Why Did The British India Dbq

In 1757, Great Britain extended its empire into India. This occupation would not fully end until 1947. In the time between, there were many movements by the Indian people to gain independence from the British. The movement that finally succeeded in winning India’s independence was led by one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi’s methods for fighting against the occupation of the British were very different from those of any of the freedom movements before. And that was why it worked. Gandhi did not agree with the general reasoning of the time: that conflicts could be solved through negotiation and forceful resistance.1 Rather, his faith led him to go

After the French and Indian War also known as Seven Years War, the British Government started taxing the colonists in order to pay the debt from the French and Indian War. The British Government established many acts such as Stamp act, Sugar act, Quartering acts etc. that required paying taxes. These taxes really upset the colonists and slowly it forced the colonies to break away from Britain and be Americans. During the british taxes, first, the colonists wanted to stay loyal to the british crown, after, they started to think about uniting with the other colonies against Britain, and then finally they decided to break away from Britain and be considered as Americans.

British imperialism had a negative impact on the economy of india because the British made trade links and because of train tracks that were made for their own benefit. “Both nations benefited from the trade links that were firmly established in the 17th century” (Lalvani). Hand woven fabric exports from bergal to britain fell by half in a 20 year time period (Document 3). This shows that indians did not benefit because the british just sold their fabrics and made people lose jobs because of it. The British built 10,000 miles of railroad track and 136,000 bridges (Lalvani). The railroads, however, were used to extract the crops of india and forced indians to be adulterated (Shaw) goods from england. They might have built the railroads but they

This lead to the British using the army in wrong ways and the government being mostly white foreigners. The British made the Indian army and military academies to train officers. (According to Dr.Lalvani) However the British ended up using the Indian army against the Indians for example the Amritsar massacre. (Gandhi). The British created a superbly efficient administration over 500 million diverse people. (According to Dr.Lalvani) On the other hand as good as this may be the British government over India consisted of 960 officers, 900 of which were Englishmen. (Document 2). Because of this the Indians felt as if they had no responsibility over their own

The British laid down 10,000 miles of railroads and made 136,000 bridges (Lalvani). Although the railroads might of helped with the transportation of goods and other materials the British had to take down trees and ruin India's land which also created famine, that happened by all the cash crops they were growing (Lalvani). Cash crops are crops they grow but can’t eat which ruins the soil so they couldn’t reuse it. Some examples of cash crops are cotton, indigo, and tobacco. With all of these cash crops being made and all of the hard breathtaking work the Indians had to do, around 58 million Indians died because of famine (Doc 7). They had no good soil to grow their crops with, so they had barely anything to eat. With all of that nothing good came from British

Wealthy young Indians were packed off to Britain to study and returned home “well-trained” (Dr. Lalvani) However, in India, the literacy percentages increased when British no longer had control over Indians and India got their independence. They sent Indians to study but the real effect happened after the Independence. “British governance was the only time period in Indian history when the minorities and people of different religion felt more secure and less discriminated… with a notable absence of killing…” (Dr. Lalvani) Although, the British government forced people to grow cash crops like indigo and cotton.

Source 16 is a lot more one sided compared to source 15. Source 16 mainly believes that it is British imperialism that is preventing Indian Independence. This source is from W.O. Simpson, from ‘changing horizons’, which was published in 1986. One of the most obvious quotes backing up the hatred towards British Imperialism is, “The idea, and the Government of India Act that emerged on 1935, was strongly opposed by one faction in the Conservative Party, which formed itself into the Imperial Defence League.” This Defence League tried to prevent the Act being passed but it was unsuccessful in its efforts, and the Act was passed. “The Act was attacked both in Britain for going too far”. If Britain didn’t go as far as they did with the act they would have had a more successful reign. In this source there is a quote that suggests that divisions within India that was stopping Indian Independence. “in India for not going far enough”. This quote suggests that India didn’t believe the Act wasn’t taken out as much as they would have liked. Round table conferences did prove that congress didn’t speak for all of India, and due to the minority of the Muslims in India the 1937 elections were very nerve racking for the Muslims. If Congress came into power they would have been in a very bad situation. The Muslim League needed to win over all of the Muslims and make sure the trials can become fair.

