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INDIAN HISTORY

9 Chapters 112 Articles

Read this category as an ordered editorial path. Choose a chapter, then follow the articles in sequence.

Latest articles

The Forward Bloc and the Great Escape

A party of the impatient left, a fast that opened a prison, and a night drive from Elgin Road to legend: the twenty months that made…

Tripuri 1939: The Crisis of the Two Captains

An election won against the Mahatma's wishes, a resolution that undid it, and a resignation into rebellion: Tripuri settled where the movement's sovereignty lay.

Chapter 1

1600 to 1720 - The Arrival

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Charter of 1600: The Day a Company Was Born The Charter of 1600: The Day a Company Was Born On 31 December 1600 Elizabeth I chartered a company of London merchants to buy pepper. The document carried,… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 Swally 1612: The Sea Battle That Opened Surat to the English Swally 1612: The Sea Battle That Opened Surat to the English Two English ships beat a Portuguese fleet off Suvali in 1612 while Mughal officials watched from the shore.… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 Sir Thomas Roe at the Court of Jahangir: An Ambassador Among Emperors Sir Thomas Roe at the Court of Jahangir: An Ambassador Among Emperors For four years Sir Thomas Roe followed Jahangir's court seeking a treaty the Mughals saw no reason to… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Madras 1639: A Strip of Sand That Became Fort St George Madras 1639: A Strip of Sand That Became Fort St George Francis Day's 1639 bargain for a strip of Coromandel beach gave the Company Fort St George, its first… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 Bombay: The Islands That Came as a Dowry Bombay: The Islands That Came as a Dowry Bombay came to England as part of a Portuguese princess's dowry and was leased to the Company for… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 Job Charnock and the Founding of Calcutta Job Charnock and the Founding of Calcutta In August 1690 Job Charnock unpacked his goods under a tree at Sutanuti. Within a century the swamp… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 Child’s War: When the Company Fought Aurangzeb and Begged for Pardon Child’s War: When the Company Fought Aurangzeb and Begged for Pardon In 1686 the Company declared war on Aurangzeb's empire and was crushed within four years, begging pardon with… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 Two Companies, One Empire: The Rivalry and Merger of 1709 Two Companies, One Empire: The Rivalry and Merger of 1709 For a decade England had two East India Companies at war with each other in Parliament and in… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 The Farman of 1717: The Emperor’s Gift That Poisoned Bengal The Farman of 1717: The Emperor’s Gift That Poisoned Bengal A surgeon's cure won the Company duty free trade in Bengal in 1717. The abuse of that privilege… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 Calico, Saltpetre and Silver: What the Company Actually Traded Calico, Saltpetre and Silver: What the Company Actually Traded Pepper drew the English east, Indian cloth made them rich, saltpetre armed their state and silver paid for… 4 Min Read
Chapter 1 of 9
Chapter 2

