat of the British.
• Haider Ali forced the Madras council to sign peace on his terms. But English went back on their promise when Marathas attacked Haider Ali in 1771. Verelst was the English Governor.
• Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84): English seized the French settlement of Mahe, a port which was useful to Haider Ali for the entry of supplies.
• Haider Ali joined a strong coalition formed by Nizam in 1779 against the English. Thus the Second Anglo-Mysore war was started. Luckily for English Haider Ali died in 1782.
• He was succeeded by his son Tipu Sultan who carried on the war. The governor of Madras MacCartney sued for peace and the Treaty of Mangalore was signed.
• The Second Anglo-Mysore war was fought during the period of Warren Hastings.
• Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92) Tipu conquered Travancore. Cornwallis made an alliance with the Marathas and Nizam.
• In 1791 Cornawallis captured Bangalore and Tipu was compelled to sign the Treaty of Srirangapatnam on 19th March, 1792. Tipu had lost half of his territory.
• With the help of Nizam and Marathas, Wellesley declared war on Tipu.
• Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799): Tipu formed an alliance with the French, Zaman Shah, the ruler of Kabul and the kings of Arabia and Turkey. In 1799 British captured Srirangapatnam and Tipu died. War with Marathas M W
• First Anglo Maratha War (1775-82): The primary cause of the First Anglo Maratha war was the interference of the English government of Bombay in the internal affairs of the Marathas.
• Madhav Rao was succeeded by his brother Narain Rao but his Uncle Raghunatha Rao wanted to become Peshwa and got him murdered. The great Maratha chiefs took up the cause of Madhav Rao Narain, the posthumous son of Narain Rao. Raghunatha Rao felt weak and approached the Bombay government for help.
• The Bombay government made the Treaty of Surat with Raghunath Rao. The Calcutta Council rejected this treaty and Treaty of Purandhar was made in 1775. In 1780, the fortress of Gwalior was taken over by Major Popham. Scindhia wanted to make peace with English. Hastings signed the treaty of Salbai in 1782 which gave British 20 years of peace.
• The Second Anglo Maratha War (1803-05): The treaty of Bassein was signed between the last peshwa of the Marathas Baji Rao-ll and the English in 1802. By this treaty the paramount British influence was established at Poona. For the Marathas, Treaty of Bassein was nothing short of surrender of National honor.
• Scindhia and Bhonsle were asked by the British to withdraw their troops north of the Narmada River but they refused. It led to war and defeat of combined force of Scindhia and Bhonsle. 
• Company made peace with Holkar in 1806 by the Treaty of Rajghat.
• The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18): The Marathas made a desperate last attempt to regain their independence in 1817. The war began when Lord Hastings moved against the pindaris.
• Daulat Rao Schindia, Appa Sahib and Malhar Rao Holkar-Il raised their arms. But they were defeated by the British. The Maratha confederacy was completely destroyed. 

Anglo-Sikh War

 

• The death of Ranjeet Singh in 1839 was followed by political instability and rapid change of government in the Punjab. Selfish and corrupt leaders came to the front.
• The first battle between the Sikhs and the English was fought at Muduks in 1845. The Sikhs were defeated. The English again won the battle of Ferozpur. The Sikhs under Ranjeet Singh Majithia defeated the English at Buddwal in 1846. But the Sikhs were again defeated at Aliwal.
• The decisive battle was fought at Sabraon on February 10, 1846 and Sikhs were routed. This battle in known as the battle of guns'. The English captured Lahore Lord Hardinge did not annex the sikh empire. The war came to an end by the Treaty of Lahore in March 1846. A second treaty known as the 'second treaty of Lahore' or 'Treaty of Bhairowal' was signed in December 1846.
• Under Lord Hastings (1814-1823), the Company fought a number of wars the Nepal War (1818-16). Pindari War (1817-19), and Third Maratha Wa (1817-19) Hastings' official policy became paramountcy
• Lord Amherst (1823-28) supervised the Company's First Burma Wa (1824-28).
•  Governor General Bentinck (1828-35): In 1830, he annexed Cachar in the northeast. In 1831, Bentinck threatened the Awadh ruler with annexation of he state unless he reformed his administration. In Mysore, 1831, Bentinck se aside the ruler and placed the administration in British hands.
• Lord Auckland (1836-42) intervened militarily in Afghanistan to reinstall a deposed King, under the guidance of the Company (the First Afghan War 1838-42). Lord Ellenborough (1842-44) annexed Sind (1843). Henry Hardinge (1844-48) directed the First Sikh War (1845-46).
• Expansion under Dalhousie (1848-56): Using the 'Doctrine of Lapse annexed Satara (1848), Nagpur (1853) and Jhansi (1854). Following the second Burma War (1852-53), he annexed Pegu. He annexed Awadh (1856) on the grounds of misgovernment. 

Annexation of Awadh

 

• The enmity between Awadh and British started in 1764 from the battle of Buxar.
• Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was accused of having misgoverned his state and of refusing to introduce reforms. His state was therefore annexed in 1856. Some conservative directors of the company describe the annexation of Awadh as one of the worst examples of Indian spoliation in the history of British rule in India.
• It is one of the causes for the revolt of 1857.

The Afghan Wars

The First Afghan War, 1839-42

• Auckland came to India as Governor-General in 1836 and his Government decided upon a 'forward policy' and signed a Tripartite Treaty (June 1838) with Shahshuja and Ranjit Singh. 
• The British troops suffered heavy causalities and in Feb. 1842 Lord Elienborough decided upon evacuation of all British troops from Afghanistan. The Policy of Masterly inactivity is associated with the name of John Lawrence because it was during his viceroyalty that the time came for its application and the outlines of this policy came to be sharply defined. The term’
• Masterly Inactivity was coined by J.W.S. Wyllie in an article which he contributed on Lawrence's Afghan Policy to the January 1867 issue of the Edinburg Review.
• Lawrence's Policy was an outcome of practical commonsense and intimate knowledge of the frontier problem.
• Lawrence's policy was not based on indifference towards Afghan affairs and ignorance about Russian ambitions in central Asia but was based on the principle of non-indifference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and watchfulness towards happening in that corner of the world.
• The policy of Lord Mayo (1868-72) was no reversal but a 'Continuation and Development of the Afghan policy of Lawrence.