Decline of Mughal Empire & Free States
Decline of Mughal Empire
Bahadur sha (1707-12) was the successor of Aurangazeb who ascended the throne after a war of succession. He assumed the title Sha Alam I. He released Shahu and paved the way for civil war among Marathas. He took Guru Gobind Singh into Mughul service but they revolted under Banda Bahadur after the death of Govind singh.
Jahandar Shah (1712-13) was the next emperor due to the support given to him by Sulfiquar Khan in the war of Sucession. The practice of nobles acting as the king makers started with him.
Farukh Siyar (1713-19) defeated Jahandar sha and ascended the throne with the help of Sayyid brothers. Abdulla Khan was made the Wazir and Hussain Ali was his Mir Bakshi.
During the reign of Muhammad Sha (1719-48) Nadir Sha invaded India and captured Delhi. The Mughals lost the famous peacock throne and Kohinoor diamond. The first invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali happened in the reign of Ahmad Sha (1748-54). During theBattle of Bauxer (1764) Mughal emperor shah Alam II was defeated. Delhi was captured by the British in 1803 and he died in 1806 as a prisoner of the British.
The last Mughal emperor was Bahadur Sha II (1837-62), he was deported to Rangoon in 1858 after the revolt of 1857.
Bengal (1717-72)
Murshid Quli Khan (1717-27): He was the Mughal Governor of Bengal who assumed autonomy in due course. He was also given the governorship of Orissa by emperor Farukh Siyar in 1719. He transferred his capital from the Dacca to Murshidabad. He transferred large part of Jagir lands to Khalisa land and started the practice of revenue farming. He issued takkavi loans to peasants, organised administration and given equal opportunities for Hindus and Muslims. He prevented the servants of EICO from abusing the privileges granted to him earlier.
During the reign of Shuja ud din (1727- 39) the Governorship of Bihar was granted by emperor Muhammad Sha. Alivardi Khan (1740-56) killed Sarfaraz Khan and leagalised the assumption by a farman after paying Rs croroes. He prevented the English and French from fortifying their factories at Calcutta and Chandranagore. Even before his death, there was beginning of disputes over succession even though he favoured and chose Siraj ud daula.
As the British refused to demolish additional fortification , Siraj seized English factory at Kasimbazar and Calcutta. According to Holwell, 146 English prisoners were confined in a small room, most of them died of suffocation. This is known as Black Hole episode. The English escaped to Fulta and Siraj appointed Manikchand in charge of Calcutta. The British conspired with leading nobles to overthrow Siraj.
They include Mir Jafar – Mir Bakshi, Manickchand – officer in charge of Calcutta, Omnichand - rich merchant of Calcutta demanded big share of booty , Jagat seth – famous banker of Bengal etc. |
Robert Clive recovered Calutta (Jan,1757) and imposed all their demand through the treaty of Alinagar. The British conquered Chandranagar without despite Siraj’s protest. The Battle of Plassey took place on June, 1757. The British won the battle and he was executed by Miran, son of Mir Jafar. Mir Jaffar’s reign saw the beginning of drain of wealth from India to Britain. He tried to replace the English by the Dutch, however they were defeated in the battle of Bedera in 1759. The English replaced Mir Jaffar and appointed Mir Quasim in his place. His reign saw the struggle for power between Nawab and the British. He abolished all duties on internal trade against the wishes of the English in order to protect the Indian traders. The conflict between the Nawab and English led to the battle of Bauxer (1764). Shuja ud daula of Awadha and Shah Alam II allied with Mir Quasim against the British. The battle ended with the victory of British Forces under Hector Munro. This made the British the de facto rulers of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Mysore
Halidar Ali (1761-82) was a solider under the Wodeyar Dynasty and defended capital Srirangapatenam against the Marathas in 1759. Later he assumed power in 1761 by overthrowing the de facto ruler and the Prime Minister Nanjarajar. He fought first and second Anglo Maratha wars. The main reason for the first war (1766-69) was Haidar’s desire to drive away British from carnatic. Haidar reached just 5 kms away from Madras in 1769. An defensive treaty was made by which both sides agreed to restore the conquered territories and mutual assistance in case of an attack by a third party.
The British did not fulfill the terms of treaty when Marathas attacked them in 1771. British capture a French settlement Mahe within Haidar’s jurisdiction and the second war (1780-84) was started. Haidar died during the course of war and his son Tippu Sultan (1782-99) assumed the command. He concluded a treaty of Mangalore with Governor of Bengal Lord Macartney.