1707 to 1765 - The Empire Cracks, the Company Rises

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Empire Cracks: India After Aurangzeb The Empire Cracks: India After Aurangzeb Aurangzeb died in 1707 with his empire vast on the map and hollow at the core. The dissolution… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 The Successor States: Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad The Successor States: Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad were vigorous kingdoms built from Mughal provinces. Their open succession politics made kingmaking the… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 Nadir Shah 1739: The Sack of Delhi and the Broken Spell Nadir Shah 1739: The Sack of Delhi and the Broken Spell Nadir Shah's 1739 invasion shattered the Mughal army at Karnal, drowned Delhi in blood and carried off the… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 The French Arrive: Pondicherry and the Compagnie des Indes The French Arrive: Pondicherry and the Compagnie des Indes France's Compagnie des Indes built Pondicherry into the finest European town in India and pioneered every device of… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 The First Carnatic War and the Revelation at the Adyar River The First Carnatic War and the Revelation at the Adyar River At the Adyar river in 1746 a thousand French led muskets broke ten thousand of the Nawab's horsemen… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 Dupleix: The Frenchman Who Wrote the Playbook of Empire Dupleix: The Frenchman Who Wrote the Playbook of Empire Sepoy armies, puppet rulers, subsidiary alliances: Dupleix invented every device of European empire in India, and the British… 3 Min Read
  7. 7 Clive at Arcot: Fifty Days That Made a Reputation Clive at Arcot: Fifty Days That Made a Reputation With five hundred men and three guns, a twenty six year old former clerk seized and held Chanda… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 Siraj ud Daulah and the Fall of Calcutta Siraj ud Daulah and the Fall of Calcutta Siraj ud Daulah's grievances against Calcutta were largely just. Asserting them cost the young Nawab his capital's dignity,… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 Plassey 1757: The Conspiracy That Won an Empire Plassey 1757: The Conspiracy That Won an Empire Plassey was a transaction with gunfire attached: a conspiracy of generals and bankers, a rain soaked cannonade, and… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 From Mir Jafar to Buxar: The Battle That Truly Decided India From Mir Jafar to Buxar: The Battle That Truly Decided India Buxar in 1764 broke a Nawab, a Wazir and the Mughal emperor together, and the Diwani of 1765… 4 Min Read
Chapter 2 of 9
Chapter 3

1765 to 1818 - Conquest

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Diwani Years: How the Company Bled Bengal The Diwani Years: How the Company Bled Bengal After 1765 the Company bought Bengal's goods with Bengal's own taxes while private fortunes sailed home. The province… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 The rains failed in 1769 and Bengal died by the million while the revenue was violently kept up.… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 The Regulating Act of 1773 and the Age of Warren Hastings The Regulating Act of 1773 and the Age of Warren Hastings Bankruptcy brought the state into India in 1773, and Warren Hastings built the skeleton of British administration amid… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Pitt’s India Act 1784: The Empire Gets Two Masters Pitt’s India Act 1784: The Empire Gets Two Masters Pitt's India Act of 1784 gave the empire two masters, a Board of Control above the Company, and… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 The Trial of Warren Hastings: An Empire in the Dock The Trial of Warren Hastings: An Empire in the Dock For seven years Burke arraigned Warren Hastings before the Lords in the name of the people of India.… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 Haidar Ali: The Soldier Who Made the Company Tremble Haidar Ali: The Soldier Who Made the Company Tremble Haidar Ali built Mysore into a military state that dictated peace at the gates of Madras and destroyed… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 Tipu Sultan and the Fall of Srirangapatna Tipu Sultan and the Fall of Srirangapatna Modernizer, hard master and unyielding enemy of the Company, Tipu Sultan chose the breach at Srirangapatna in 1799… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 Wellesley and the Subsidiary Alliance: Empire by Contract Wellesley and the Subsidiary Alliance: Empire by Contract Wellesley's subsidiary alliance made Indian states pay for the armies that subjected them, an empire acquired by contract,… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 The Anglo Maratha Wars: The Fall of the Last Indian Rivals The Anglo Maratha Wars: The Fall of the Last Indian Rivals Three wars over forty three years decided whether Marathas or the Company would inherit the Mughal world. Assaye… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 1818: The Year the Company Became India’s Master 1818: The Year the Company Became India’s Master With the Peshwa's surrender in 1818 the Company stood without rival from the Sutlej to the sea. The… 4 Min Read
Chapter 3 of 9
Chapter 4

