Question

Explain growth of British in India

Answer 1

Britian was entering the age of industrial revolution at around the same time (1750) when Indian empires were weakened. The economic strength from industrial revolution gave the Brits an upper hand.Britain came in the 1600s (with Sir Thomas Roe) when India was under the rule of Jehangir. India was a stronger nation back then. So, the British were contended to be traders. However, Nadir Shah's (of Iran) invasion of India in 1738, changed the picture (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nad...). The Mughal rulers were badly defeated and that signalled to the world that India was very weak. The East India Company immediately latched on and made use of the weakness. The timing was key.India had plenty of infighting. For instance, Tipu Sultan, who offered ferocious resistance against the Brits was undermined by our own rulers (Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas) who surrounded the Mysore kingdom when British attacked him. The Marathas duly paid the price for the friendship with the devil with the Anglo-Maratha war in which they were badly defeated.British troops were well organized and used superior tactical & strategic skills on the warfield.French revolution and later the defeat of Napolean in 1815, distract the French from expanding their control in India. The British used this opportunity to kick out the other colonial powers from India.By the 18th century, India was under a crisis. The Aurangzeb's rule was quite bitter for non-Muslims and the Hindus were tired of Islamic rule. This gave rise to many Hindu kings (such as the Marathas). The East India Company rightly used this period to increase the divisions with their divide and rule policy.India had a very weak navy. Unlike islands like Britain or Japan, we didn't have enough incentives to build a strong navy. Naval superiority helped the British to gain and build the critical ports of India (Bombay, Madras, Calcutta) and build the empire from there.