To what extent did the Mughal Empire collapse in the years to 1820 because of British Intrusion into Indian affairs?

In the early 1500’s India was a country divided. With the land and people split between numerous Zamindars and princes the country was ill suited to counter any form of conqueror. Conquerors that were only too ready to conquer Indian land and grab anything they could of the richness of the country. The first conquerors were of Turko-Mongol descent but by the time of the 17th and 18th centuries the Emperors were of Rajput and Persian descent. In 1556 one of the greatest emperors assumed control of the 1 million square kilometres of the empire, this man, Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (جلال الدین محمد اکبر), also known as Akbar the Great was “widely considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors”, he waged many wars against Afghan invaders and brought large parts of northern and central India into his realm. However, one of his greatest achievements was in being the first Muslim with power to marry a Hindu and to incorporate women of this religion into his harem. This man changed the face of the Mughal Empire and paved the way for its continued rule for the following two hundred years. Unfortunately the death of Akbar also signalled the slow, painful decline of his beloved empire.

By the late 1600’s and early 1700’s the British crown was beginning to struggle to maintain the growth of its vast empire. Trade was exceptionally important to the power of the British Empire and it was becoming increasingly evident that its most profitable trade route, that with China, was not being exploited to its full extent. As such the honourable East India Company was born, the company was focused on capitalising upon Eastern trade and with the Emperor of India’s gifts of various ports along the Indian coast, established intermediary points that their ships stopped at on their way from China to England. These ports became increasingly important over the following years and the East India company was gifted further ports along the Indian coast and slowly but surely the commanders of the company began to see India as the new jewel in their trading empire. China was no longer the focal point of their desires, instead the company looked to the riches of this ‘new’ country. The silks and spices of India became almost as popular as the Chinese tea and huge increases of revenue were experienced by the company. The greed of the British commanders drove them further and further into the country itself and they began to exploit larger and larger proportions of the Indian population. Driving deeper and deeper into the country brought them into more direct contact with the rule of the country and ambitious commanders began to probe the weaknesses of the country, bribery granted them trading rights and long established Indian merchants were thrown aside for cheaper mass-based goods provided by the British. The company used their near limitless wealth to spread their monopoly into the everyday lives of ordinary Indians.

The command of the Mughal Emperor was discovered to be far from total, despite what the outside world was shown. When the Emperor’s ancestors had conquered and subjected the land of India to their rule they had done so over many generations and only because they had left the control of local areas to their respective princes or Zamindars[1]. Because they ruled the people through what were effectively client kings and princes the Emperor was really a “shah an shah” or a king of kings. By looking at other ‘kings of kings’ through history we know this wasn’t what made the command weak and tentative. The Persian king Sahpur, for instance, commanded various lower kings and took them to war against the Romans with no question as to his authority. The Mughal Emperor in comparison was commander of a cautious empire not because he was in control only through local princes but because the political system of India was controlled through assassination, intrigue and private plotting, a system very much like that of the ancient Roman Empire. The political balance of India changed rapidly and with deaths of many politicians and rulers, the East India Company found it very difficult to keep a track of the system and for a long time they were content to the leave the politics to the Indians, focusing themselves upon the trade that was so important to their empire. However with other countries becoming envious of the British monopoly and numerous incursions into India by other companies the British were forced to intervene and manipulate the system.

It was the incursion of the French company, the Compagnie des Indes, into India which truly began to put pressure on the monopoly held by the British. Trade began to move to the French and the British crown began to place more and more pressure on the company to keep bringing in money, money which was no longer available to them. Hostilities between the two companies came to a devastating climax with the declaration of yet another war between the French and English. For years both companies had been trading armaments with local tribes in return for military service, effectively creating private militia for themselves. These tribes had cleared hostile tribes to allow for more control and wealth to be passed to their respective companies. However when Britain and France went to war they began to order their tribes to fight the enemies and the deaths of many Indians was the only result. The companies no longer saw the tribes as an effective means of victory and they began to call on their countries for help and support. Unwilling to lose their income the British government was quick to react, a small battalion was sent to boost the limited number of company troops but the greatest area of British help came in the form of a good sized naval force which was sent to protect the trade routes and interests of the Empire. Unfortunately the French were also unwilling to simply roll over and give the richness of India to their enemy, they too sent a naval fleet to the Indian Ocean and naval warfare began to swallow the trade routes of both companies. The wealth of these once prosperous companies was severely crippled, a new form of revenue was required to maintain the backing of their respective governments and monarchies.

The French were the first to take a step towards a new type of income. By using their allied tribes and personal military the Compagnie des Indes slowly but surely conquered small amounts of Indian land and created a French-Indian Empire which through tax and the natural resources of the land brought in such levels of wealth the likes of which their trade routes never had.

Local tribal members were recruited into the armed forces of the company and these Sepoys (سپاهی- Sipâhi for soldier) became an integral part of the fighting force of the British Empire. Instead of relying on the tribal allies to fight as an individual entity, which just showed a casual alliance to the British in return for various armaments, they quickly became an actual part of the British armed forces and as such were treated to the same disciplinary requirements and were taught the standard skills of the British armed forces. By using local tribe men the opposing companies created large armies without using their own troops and countrymen. Waging war across the country quickly widened age long cracks in the Empire and splits were quick to show. The Indian people began to look to the richness of the British or French as their best future and the Emperor, Auzenburg, struggled to use his army to maintain his tentative control. Eventually in his haste and desperation he stretched his supply line too far attempting to conquer new land and impose his will on new populations. He was defeated by his enemies and the already cracking country was sent spiraling into turmoil. However the tentative control of the old Emperors advisors and princes was maintained in the majority of the country, more was needed to finally destroy the old Mughal Empire. The issue came from traitors within the Empire, local princes and Zamindars saw the opportunity to create their own private Empires and defeat their rivals. These men began to hire foreign mercenaries, predominantly from Afghan, to lead their armies and conquer them land, these ambitious princes also began to ask the companies for help and assistance in return for a share of any land or wealth they helped to acquire. The British now had another avenue to gain their Empire; they began to exploit those vying for their help and attention and began to use these men for their own aims rather than helping them reach theirs.

