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## British Expansion Under Lord Wellesley (1798-1805) Lord Wellesley, who was the Governor-General of India from 1798 to 1805, extended British influence in two ways: 1. Subsidiary Alliances 2. Direct War ### Subsidiary Alliance As per the subsidiary alliance, a ruler had to: * Disband his own...

## British Expansion Under Lord Wellesley (1798-1805) Lord Wellesley, who was the Governor-General of India from 1798 to 1805, extended British influence in two ways: 1. Subsidiary Alliances 2. Direct War ### Subsidiary Alliance As per the subsidiary alliance, a ruler had to: * Disband his own army and maintain British troops permanently at their cost or cede some territory in lieu of it. In case rulers failed to make payments, a part of the territory was taken away as penalty. * Accept a British officer called the Resident who would be stationed at the ruler's court. A Resident was a political or commercial agent whose job was to further the British interest. * Expel all other foreigners from his territory. * Consult the British before negotiating with any other Indian state. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into a subsidiary alliance with the English in 1798. In 1801, Lord Wellesley coerced the Nawab of Awadh to accept the subsidiary alliance. Peshwa Baji Rao II signed a subsidiary alliance at Bassein in 1802. Many Rajputana chiefs also accepted British supremacy and signed treaties. The Indian rulers who accepted this alliance lost all their independence. They could take no independent decisions. In addition, they had to maintain the British army. This was a great financial drain. To make matters worse, the Resident's demands also had to be fulfilled. On the other hand, it proved very advantageous to the British; now they could maintain a large army at the cost of others. The military and foreign affairs of the alliance partner directly came under their control; through the resident they could exercise control even in internal matters. Finally, territories of Indian rulers could be annexed at any point of time. This led to the development of a new power block in the politics of India and ultimately, the British became the supreme political power in India by their policies. ## Claiming Paramountcy Lord Hastings (1813-1823) became Governor General and initiated the new policy known as the Doctrine of Lapse. Under this policy, the British asserted that the authority of the Company was supreme and therefore they could annex or threaten to annex any territory in the interest of the Company. The policy explicitly expressed the British intention of annexing any state in India, as seen in the case of Rani Chennamma of Kittur, when the British tried to annex her state due to the non-acceptance of the Doctrine of Lapse. ## Afghanistan and Sind In the 1830s, the British were worried that Afghanistan's internal instability could lead to Russia expanding towards India via Afghanistan. This resulted in Anglo-Afghan wars in which the British failed to annex Afghanistan due to the ongoing First Anglo-Afghan War. However, they annexed Punjab in 1849. ## Punjab Punjab flourished under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. However, when he died in 1839, a power struggle ensued, and the British began to take over Punjab. The Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 led to Punjab being incorporated into British India under Lord Dalhousie. ## British Expansion Under Dalhousie (1848-1856) ### Doctrine of Lapse Like the policy of subsidiary alliances, the Doctrine of Lapse was introduced as a means to annex the Indian states. As per the Doctrine of Lapse, a dependent state being incorporated into British India upon the death of the ruler without an heir was allowed. This was, in effect, a loophole in the treaty, as the British could now take over the state even though the ruler had not broken any treaty. *It did not recognize the right of adoption as a valid mode of succession.* ## Rapid British Expansion (1805-1848) This period experienced a rapid expansion of British territories in India as well as abroad.