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Impact of the British Empire in India
Negative impacts of british imperialism in india
Negative impacts of british imperialism in india
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India was one of the colonies England had controlled. India was the “Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire. The British had indirect control of India until the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. British rule over India, severely negatively impacted India. Although Britain did the framework for India, transition India peacefully, built railways, protected land, claimed to improve education, and health, the framework excluded Indians, they didn't peacefully transition India, railways negatively impacted India, they destroyed the environment, education was better after Indian Independence, and health was better prior to British rule.
While the British set up the framework for India and claimed to peacefully transition India to independence. The British however, did not include Indians and caused a lot of death. The British ultimately did more harm than good. British did set up India’s framework for things like the army, police, justice system and civil services (Lalvani). On the other hand the British did not
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Dr. Lalvani said“... wealthy young Indians were packed off to Britain to study and returned well-trained.” However, when the British were at the peak of their rule, only about 16 percent of all of India could read and write, since the British left India, around 64 percent of India now can read and write, that's a 48 percent increase (Doc 5). This means that the British were not educating Indians, they hold Indians back, keeping them dumb so they were easier to control. Additionally Dr. Lalvani stated that the British improved the health of Indians. On the other hand, before British rule there had been only 18 famines, but during British rule, there was 40, which resulted in almost 59 million deaths (Doc 7). That means the British, in no way, shape or form, improved Indians health, they killed millions of them because they were starved to
They built roads and railroads. British rule brought peace and order to the countryside. They revised the legal system to promote justice for the Indians, regardless of class. Indian landowners and princes, who still owned territory, grew rich from exporting cash crops such as cotton and jute. The British introduced the telegraph and the postal system as a means of communication.
This caused the Indians to starve because they depended on the British’s gifts to hunt and trade. The British didn’t respect the Indian and disregard their culture and what they follow.
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4). They established schools,newspapers and telegraphs for the people of the colonies.All blessings of civilization they could not create for themselves (Doc. 1). Furthermore, the British brought 30 million acres under cultivation with large scale irrigation works, began industrialization, improved sanitation and provided an overall higher standard of living (Doc. 4). With many new establishments and institutions to staff, job opportunities opened up left and right for Indian workers.Their contributions to Indian civilization made famine all but disappear throughout India. Without the British, it’s quite possible India could not achi...
... Additionally, as revenge for the loss of British lives, the British had torched villages and slaughtered thousands of unarmed Indians (Ellis 2004). Furthermore, in the late 1800s, terrible famines had swept through India, killing 13 of the population (Ellis 2004). Although both Latin America and Southeast Asia had undergone depopulation, the decline in population was excessive in Latin America, while Southeast Asia had a minimal decline in population. Latin Americas decrease in population was due to killing conducted by Spaniards, suicide and diseases.
“During the Second World War, India supported the British, but at the same time Gandhi, Nehru, and the Congress party stepped up a “quit India” campaign. To retain Indian support in the war effort and to counter Japanese anti-Western propaganda, the British pledged independence.”4The Burma Campaign undoubtedly was very successful in repelling the Japanese Army. The Army in Burma continued to come under India for administration, reinforcements and supplies. When the Japanese had attacked Burma for the first time, capturing Victoria Point, it was decided that reinforcements would enter Burma no matter what. It was already an accepted decision that the Japanese would not be allowed to take over Burma. The only source for the vast majority of reinforcements
However, where the is good there has to be bad. British colonization of India had it's drawbacks. As the great Mohandas Gahndi once said " You English committed one supreme crime against my people. For a hundred years you have done everything for us. You have given us no responsibility for our own government." At first glance this may seem like a positive effect but Ghandi did not intend it to be. Because even though it was a good thing that England setup a government in India they turned it into a burden because they did not let any natives into the important positions. They "mommied" the Indians if you will. Another negative effect England had on India was the breaking up of traditional industries. Prior to Britain colonizing India there were many more divers skilled labors. Such as shipbuilding, metalwork, glassblowing, and paper making. With the break up there was a noticeable rise in the unemployment India.
“We are not makers of history. We are made by history” (Martin Luther King Jr). It all began when Polish intelligence gave France and Britain each one Enigma machine, to continue the code breaking operations. What made it more challenging was that the Germans changed the cipher code settings daily for top security. Even after all the security measures, Enigma was still cracked and had a huge impact on World War ii. The Enigma machine is a code making and scrambling machine that was broken by Alan Turing that helped win the second World War.
"All the leadership had spent their early years in England. They were influenced by British thought, British ideas, that is why our leaders were always telling the British "How can you do these things? They're against your own basic values.". We had no hatred, in fact it was the other way round - it was their values that made us revolt." -Aruna Asaf Ali, a leader of the Indian National Congress. (Masani, quoted in Wood, 32, 1989)
" India was where the riches of the world came from, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. The British needed to dispel the threat of other Europeans in Africa to maintain control of India, and they did so efficiently. They quickly gained control of both the major sea routes to India and then turned their eyes to the rest of the continent. Whether the British were trying to foster public support or prevent another nation from becoming a threat, all British actions in Africa were directly or indirectly linked to India. The British were motivated by their desire to become powerful, and they skillfully combined enterprise and conquest to create a globe spanning empire centered around the wealth of India.
In 1857 the British had invaded the nation of Hindustan (India). Many feel that if it were not for the British Empire, India would still be an under developed country. The British established a government system that before did not exist. It was a three level system including the imperial government located in London, the central government located in Calcutta, and later on provincial governments scattered throughout the regions of what was known as the British Raj1. Alt...
India is a land where everyone jointly used to live with each other, where each community had their own rules and regulations according to their needs; it all ended when the British Crown intruded their rule and forever ravaged life as it was known in India. The British Raj by-product was, a mass migration occurring all across the new boundaries as well as on the estimated loss of a million lives in the communal bloodbaths involving Hindus, Muslims, and also Sikhs in the Punjab (Kaul). The better greatly altered India till this date seems to have no harmony in what was known as India before British rule. Today, neighboring countries India and Pakistan are just waiting for a signal to demolish each other. British rule has irreparably damaged the peace in what is now known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh today.
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
By the year 1857 the British had established complete political control of India. As Western education was introduced and missionaries eroded Hindu society resentment among Indian people grew and it was joined by unease among the old governing class when the British decided to formally abolish the Mughal Empire.
The British invasion formed into a historical development of British colonialism in India. Despite India under the British rule, Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in gaining Independence. He not only changed India but also strongly fought for India's independence, using various strategies. The British Empire ruled as long as they could to reform India both politically and socially.