British Rule in India at the End of the First World War

On the 31st of December in the year 1600, ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’ received a Royal Charter to be England’s trading representative in India. By they early part of the 17th Century, Britain had already eclipsed Portuguese interests in India. The company bought in cotton, silk, indigo, opium, saltpeter and tea mainly in exchange for silver bullion. These were valuable commodities in Britain at that time. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India.

“Englishmen.. have given the people of India the greatest human blessing - peace.” (Dutt). Merely coming to India in the 1600s to trade, the British East India Company established trading outposts. After ridding of French influence in India during the Seven Years’ War and having Indians mutiny against British rule, Britain gained full control of India. India has been under the imperialist control of the British until their independence in 1947. British imperialism caused some negative effects on India through poverty and persecution, but retained more of a positive impact due to its massive improvements in the modernization of India and the overall improvement of Indian civilization.

It became evident that the British could maintain the empire only at enormous cost. At the end of the Second World War, they saw the writing on the wall, and initiated a number of constitutional moves to effect the transfer of power to the sovereign State of India. For the first and perhaps the only time in history, the power of a mighty global empire 'on which the sun never set', had been challenged and overcome by the moral might of a people armed only with ideals and courage.

British imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because of the establishment of the framework for India that leads to their downfall and the Indian Army which they used to control their own kind. According to Dr.Lalvani, the British established the framework for India’s justice system, civil services, loyal army, and the efficient loyal police. (Paragraph #6). While this is true, the framework didn’t include the Indians, because “Of 960 civil offices, 900 are occupied by English men and 60 by natives”(Doc. #2). British laws often benefited the British and were designed to limit the freedom of speech of the Indians, for example, the Rowlatt Act in 1919. (Gandhi). This evidence shows that the British, when creating the framework for the new and improved India wanted to benefit from it while trying to lower the Indian’s and limit the

While the British set up the framework for India and claimed to peacefully transition India to independence. The British however did not include Indians and caused a lot of death. The British ultimately did more harm than good. British did set up India’s framework for things like the army, police, justice system and civil services (Lalvani). On the other hand the British did not include Indians in the framework. “Of 960 civil officers… 900 had been occupied by englishmen” (Doc 2). That is only about 7 percent that were actually Indian. This means the British did not let the Indians have a say in anything in their country because they had no representation and also they did not include Indians in the framework of their own country so when they gained independence they had to learn to govern themselves because the British had done it for them. Dr. Lalvani also claimed that the British made India's transition to Independence peaceful. That is a blatant lie. According

Politically the British benefited more than the Indians. According to Dr. Lalvani the British imperializing India led to the Indians having the world's largest democracy and the British established the framework for India’s justice system, civil service, loyal army and efficient police force. Although, the British led to the largest democracy in India today. According to document 2, when the British imperialized India they had 900 Englishmen employed in the civil offices out of 960, the remaining 60 were occupied by Indians or natives.

By around the year 1920, The British have taken control of more than 25 percent of the human population. India was one of those colonies. Originally used by the British East India Company for a source of Cotton, Indigo, and Tea, The British took complete Economic, Social, and Political control of India before the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. With many natural resources and a huge population of potential consumers, India had become the ¨Jewel in the Crown¨ of the British Empire. The administration of India that Britain created was superbly efficient, leading to the construction of massive infrastructure throughout all of India, and the education of some elite class Indians. On the other hand, British rule of India served the needs of the British

The British damaged India severely political wise, but it didn’t stop there. Economically the British destroyed India's fertile ground. Indians were now required to grow British cash crops (Doc 6+7) instead of items that would benefit them, like veggies, fruit, etc. One cash crop was indigo. Indigo ended up being one of the leading factors for famine (Doc 6+7).

British Imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because the British took away control of the country for their benefit and enforced laws that discriminated against Indians. Lavani claims the British “established the framework for India’s justice system, civil service, loyal army, and efficient police force.” However, this framework was not intended for the Indians, but for the British. For example, 94% of government positions were held by Englishman (Doc. #2). These people had “no permanent interest in their well-being” and returned to England after “forty-five or fifty-five years of age with large pensions (Doc. #2).” This shows the British government used India as a source of wealth and controlled the people without

For approximately two hundred years Britain ruled over India, allowing them almost no control of their own country. This is what imperialism was like for many countries. Initially India was colonized for its natural resources by the East India company but the companies hold on India became compromised after the sepoy rebellion in 1857 so the English government took control in a time of crisis. After decades of British Imperialism India finally gained independence in 1947. Brittain helped develop India by creating a government, education, and millions of jobs, however they negatively affected India by using the government and its powerful army to control and suppress the Indians along with Britain's unfair policies which

Imperialism is the domination of one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. Imperialism is more often than not fueled by two major schools of thought known as nationalism and Social Darwinism. Nationalism is a feeling of pride and devotion to one’s country. This can drive a person to think that their country is the most powerful, and in essence drives that person mad with power and a hunger to conquer, which not ironically is exactly what many countries did. Social Darwinism is the very idea that a more powerful country conquer the smaller countries. “Survival of the fittest,” as the well renowned Charles Darwin used to say. Imperialism is also sometimes sparked by military motives, such as when USA set up

Britain had a desire to have a more economic, political, and social influence over India. Even though the British never preserved a notable military existence in India, they were able to maintain political control. Many changes were made, which benefitted India, but there were also some changes, which contributed to its deterioration. Despite the negative impacts Britain left on India, imperialism is best understood as a strong country extending its authority, in order to increase its wealth, by bringing more of the world under its control, because Britain helped in the development of India from a nation-state, to a unified country, which is modernly the world’s largest democracy.

Imperialism is the domination of a weaker country by a stronger country. For instance Britain dominated India and China in the mid 1880s to the beginning of the 20th century. Imperialism has had both a positive and negative effects on the countries involved. Britain was imperialistic for many reasons, it could dominate because it had the technology and power to do so. They also needed land to acquire raw materials for growing markets.

WW1 turned out to be a major turning point for Canada both economically and internationally, as Canada got the recognition of a great independent nation. In addition, Canada was one of the principal reasons to end the world war. Canada grew as an autonomy during the world war and essentially they prosper during the 1920s and in the end the key success in Canada came during the 1930s in the statute of Westminster when they got independence as a sovereignty. During the world war, Canadian served overseas as part of the Canadian expeditionary force (CEF), they fought alongside Britain. Canadian lieutenant general Arthur Currie, ensured that the Canadian’s fight as one unit with a sense of pride, the creation of the corps strengthened the unity of Canadian soldiers and also gave Canadians at home a sense of pride. Similarly, Vimy ridge marked the first time Canadian soldiers fought together as one unit, independent of British forces, and this victory became a symbol of Canada’s independence and nationhood. One of the key reasons for Canada’s growth during WW1 was the treaty of Versailles as it marked an important stage in the gradual movement toward Canadian independence from Britain. During the 1920s, Prime Minister Mackenzie king made it clear to Britain that Canada would not automatically sent troops in support, he stated that only the Canadian parliament would decide whether to send troops or not to support Britain. This was the first time that Canada refused unconditional

While the British assumed control over India, they created the advanced infrastructure of its newly founded political system and military with the sole purpose to restricted the native population. According to Lalvani, all of India’s standards for its justice system, civil service, army and police force were all set by the British imperialist. Although the framework was set to have an efficient way of governing the native land and population, it did not include Indians and instead served the needs of englishmen. Out of 960 civil offices, 900 positions were occupied by englishmen and only the remaining 60 were filled by natives (Doc.2.) Ultimately, through the creation of heavy taxation and freedom restricting laws that only affected the Indian