What is subsidary alliance?
Answers
1) Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces.
2) The rulers were to be protected by the company, but had to pay for the “subsidiary forces”.
3) If the rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as penalty.
The Subsidiary Alliance System was used by Lord Wellesley (the then Governor General of India) to bring the Indian states under the British wing. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first Indian ruler to accept the Subsidiary Alliance in 1798 A.D and came under the British Protection.
The Subsidiary Alliance system was used by Lord Wellesley, who was Governor-General of India from 1798-1805, to build an empire in India.
Under the system, the allying Indian state's ruler was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his territory and to pay a subsidy for its maintenance.
Also, the Indian ruler had to agree to the posting of a British Resident in his court.
Under the Subsidiary Treaty, the Indian ruler could not employ any European in his service without the prior approval of the British. Nor could he negotiate with any other Indian ruler without consulting the Governor-General.
In return for all this, the British agreed to defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of non-interference in the internal matters of the allied state.
Subsidiary Alliance brought immense gains for the East India Company by extending the areas under British control and bringing relative peace in subsidies and territory.
During the seven-year rule of Wellesley alone, over 100 small and big states of India signed the Subsidiary Treaty.