The document summarizes the arrival and expansion of British power in India from the 1600s to the mid-1800s. It discusses the establishment of European trading companies, including the English East India Company in 1600. It then covers key battles like the Carnatic Wars of the mid-1700s and the pivotal Battles of Plassey in 1757 and Buxar in 1764, which helped the EIC gain control of Bengal. It also outlines the policies of dual government, subsidiary alliances, and the Doctrine of Lapse that the British used to further expand their territorial control across India in the late 1700s-early 1800s.

1. ARRIVAL AND EXPANSION
OF BRITISH POWER IN
INDIA
By- Ishank Sahu

2. The years after 1500 witnessed a scramble for power among
different West European nations for the capture of various
territories throughout the world, establish colonies and turn
them into markets with huge prospects of revenue generation. It
was for this purpose that the Portuguese, British, Dutch and the
French came to India,

3. EAST INDIA COMPANIES
The European countries established their trading companies in the
following chronology :-
1600 – English East India Company
1602 – Dutch East India Company
1628 – Portuguese East India Company
1664 - French East India Company

4. CARNATIC WARS
In the 18th century, three war were fought between the French
and the British for control over the coastal strip of the present
day Tamil Nadu, known at that time as Carnatic. These wars
came to be known as Carnatic Wars. The Carnatic region was
under the possession of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

5. The First Carnatic War was fought when the French, led by Governor
Dupleix, captured Madras, which was a British possession. However, Madras
was restored to the British.
The Second Carnatic War was fought over the issue of successors to the
throne of Hyderabad and Carnatic, with the British and French supporting
different candidates. This time French were defeated.
The Third Carnatic War was fought in 1773. The seven years war in Europe
rekindled the Anglo-French hostility in India. The French were defeated at the
Battle of Wandiwash in 1760.After the end of the war in Europe, the British
returned Pondicherry and Chandernagore to the French.

6. BATTLE OF PLASSEY
(AD 1744-1763)
The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India
Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757.
The battle established the Company rule in Bengal which expanded over
much of India for the next hundred years. The battle took place at Plassey
on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north of Calcutta and
south of Murshidabad, then capital of Bengal. The belligerents were
Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the
British East India Company.

7. When Alivardhi Khan died in 1756, Siraj-ud-daulah became the
Nawab of Bengal. He ordered the English to stop the extension of
their fortification. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander in
chief of the nawab's army and attacked Calcutta. He defeated the
Nawab at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta.

8. BATTLE OF BUXAR
(AD 1757)
The Battle of Buxar was fought on 23 October 1764 between the
forces under the command of the British East India Company led by
Hector Munro and the combined army of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of
Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal King
Shah Alam II. The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of
Bengal, a town located on the bank of the Ganges river about 130 km
west of Patna, was a decisive victory for the British East India
Company.

9. DUAL GOVERNMENT
(AD 1765)
THE DUAL GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL following the Treaty of
Allahabad (1765), Robert Clive set up the infamous dual system of
administration in Bengal where in the Company acquired the real
power, while the responsibility of administration rested on the Nawab
of Bengal. Under the 'dual' or double government system, the
Company got both the diwani (revenue) and nizamat (civil
administration) functions of Bengal from two different sources-diwani
from the Mughal emperor and nizamat from the nawab of Bengal.

10. THE SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE
The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley, British
Governor-General in India from 1798 to 1805. Early in his governorship
Wellesley adopted a policy of non-intervention in the princely states, but he later
adopted the policy of forming subsidiary alliances. This policy was to play a
major role in British expansion in India. According to the term of this alliance,
Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed force . They
were to be protected by the company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces'
that the company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection.

11. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory
was taken away as penalty. By the late 18th century, the power of the Maratha
Empire had weakened in the Indian subcontinent, and India was left with a
great number of states, most small and weak. Many rulers accepted the offer
of protection by Lord Wellesley, as it gave them security against attack by
their neighbors. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into such an
alliance. Tipu Sultan of Mysore refused to do so, but after the British victory
in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Mysore was forced to become a subsidiary
state. The Nawab of Awadh was the next to accept the Subsidiary Alliance, in
1801. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Maratha ruler Baji Rao II also
accepted a subsidiary alliance.

12. THE DOCTRINE OF LAPSE
The Doctrine of Lapse was introduced to expand British Territories in India.
A Brainchild of the hardcore imperialist Lord Dalhousie, The Doctrine of
Lapse clearly stated that a dependent/subsidiary state would pass into the
British hands if the ruler died without a natural successor. The right to adopt
children was not accepted. Satara, Sambhalpur, Jhansi and Nagpur were
annexed under this policy.