The History Assessment - Essay Example

History Table of Contents Answers 3 Answer 2) 6 References 10 Bibliography 10 Answers The English empire relied upon alliances with native people in order to function in the manner its promoter intended but the warfare with the Indians completely crushed the backbone of the colonial empire and subsequently, led to the end of two hundred years of colonial aggression, imperialism and trade hegemony. The British ruled India, the Indian subcontinent for more than a century. The “British Raj “in South East Asia started in the year 1857 and ended in 1947. The region which is commonly indicated as India in the contemporary perspective was called Indian Empire and was under the direct governance of United Kingdom and the princely states were ruled by individual rulers under the direct dictatorship of the British crown. It is from these princely states, the imperial England tried and received greatest support and reliability. But ultimately the consequent and considerable resistance and uprising from the natives compelled British imperialism, a setback. Myriad reasons are responsible for the complete agitation or deviation of the native support from the British rule. A thorough survey of many socio-economic factors will consequently open the avenues of hidden queries. The first great uprising or the first step of the Indians for the nationalistic movement was the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ in the year of 1857. It was literally the first resistance which British Raj in India received. The Sepoy Mutiny can be considered as “the last upsurge of Indian Feudalism”. There are various causes which led to the detachment of native Indians from the British persons. The British rulers made many strategical mistakes. To establish a quick and powerful imperial aggression they interfered in many cultural and social domains of the natives, which largely hurt their sentiments and they slowly deviated from their foreign rulers. In fact, a sense of alienation acted as a catalyst for the relentless fights and set backs. The fatal decision and implementation of the “Doctrine of Lapse” by the British greatly contributed for the uprising of the mutiny of 1857. Though this uprising was crushed by the British but it didn’t stop the native Indians to leave their quest for the independence. The fight for the freedom is a long history and the term ‘Indian Independence Movement’ is a wide- umbrella term that encompasses a huge spectrum. It involves myriad political agitation and organization, philosophies and campaigns, both violent as well as non-violent. But all these efforts found their end into one common aim which was to uproot British colonial authority in South Asia. The reasons for these kinds of uprising were the major drain of wealth and the socio-economic deprivation launched upon the natives. The Europeans came for the purpose of trade in India but soon they defeated Nawab of Bengal and established British East India Company. Subsequently, the company started its administrative aggression and soon took the areas of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa under its control. The British parliament enacted several legislatures which were framed only with a vision to strengthen their colonial motive and imperialist policies. Some of these opposing acts were the Regulating Act of 1773, the Indian Act of 1784, and the Charter Act of 1813. In the year of 1835, British Rule made English as the medium of instruction which largely dissatisfied Hindu educated elites. Also, many controversial social reforms taken by East India Company detached native Indians from patronizing British rule. The British Rule abolished social practices like ‘Varna’ or caste system, child marriage and ‘Sati’. These created an environment of suspicion in the minds of the followers of staunch Hinduism. India started despising the British rule. The increased dominance over the continent made the British rulers more abusive towards local custom and native people. These resulted in the complete lost of the mass support and only few feudal lords and kings of princely states continued remaining patron towards East India Company. The Indian Independence Movement was a mass movement and comprised people from various sections of society. The movement also underwent a continuous philosophical evolution and witnessed continuous change in ideological phenomena. The Indian Movement of Independence took political stage in an organized form under the banner of Indian National Congress (INC). The movement was headed by the moderate leaders who initially wanted to secure their rights for civil service examinations and fight for more rights, mostly economic in nature, for the native people. This course of moderate movement changed its nature suddenly and the beginning of 20th century witnessed more radical. After the out - break of World War I also crushed the confidence of the British Empire to a great extent resulting in the strengthening of the national uprising in India. The last stages of the national movement witnessed freedom struggle based on complete nonviolent methodology adopted by the pioneer of Indian national movement, Mr. Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi. During the World War II, the leaders of Indian national Movement took the optimum benefit of the British military and economic setbacks worldwide and led the movement to its peak. The formation of INA or Indian National Army by Subhash Chandra Bose and Quit India movement lead to the complete effacement of colonial empire in India and finally led to the formation of the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan in the year of 1947. Answer 2) American Revolution is considered in history as the political upheaval that took place in the last half of the 18th century and resulted in the consequent independence of thirteen British colonies. These colonies had their separate Congress and attained freedom from the possession of Great Britain and formed the United States of America. These colonies rejected the British imperialism by abandoning the parliament of Great Britain initially and then discarding the monarchy of Great Britain. John Locke’s doctrine of liberty greatly influenced the political idea and thinking of the revolutionists who brought independence to America. The fundamental belief behind establishing the liberty and “republicanism” in America; was a vision that the greatest among the human rights, the prime and the prior, is the one that gives right to the people to overthrow their leaders. Great force behind embracing revolution was the quest for the political ideology called “republicanism” which was leading in the colonies by 1776. The 1765 Stamp Act was greatly responsible for shaping the fundamental zeal for freedom from the colonial aggression of the British Empire. This was the act, through which British Empire levied their direct taxes on the colonies. All the newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs and even the official documents were instructed to bear the stamps and pay taxes for that. As a result of this direct tax levied by the parliament, the colonies protested vehemently and the leaders like Patrick Henry, James Otis evolved. The other consequent aggressive policies by the imperialist Britain agitated the movement for American Independence. In 1767, the Parliament of Great Britain, imposed taxes on many essential commodities which agitated the Native Americans and this resulted in the complete boycott of British goods. The Townshend Act and the resultant Boston Massacre of 1770 paved the way for sketching the blue print of the revolution and the first spark of the extreme agitation and indignation for the British was felt by the historical episode of Boston Tea Party. These acts enacted by the British Parliament on North American colonies clearly showed the imperialist motivation of the British Empire. These Acts and many of the other legislations, implied on the common mass to drain the optimum benefit from the American colonies, resulted in the formation of those great sons and daughters of the soil, who fought relentlessly to free America from the clutches of British imperialism. These events gave birth to ‘patriots’, ‘Whigs’, ‘Congress-men’ or ‘Americans’. The great patriots like George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay were ignited by certain beliefs and fundamentals, certain political and philosophical conventions that greatly acted as a catalyst to the movement of independence in America. These fundamentals greatly backed the American Revolution and made it successful. The concept behind “patriotism” was analogous to the enlightenment of the values concerning the mass benefit which transcended the limitations of national and social boundaries. The fundamental factors behind the architect of American independence encompass a full range of socio-economic well being but they unanimously emphasized on defending the rights of Americans. The fathers of American independence were also critical about the corruption prevailing in Great Britain and were scared about corruption crossing the Atlantics. Great Britain increasingly threatens their American republican values and their rights. This rendered a full energy to the revolution. American believed in liberty, fraternity and equality in its truest sense for all and sundry and Great Britain seemed to threaten the established ideals of America at large. The concept of “republican motherhood” greatly inspired the ladies of the American movement. Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren were the ladies who took it as their first duty to incorporate the duty of the republican woman to their household. Their mission and vision was to frame a greater and brighter America by installing republican values to discard luxury and pretension among their children. The founding patriarchs of America, which consists of the great names such as Samuel Adams, Patrick Henri, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton strongly advocated the values of republic which insists common citizens to put their civic rights prior to their personal aspirations and desires (Shalhope, “Toward a Republican Synthesis”). The American Revolution was greatly influenced by democratic desires and greater political equality. Patriots like Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson greatly believed in democratic ideals and treaties like theory of “social contract” and Greek and Roman political theories shaped the fundamental beliefs of the fathers of the great revolution and they started believing in the Greek ideals that: Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." This philosophy was agreed upon by Mercy Otis Warren. In 1776 writing to John Adams, he rightly said: “"There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honor, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society” (Rahe, “Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution”). References Rahe, P. A., Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution. University of North California, 1992. Shalhope, B. E., “Toward a Republican Synthesis”, March 03 2010, William and Mary Quaterly, 1972. Bibliography Fischer-Tiné, H. & Mann, M., Colonialism as Civilizing Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India. Anthem Press, 2004. Mancall, P., Envisioning America: English Plans for the Colonization of North America. Palgrave Macmillan, 1995. Schultz, K., America Unbound: A U. S. History Primer. Cengage Learning, 2009. Read More