1818 to 1856 - Consolidation and Reform

10 Articles
  1. 1 How the British Taxed the Land: Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari How the British Taxed the Land: Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari Zamindari, ryotwari and mahalwari were three philosophies of rule imposed on the Indian village, and their consequences outlived… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 Ram Mohan Roy and the Bengal Renaissance Ram Mohan Roy and the Bengal Renaissance Scholar of Persian, Sanskrit and English, enemy of sati and censorship, founder of the Brahmo Samaj, Ram Mohan… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 Bentinck, Sati and the Age of Reform Bentinck, Sati and the Age of Reform The abolition of sati in 1829 was a deliverance first demanded by Indians themselves, and the founding act… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Macaulay’s Minute: English Education and Its Long Shadow Macaulay’s Minute: English Education and Its Long Shadow Written to settle a budget quarrel, Macaulay's Minute of 1835 fixed the linguistic destiny of modern India and… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 Thuggee, Sleeman and the Machinery of Colonial Policing Thuggee, Sleeman and the Machinery of Colonial Policing The campaign against thuggee made Sleeman famous and the roads safer, and built a machinery of surveillance and… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 The First Anglo Afghan War: Disaster Beyond the Khyber The First Anglo Afghan War: Disaster Beyond the Khyber Sixteen thousand marched from Kabul and one rider reached Jalalabad. The First Afghan War restored the king it… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 The Anglo Sikh Wars and the Annexation of Punjab The Anglo Sikh Wars and the Annexation of Punjab The Khalsa was the one army the Company truly feared. Court treachery, two savage wars and a sold… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 Dalhousie: The Great Annexer Who Built Modern India’s Machinery Dalhousie: The Great Annexer Who Built Modern India’s Machinery Railways, telegraph, post and canals with one hand, Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur and Awadh with the other. Dalhousie built… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 The Doctrine of Lapse: How Kingdoms Were Swallowed The Doctrine of Lapse: How Kingdoms Were Swallowed Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur: the Doctrine of Lapse erased dynasties by refusing adopted heirs, and the bill for the… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 Awadh 1856: The Annexation That Lit the Fuse Awadh 1856: The Annexation That Lit the Fuse The Company deposed its most faithful ally without a battle in February 1856. Within fifteen months Awadh answered,… 4 Min Read
Chapter 4 of 9
Chapter 5

1857 to 1885 - Revolt and Crown Rule

1 Article
  1. 1 The Revolt of 1857: The Uprising That Shook an Empire The Revolt of 1857: The Uprising That Shook an Empire What began as a soldiers' mutiny at Meerut in May 1857 swelled into the greatest armed challenge the… 4 Min Read
Chapter 5 of 9
Chapter 6

1885 to 1905 - Moderates and Awakening

10 Articles
  1. 1 Dadabhai Naoroji and the Drain of Wealth Dadabhai Naoroji and the Drain of Wealth With the government's own figures, Dadabhai Naoroji proved the drain of wealth and gave Indian nationalism its arithmetic,… 3 Min Read
  2. 2 The Moderates: Prayer, Petition and the Making of a Nation The Moderates: Prayer, Petition and the Making of a Nation Mocked as mendicants, the Moderates of 1885 to 1905 demolished the empire's economic case, built the Congress and… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 The Indian Councils Act 1892: Election by Another Name The Indian Councils Act 1892: Election by Another Name The 1892 Act allowed election without the word, budget speeches without votes and questions without follow up, and… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Gokhale: The Servant of India Gokhale: The Servant of India Gandhi called him the Ganga and made him his guru. Gokhale turned budgets into weapons, spiritualised politics and… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 Tilak and the Birth of Extremism Tilak and the Birth of Extremism Festivals, the popular press and the defiant trial: Tilak awakened the ruled instead of petitioning the rulers, and… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 The Age of Consent Act 1891 and the War Over Reform The Age of Consent Act 1891 and the War Over Reform A child's death forced the Age of Consent Act of 1891, and the storm it raised, Tilak against… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 The Plague of 1896 and the Shots at Ganeshkhind The Plague of 1896 and the Shots at Ganeshkhind Plague searches that violated homes, a sedition trial that crowned the Lokmanya, and two brothers on the Ganeshkhind… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 Vivekananda at Chicago and the Awakening of Indian Confidence Vivekananda at Chicago and the Awakening of Indian Confidence Five words at Chicago brought an assembly to its feet and a civilisation to its own attention. Vivekananda… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 Curzon: The Viceroy Who Loved India and Misread Indians Curzon: The Viceroy Who Loved India and Misread Indians He restored the Taj, rebuilt famine policy and founded the frontier province, then partitioned Bengal and called truth… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 The North West Frontier and the Great Game The North West Frontier and the Great Game Russia's shadow, the Durand Line, the risings of 1897 and Curzon's frontier province: the Great Game consumed India's… 4 Min Read
Chapter 6 of 9
Chapter 7

