Turmoil in India in the 19th Century: BRITISH RULE of 200 years

It has been said that the British Empire was picked up in a "fit of absence of mind."  Nowhere was this more true than in the case of India which gradually came under British rule, not by the efforts of Britain's government, but by those of the British East Indies Company. Not only would the British have a profound effect on India's history, but the "crown jewel of the British Empire" would also affect Western Civilization. This is reflected in such English words as bungalow, verandah and customs such as smoking cigars, playing polo.

Two main lines of development worked to bring the British East Indies Company to India and make it a power there.  For one thing, by 1600, Portugal was losing control of the East Asian Spice trade.  Therefore, in 1601, the British East Indies Company started sending ships to the Spice Islands to gain a share of this trade. At this point, there was no intention of even going to India, let alone of conquering it, since the Mughal Dynasty had a firm grip on the subcontinent.  However, the Dutch also had designs on the spice trade and rebuffed any British efforts to take part in it.  As a result, the British East Indies Company gained the right to set up trading posts along the coast of India.

The other factor pushing the British East Indies Company toward conquest had to do with the Mughal Empire. The resulting turmoil forced the British East Indies Company to defend its trading posts against local princes, brigands, and a new European intruder, France.

While some governors, such as Warren Hastings were known for their tolerance of and willingness to learn about the native languages and cultures and to give Indians posts in their government.  However, other governors, such as Lord Cornwallis (1788-98), reversed many of these tolerant policies and dismissed most native Indians from higher posts in the administration.

Getting into the nineteenth century, tensions grew between two factions: one advocating tolerance and respect for Indian culture and another claiming the superiority of European civilization over that of India.  This created a growing gap between the British and Indians that also fostered growing discontent.

Things came to a head with the Great India Mutiny in 1857.  Sparking it was a misunderstanding about what kind of grease was used on the bullets for the sepoys' new Enfield rifles.  Muslim troops thought pig grease, which they abhor, was being used, while Hindu troops thought the British were using grease from cows, which they hold sacred.  The resulting mutiny developed into a serious rebellion that the British finally managed to put down.  However, this was the final straw as far as the British government was concerned, assuming direct control over India in 1858 and eventually dissolving the British East Indies Company. Ironically, its career had started with a group of merchants in search of nothing more than "quiet trade."  For the next ninety years, direct British rule would prevail in India.

Britain ruled about 60% of Indian directly and the other 40% indirectly through native princes who followed British policies.  During their time in India, the British developed tea and cotton agriculture and coal and iron industries.  In fact, by 1940, the Tata Iron Works was the world's largest Iron factory.  Likewise, the British continued developing India's infrastructure with more railroads and telegraph lines, so that by 1900 India had the longest railroad in Asia.  British administration was efficient, as was the British style education system Britain established.

However, even these developments contained the seeds of problems for British rule.  As before, the new industries, railroads, and telegraphs, however progressive they may have seemed to the British, disrupted the traditional culture and economy of India. Also, there were large gaps between the higher ranking British and lower ranking Indians that carried over to society in general.  Over the period of time, Indians got tired of their second-class status and worked increasingly for independence.

The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, led the independence movement.  At first, its goal was to gain more rights for Indians and more say in the British administration.  However, as its power grew in the twentieth century, it agitated increasingly for complete independence.  This led to a parallel, but somewhat separate independence movement of Muslims in India who feared being a minority in a Hindu-dominated state.  Therefore, they wanted a separate independent Muslim state in the northwest.

World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45) further catalyzed India’s push for independence, since Britain had to rely heavily on Indian recruits to fill its ranks.  In return, Britain promised more political concessions, thus weakening its hold on India, encouraging more demand by Indians, and so on.

In 1920, a new leader, Mohandas Gandhi emerged as the voice of the Indian National Congress.  Educated in both traditional Indian culture and British schools, Gandhi developed very effective non-violent tactics of resistance while protesting British policies. The British, not wanting to risk the bad publicity a violent reaction could generate, had to give in to Gandhi time after time.  Therefore, at the end of World War II, Britain promised independence for India. On 3 June 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of British India into India and Pakistan.

With the speedy passage through the British Parliament of the Indian Indpendence Act,1947, at 11:57 on 14 August 1947 Pakistan was declared a separate nation, and at 12:02, just after midnight, on 15 August1947, India also became an independent nation