History Test #4

Sami Ul Haq 10 O

Q: How successful were the British attempts in extending control of their empire
between 1750 and 1850? Explain [14]

Ans) British made various attempts in extending their control between 1750and
1850.

Firstly, one of the most important and earliest attempts which proved to extend their
control was the battle of Plassey. The battle showed the desire of the British to
expand their territories and control as in 1757 Robert Clive bribed the Nawab of
Bengal, Siraj Ud Daulah’s general Mir Jafar. And due to this Mir Jafar proved to be a
puppet of the British by helping them win a decisive victory against Siraj which
played a significant role to help British extend their control of empire. As even
though initially Mir Jafar was made the Nawab of Bengal as a reward from the EIC.
And this proved that the real power was within the hands of the British and they had
been successful in extending their control due to win of this battle. As one of India’s
richest province had fallen under the British due to which they had been successful
in gaining an effective control of the empire.

Secondly, another attempt of the British which caused them to be successful in

extending their control was the battle of Buxar. As in 1764 Mir Jafar’s son Mir Qasim
joined forces with the nawabs of Oudh to combat the EIC and drive them out of
Bengal however they were unable to do so and the British once again emerged to be
victorious in 1764. Thus the battle helped the British gain great control and influence
as the sovereignty of the province Bengal was surrendered towards the British in
order for Robert Clive to become the governor of Bengal. Thereby the battle became
an important role to succeed the British attempts to extend their influence. And
employees and troops of the EIC became the power-brokers throughout Oudh and
Bihar. Moreover now that the British officially were able to govern Bengal, helped
them to extend their trade. As Bengal was one of the wealthiest provinces of India
and thus being able to officially govern it helped British to extend their trade by
carrying out their own policies to make their trade easier. Due to this it helped the
British gain control and influence as a long term impact on their control over India as
they practiced trade In Bengal and this way strengthened themselves financially and
were able to extend their control through battle of Buxar
Thirdly, another attempt of the British which made them successful to extend their
control was the battle with Titu Mir. He built a bamboo fort at Narkelbaria in 1831
and raised an army of 15,000 men whereas when the British army was sent with
cavalry and cannons, Titu Mir was unable to contend the British modern weapons
due to which he along with his many followers had died after several days of fighting.
This battle alone helped British gain influence as Titu Mir was a source of great
opposition for the British and as an effect with his removal it was a gain for the
British with less opposition from the Indians. While as a long term consequence the
defeat of Titu Mir by the British had given British the confidence to defeat and
suppress such opposing movements or leaders in the future such as they defeated
Tipu Sultan. Therefore the defeat of Titu Mir made British successful in extending
their control by both having removed opposition for them and helping them gain
influence and confidence to defeat such leaders in the future too such as Tipu Sultan.

Moreover, as the British lost lives in Afghanistan due to which they wanted to regain
their prestige and also feared that Sindh would be a target of Sikh expansion due to
which they started to provoke the Amirs of Sindh. Due to repetitive provocation it
caused the Amirs to attack the British residency in 1843 and started a war between
the British and Amirs. Thus the British defeated the Amirs and thereby annexed
Sindh. This attempt was successful for the British to extend their control. As due to
the annexations the British gained such a large district and this showed that the
British influence was growing and with the gain of the land their control over India
also as more territories and land came under their influence.

Furthermore, as British wanted the full control of South India to ease and ensure
their spice trade. And the fact that Mysore was a strong and well organized state in
South India led the British attention towards its leader Tipu Sultan. Although Tipu
was successful in defeating the British in several battles initially, however he could
not resist the British for long and thus was killed in 1799. Thereby due to his loss now
South India fell under the British rule and thus loss of Tipu Sultan and the state of
Mysore was a great attempt of the British to extend their influence. As this had a
long term effect because now whole of South India came under British control and
defeat of Tipu Sultan also made the British gain influence.
However, there were some incidents which caused the British to fail in extending
their control and one being was in Afghanistan. British agreed with the Sikh Ruler
Ranjit Singh to have Afghanistan remain as an independent state in hope that they
would receive a ruling post in Kabul. However, instead of having one of their ruler in
Kabul a rebellion in 1841 caused the British troops to be killed. And thereby the
British lost their prestige and turned toward Sindh. This made the British attempt of
increasing their control and influence to be failed because instead of having their
ruler in Kabul the British faced loss of their troops and thus their attempts failed.

Lastly, as the British wanted full control of the south India to protect their trade. The
strong and well organized state of Mysore was a hindrance for them. As earlier the
ruler of Mysore, Haider Ali had given British a tough time in the state and defeated
them in serval battles which also weakened the British and British could not defeat
him initially. Due to this the British attempts failed to extend their control over India
as they could not defeat Haider Ali initially.

In my justified opinion even though British faced tough times initially defeating the
rulers in India and even failed to gain the land of Afghanistan but still they were able
to defeat the rulers later on such as Tipu Sultan and Titu Mir even after facing the
tough times initially. And they also were able to gain large parts of India such as
Bengal officially by winning the battle of Buxar or gaining Sindh. And due to winning
such battles and defeating the rulers of large areas such as Bengal, Mysore or Sindh
their attempts proved to be successful as they defeated the rulers and also gained
lands.