Modern India: Europeans, British Expansion, Reform and 1857
Modern Indian History
This domain covers the advent of European trading companies, the stages of British territorial expansion, socio-religious reform movements, and the Revolt of 1857.
Core rules and concepts
- Portuguese: Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut in 1498. English East India Company chartered 1600; French company 1664. The Carnatic Wars decide British supremacy in the south.
- Expansion: Plassey 1757 and Buxar 1764; Diwani of Bengal 1765; Wellesley's subsidiary alliance; Dalhousie's doctrine of lapse.
- Reform: Brahmo Samaj 1828, Arya Samaj 1875, Ramakrishna Mission 1897, Satyashodhak Samaj 1873, Aligarh movement 1875, Self-Respect Movement 1925.
- 1857: Mangal Pandey, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rani Lakshmibai, Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh; caused by military, economic, political, and religious grievances.
- Results: Crown rule from 1858, reorganisation of the army, and a sharper racial divide.
Worked example
Question: Why is Plassey called the beginning of British political power? Reasoning: the battle itself was small, but it gave the Company control of Bengal's revenues and later the Diwani in 1765. That revenue financed armies and expansion. The answer must connect military victory to fiscal control, not just describe the battle.
Traps
Calling 1857 the first war of independence without qualification; saying all India rose; reducing 1857 to greased cartridges; confusing the 1858 Crown takeover with the 1857 revolt itself.