By giving support to a particular warlord the British gave the chosen warlord a huge advantage, through gaining trained men, modern weaponry and tried and tested tactics used by the successful British army. Because of this those they supported began to win vast amounts of land and in return the British were gifted with various tracts of land from this newly conquered land. The British had seen the birth of a small colony in India and the influx in taxation from the villages and tribes on their lands showed the East India company just how profitable the control of their own land could possibly be and how joined with their monopoly on trade they could be the new rulers of the country. The only obstacle that stood on their path to power was the French company who had experienced a longer time on creating their colony and as such had a slightly more established hold over their Indian land. The time for minor skirmishing fought mostly between allied tribesmen was at an end. Calling upon their respective governments and monarchies the two companies were soon reinforced by the countries professional, seasoned armed forces. The Anglo-French war began to intensify bringing the full ferocity of two of the greatest armies of the time directly to the doorsteps of India. The companies therefore began to look more and more into the war and fighting became increasingly frequent across the country as now the companies overthrew previously allied tribes and took all their land for themselves and increased their sepoy numbers with the subsequent increase in villagers and tribal members. Throughout this period of war the continually weakening Mughal empire finally began to lose its real power over many of its regions and powerful warlords like the Nawab’s of Bengal became supreme rulers of vast areas of land.

The superiority of the supreme British fleet soon showed and the sea’s around India no longer saw intense fighting between the two sides. Trade sprung up again and the commanders of the East India company were soon making extortionate amounts of money from the joining of taxation and trade. The difference this time of course was that with no fleet to contest the British the French experienced practically no sea trade whatsoever and were forced to rely upon heavy taxation, resulting in intense hatred from the Indian people leaving within their colony. Many people within French controlled land began to plot against the French and defected to the British in the hope of a better life.

With their supply route now in the hands of the British and many people leaving the French for the British the Compagnie des Indes was quickly defeated and the French government willingly turned their attention away from India and focused on their own monopoly on the sugar trade in the Caribbean. With their European enemies destroyed and trade no longer being enough to satisfy the ambitious ruling commanders, the company looked to Indian rulers like the Nawab of Bengal and soon brought such Indian rulers to battle where the superior weapons, tactics and training of the British forces once more showed their worth, creating win after win and expanding the British empire to large amounts of the Indian country. With the British front rapidly expanding from the sea line they began to encounter warlords in areas of India that not even the Mughal Empire at the height of its power, had been able to subject to their control, these remote and previously free people felt they could maintain their independence from the rapidly expanding British colony. One prime example of the over confidence of such tribal warlords can be seen by looking at the mountain fortress of Gawilghur, while not a part of the Mughal empire, the fortress was a part of the rebel Empire of Maratha, it still shows the perfect way in which the East India company showed on numerous occasions how much more advanced and better adapted at war they were compared to the Mughal empire which had always failed to conquer these remote mountainous regions of India. Keeping with the example of Gawilghur we can see how the modern weaponry, specifically cannons, allowed the East India army to blast through never before scaled walls and allow their far superior soldiers to storm through the walls without having to climb the walls and therefore allowed them to complete their job quicker, more effectively, and most importantly, with a lower loss of life.

Controlling vast tracts of Indian land quickly allowed the British company to increase the security of the land and made it safe for British citizens to move to Indian soil and begin to make it their home. However, was a long process and by the late 1750’s the primary change focused around Christian missionaries entering major towns and cities and beginning to convert much of the population, bringing about new hope for the Indian people after the various wars and famines. This changed the very foundations of the country, and in particular it changed the very principles and policies of the Empire which had always held Muslims superior while not forcing their faith on the Sikh population. The British however actively encouraged the conversion of their subjects and built countless churches over the country to encourage the spread of their religion.

The East India Company was willing to simply focus on the trade they had monopolised over the years and with the defeat of the Dutch, Spanish and various other companies they were confident in their ability to maintain such a monopoly. However this passive view towards the Empire changed with the French companies initiative and with the French desire not to simply leave the country to the British, they gave the East India Company a new challenge. The company was forced to change its methods for revenue. Even when war ravaged the company they focused upon the maintenance of their income over the creation of an Empire. Unfortunately for the increasingly fragile Empire the French began to conquer themselves land and increasingly became richer and more prosperous than the British through taxation. The British used there superior force and vast amount of tribal allies to quickly incorporate land into their new colony and to begin to push the French company back from India. Integrating local men into their forces swelled their ranks exponentially while taking troops from local princes and indirectly from the flailing Empire. The company conquered feuding land and the emperor was powerless to resist. With no enemies left the company could easily have halted their expansion and may have left the Empire weak but ultimately in one piece. However the company did the opposite, the taste for wealth and power granted to them from the conquering of the land saw the rapid continuation of expansion and so while the company did not set out to defeat the Empire their initial acts of defense they were forced into to survive led to a greed that could only be sedated through the continued expansion of their colony and the eventual collapse of the Mughal Empire.

[1] Late 17th century Via Urdu < Persian zamīndār < zamīn "land" + dār '"holder" meaning that a Zamindar is a local ‘land’ ‘holder’