Tipu was a great administrator and made a number of internal reforms. His expansionist policies and his attempts to get help from France and Turkey threatened Marathas, Nizam and the British. Tipu attacked Raja of Travancore , an ally of the British and the third war (1790-92) was started. The British formed an alliance with Marathas and Nizam. After the defeat of Major General Medows, Lord corwallis assumed the command. The war ended with a treaty of Seringapatanam. This resulted in the loss of almost half of Tipu’s territories, payment of 3 crores and two sons of Tipu was taken as hostage.
Tipu sought help from revolutionary France and other countries to defeat the British. A small French force landed at Mangalore. The new Governor General Lord Wellesley determined to remove the threat from once for all. In the fourth Battle (1799). Tipu died in this battle and the British annexed a major part of Mysore and restored a small part to Wodeyar dynasty.
Carnatic Wars
The bitter struggle between the British and the French to secure political authority in South India lasted from 1744 to 1763 AD. This struggle is famous by the name of the Three Carnatic Wars.
The first Carnatic war took place between 1746 -1748 AD, when both the French and the English fought to gain monopoly over Indian trade and territory. The war that was fought between these two rivals in Europe was now extended in India. When the French ships were captured by British, the French under Dupleix retaliated by capturing Madras. The war came to an end by thetreaty of Aix-la-chapelle (1948).
The second Carnatic war took place from 1749 to 1754 AD . A civil war broke out in south between Nasir Jung and Muzaffar Jung after the death of Nizam of Hydrabad. Also, Chanda sahib began to conspire against the Nawab Anwaruddin in Carnatic. The French under Dupleix concluded a secret treaty with Chanda sahib and Muzaffar Jang to help them with his well trained French forces. The three allies soon defeated both, Nasir Jang and Nawab Anwauddin. In return the French received many gifts as well as trading monopoly in South. But the English were not silent spectators to the rising French power. To offset the French influence, they intrigued with Nasir Jang and Muhammad Ali (son of deposed Nawab Anwaruddin) . Muhammad Ali, with the support of British army, attacked Arcot, the capital of Carnatic. The French forces were repeatedly defeated and Chanda Sahib was captured and killed. The French fortunes were at ebb after the defeat. They negotiated peace with British in 1754.
The temporary peace between the two companies ended in 1756 when another war broke out between the English and the French which was mainly an extension of the seven -years war between the two in Europe. In 1760, British commander, Sir Ayer Coot defeated the French at Wande Wash. The British occupied Pondicherry after defeating the French completely. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763 AD. This war was the third and the last Anglo -French war. After this, the French influence in India ended forever and British were now facilitated to expand their dominion in India.
Punjab Under Ranjit Singh
Ranjit singh was born in Sukerchakia misl in 1780. He ruled his kingodm when he was a minor with his mother as regent. With the help of Zaman Sha of Afghanistan, he captured Lahore in 1799 and Amritsar in 1802. He gradually established his control over all the sikh misls west of Satlej. With the treaty of Amritsar (1806), the Ranjit singh agreed to confine his activities west of sutlej. He captured Kangra (1809),Attock (1813), Multan in (1818), Kashmir(1819) and Peshwar in (1813). He aquired the Kohinoor diamond from Shah Shuja of Afghanistan in 1814. Thetripartite treaty was conclude with Lord Auckland and Sha Shuja to invade Afghanistan and to place Sha shuja on the throne. When the first Afghan war(1838-42) was fought, Ranjit Singh refused to permit the British to pass through his territory. He was died in 1839. He organized his army on the western lines and recruited not only Sikhs but also Muslims, Pathans, Biharis etc. In 1843 British annexed Sindh. Sir Napier was the first Governor of Sind. After occupying Sind, he telegrammed to Governor General saying ‘ I have sin(ne)d’. This confirmed the suspicions of Sikh army about the British policies in their land.
Anglo Sikh wars
The First Anglo Sikh war took place in 1845-46. Fierce battle took place at Mudki, Freozpur, Buddewal, Aliwal and Sobroan.The British crossed Sutlej and occupied Lahore. The war ended with signing of treaty of Lahore in March 1846 which resulted in ceding of Jullunder doab and war indemnity of one and half crores to British, appointment of British resident, reduction of sikh army, permission of British trooper to pass through sikh territory and recognition of Dalip singh as ruler of Punjab and Rani Jindan as his regent. The treaty of Bhairowal was signed in Dec,1846 which removed Rani Jindan as regent, stationed a British force at Lahore and the power of Governor General to garrison any fort in Punjab.
The conditions of the above treaties and the humiliation of the first war led to the second war (1848-49). The famous battles in this war were the battle of Ramnagar, battle of Chilianwala (1849) and the battle of Gujrat. Sher Singh and other Sikh chiefs were surrended to British army. Punjab was annexed by Lord Dalhousie and Dalip singh was pensioned off and sent to England.
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