1905 to 1911 - Swadeshi, Revolutionaries and Reform

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Partition of Bengal 1905: The Stroke That Woke a Nation The Partition of Bengal 1905: The Stroke That Woke a Nation Meant to divide the province that led political India, the partition of 1905 ignited swadeshi, rakhi bandhan and… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 Swadeshi and Boycott: India’s First Mass Movement Swadeshi and Boycott: India’s First Mass Movement Boycott, national schools, swadeshi mills, volunteer samitis and songs: between 1905 and 1908 Bengal rehearsed every method the… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 Surat 1907: The Day the Congress Broke Surat 1907: The Day the Congress Broke A flying shoe, a broken pandal and a decade's divorce: the Surat split of 1907 gave the Moderates… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Dacca 1906: The Founding of the Muslim League Dacca 1906: The Founding of the Muslim League Born at Dacca in 1906 out of the Simla deputation and partition politics, the Muslim League lived one… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 The Morley Minto Reforms and the Fateful Gift of Separate Electorates The Morley Minto Reforms and the Fateful Gift of Separate Electorates The 1909 reforms brought real elections, the first Indian in government, and separate Muslim electorates, opening two doors… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 Aurobindo Ghosh: From Revolution to the Ashram Aurobindo Ghosh: From Revolution to the Ashram He named complete independence before the Congress dared, theorised non cooperation, heard Vasudeva in an Alipore cell, and… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 Khudiram Bose and the Alipore Bomb Case Khudiram Bose and the Alipore Bomb Case A bomb meant for a magistrate, a boy of eighteen on the gallows singing into legend, and the… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 India House: The Revolutionaries of Highgate India House: The Revolutionaries of Highgate A Highgate hostel funded by a Sanskritist admirer of Spencer became the empire's most watched address, printing banned… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 Madan Lal Dhingra and the Shot at the Imperial Institute Madan Lal Dhingra and the Shot at the Imperial Institute Five shots at a Kensington reception, a one day trial refused in jurisdiction, and a scaffold statement that… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 The Delhi Durbar of 1911 and the Undoing of Partition The Delhi Durbar of 1911 and the Undoing of Partition The grandest pageant the Raj ever staged announced its first great retreat: Bengal reunited, the capital moved to… 4 Min Read
Chapter 7 of 9
Chapter 8

