Question

how did the subsidiary Alliance help the British to expand their powers

Answer 1

It was first used by French governor general Marquis Dupleix and it was first implemented in India by Lord Wellesley(1798–1805).. He came to India when the French and the British were facing a political deadlock all around the world. By the end of 1797 the major powers of India i.e. the Mughals, Marathas and the Mysore Nawabs had lost all their powers and a lack of unifying forces among the Indian rulers made it the correct political time for the British to annex as many princely states as possible. To expand their territory they used two principles

War

Treaty or agreement….

The objective was to minimize wars and maximize annexation. Subsidiary alliance was a policy designed for this purpose only… It was basically a treaty between the East India company and the rulers of the princely states by virtue of which Indian states lost their sovereignty, independence, right to self defense and maintaining diplomatic relations with the other states….

If you are preparing for UPSC then they won’t ask you subsidiary alliance directly or its impacts. They will ask you the main reasons for adopting the Subsidiary alliance policy by the British…

HINT:- Read carefully the features of the Treaty and you can predict the reasons behind adopting such a treaty..

Indian rulers had to disband their own armed forces and had to accept British forces in their territory.. So, the Britishers with the help of this provision can interfere in the internal political and administrative structure of these states.

Secondly, the rulers had to pay for the maintenance of the British armed forces in his territory and if he failed to do so then a part of his territory would be taken away and ceded to the British. Underlying reason ( The British could easily maintain a large army and the cost would be incurred by Indian rulers..).

In this way you can read the remaining 8 provisions of this act very carefully and you can also predict the underlying reasons for this policy..

Another important reason was the fear of the Napoleon wars. The british knew that one day Napoleon was going to attack India for establishing colonial supremacy in India, so they intentionally annexed those regions only which could serve as buffer states for the Britishers because they knew exactly the route through which Napoleon could enter India.

MARK BRAINLIEST..