The colonization of India, through the use of British Imperial tactics, was justified by the perceived superiority of the English Empire. The British hold of India was achieved through the training of the Sepoys as a method of controlling the land and the resources held in it. During the initial rebellion 40,000 British troops were stationed to rule over the 200 million population of India, the Sepoy force, which was well trained and armed, is estimated to have been 270,000 (textbook reading, 13). The training of the indigenous population was the only viable method for the Empire to maintain its claim of the land. The British force maintained higher rank over the Sepoys, and would often go to drastic measures to maintain the Sepoy ranks in order. “... the 19th regiment... refused to receive the cartridges... and were prevented from open violence only by the presence of a superior English force. After great delay... the

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.

In 1885, nationalist leaders organized the Indian National Congress who called for greater democracy which they felt would bring more power to themselves. Other Indian nationalists, took a more radical, anti-British stand. I believe this is positive because I feel that the first instance of British resistance was the first step towards independence. Negative effects of the imperialistic rule in India were that there was a rapid population growth , hence, there was a strain on the food supply, especially since farmland was turned into cash crops instead of food. They cleared new farmlands which led to massive deforestation and other environmental destruction. Also, in the late 1800s terrible famines swept India. The railroads could not carry food to the suffering areas, but overall, millions of Indian peasants sank deeply into poverty.

Throughout the years many historians have compilated and examined why Indian people were so desperate to gain back their independence from the British Empire during their rule over India, from 1612 to 1947. The reasoning can most definitely be found as the British discriminated against Indian people as they believe that they were inferior; it is no surprise that Indian people fought so hard for their independence. Throughout the British Raj, they placed and put forward unbelievably racist acts and laws which discriminated against Indian people. Which of course led to Indians to rebel against the British rule and which the British reacted with causing massacres. Explaining the nationalistic many India’s felt during the British Raj.

Throughout the year’s many historians have compilated and examined why Indian people were so desperate to gain back their independence from the British Empire during their rule over India, from 1612 to 1947. The reasoning can most definitely be found as the British discriminated against Indian people as they believe that they were inferior; it is no surprise that Indian people fought so hard for their independence. Throughout the British Raj, they placed and put forward unbelievably racist acts and laws which discriminated against Indian people. Which of course led to Indian’s rebelling against the British rule and thus many massacres and rebellions occurred during their ruling. Thus, answering why Indian people fought so desperately for

India needed to modernize and get new technology. The British supplied India with medicine so they could get healthy and stay healthy. Britain also built roads, bridges, and railroads for India to travel. They also improved their communication with telegraphs. They didn’t only help them with technology but they also helped them with their government. In the government they did not have a very good justice system, so they made an actual justice system that put the bad people away. This justice system also helped bring peace and unity to India. Clearly, India was helped a lot from the colonization.

On August 15, 1947, India gained it’s independence from the British rule and became its own nation. Several different factors played into the independence from british rule. But the Indian independence movement was much different than normal revolutions that have happened in history, the independence became one of the only successful non-violent revolutions in the history of the world. Although their independence was non-violent in the end, it was not always that way. In the 1800s multiple revolutionaries tried to revolt against the British using violent tactics but in the end they always failed

During the late 19th to early 20th century, Northwest India experienced massive social and political change. Under the rule of the East India Company, the British annexed and imperialized numerous parts of India.2 They expanded throughout the coastline, bringing a great deal of wealth, power, and fame to their nation. The British looked towards India as a stable investment; however, as time passed, they became more involved with the culture and societal representations of their colonies. They began to change the infrastructure of the region and improve overall communication and sanitation.2 As they became more absorbed in creating a civilized society, they implemented various policies and established hospitals to maintain the health of their subjects.2 In fact, the British played a major role in the administrating and regulating health centers, such as mental hospitals and asylums. The 19th and 20th century British conquest of India laid down the foundation for current mental health infrastructures in modern day India as exemplified in the 1912-1922 Annual Report on the Lunatic Asylums under the Government of Bombay.