1913 to 1919 - Ghadar, War and Gandhi Arrives

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Ghadar Movement: Revolution from the Pacific Coast The Ghadar Movement: Revolution from the Pacific Coast Punjabi emigrants on America's Pacific coast printed a paper called Mutiny, sailed home in wartime to raise the… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 The Komagata Maru: A Shipload of Empire’s Broken Promises The Komagata Maru: A Shipload of Empire’s Broken Promises Turned back at Vancouver by law and warship, received at Calcutta with gunfire: the Komagata Maru proved the… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 India in the First World War: A Million Men and a Broken Bargain India in the First World War: A Million Men and a Broken Bargain Fourteen lakh men, seventy four thousand dead, a hundred million pounds, and a promise redeemed with the Rowlatt… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 The Lucknow Pact of 1916: When Congress and League Shook Hands The Lucknow Pact of 1916: When Congress and League Shook Hands Tilak and Jinnah built the freedom struggle's one real treaty of unity at Lucknow in 1916, and the… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 The Home Rule Leagues: Tilak, Besant and the Politics of Impatience The Home Rule Leagues: Tilak, Besant and the Politics of Impatience Two sexagenarians in a hurry took self rule from the annual session to the daily lecture, and the… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 Champaran 1917: The Indigo Fields Where Gandhi Found India Champaran 1917: The Indigo Fields Where Gandhi Found India A sharecropper's stubborn summons, a defendant demanding conviction at Motihari, and eight thousand sworn statements: Champaran was satyagraha's… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 Kheda and Ahmedabad 1918: The Method Takes Shape Kheda and Ahmedabad 1918: The Method Takes Shape A strike settled by the first fast, a revenue refusal that recruited Patel: in Ahmedabad and Kheda in… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 The Montagu Declaration and the Reforms of 1919 The Montagu Declaration and the Reforms of 1919 The 1917 declaration conceded the destination and the 1919 Act built a deliberately slow vehicle: dyarchy, real electorates… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 The Rowlatt Act: The Black Law That United India The Rowlatt Act: The Black Law That United India No lawyer, no argument, no appeal: the Rowlatt Act repaid India's war with rule by suspicion, and the… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 Jallianwala Bagh: The Massacre That Broke the Empire’s Claim Jallianwala Bagh: The Massacre That Broke the Empire’s Claim Ten minutes, one thousand six hundred and fifty rounds, and the moral title of an empire: Jallianwala Bagh… 4 Min Read
Chapter 8 of 9
Chapter 9

1919 to 1929 - The Gandhian Storm

10 Articles
  1. 1 The Khilafat Movement: Faith, Alliance and a Vanished Throne The Khilafat Movement: Faith, Alliance and a Vanished Throne India's Muslims rose to save a Caliphate the Turks themselves abolished, and the alliance Gandhi built upon the… 4 Min Read
  2. 2 Non Cooperation: The Year India Refused Non Cooperation: The Year India Refused Titles returned, courts and colleges emptied, thirty thousand in jail and the Prince of Wales met by shuttered… 4 Min Read
  3. 3 Nagpur 1920: The Session That Rebuilt the Congress Nagpur 1920: The Session That Rebuilt the Congress Four anna membership, linguistic provinces, a working committee of fifteen: Nagpur 1920 turned an annual assembly into the… 4 Min Read
  4. 4 Chauri Chaura: The Fire That Stopped a Movement Chauri Chaura: The Fire That Stopped a Movement A thana burned with its constables inside, a movement halted at the edge of victory, and the freedom… 4 Min Read
  5. 5 The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi in the Dock at Ahmedabad The Great Trial of 1922: Gandhi in the Dock at Ahmedabad A guilty plea that indicted the prosecutor, a judge who bowed to the prisoner, and six years pronounced… 4 Min Read
  6. 6 The Moplah Rebellion of 1921: Malabar’s Season of Fire The Moplah Rebellion of 1921: Malabar’s Season of Fire Agrarian revolt, Khilafat rising and communal tragedy at once: the Malabar rebellion of 1921 defies every simplification, and… 4 Min Read
  7. 7 The Swarajists: C R Das and the War Inside the Councils The Swarajists: C R Das and the War Inside the Councils Enter the councils to wreck them: C R Das and Motilal Nehru made obstruction an art, proved dyarchy… 4 Min Read
  8. 8 The Akali Movement: The Battle for the Gurdwaras The Akali Movement: The Battle for the Gurdwaras Four hundred dead, shrines won back by suffering alone, and a statute conceding everything: the Akali movement taught… 4 Min Read
  9. 9 Vaikom and Mahad: Caste Enters the National Question Vaikom and Mahad: Caste Enters the National Question A barred road at Vaikom, a sip of tank water at Mahad, and the Manusmriti in the fire:… 4 Min Read
  10. 10 Kakori 1925: The Train, the Trial and the Gallows Songs Kakori 1925: The Train, the Trial and the Gallows Songs A treasury safe on a stopped train, four men on four gallows with songs on their lips, and… 4 Min Read