Tag: dalhousie's policy of expansion and subsidiary alliance system

According to the terms of a subsidiary alliance, princely rulers were not allowed to have an independent armed force. They were to be protected by the East India Company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces' that the company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of their territory was taken away as a penalty. For example, the ruler of Awadh was forced to give over half of his territory to the company in 1801, as he failed to pay for the "subsidiary forces".

Defects of Subsidiary Alliance:-

1. The native rulers lost their prestige and dignity,

2. The subsidy demanded from the Indian rulers was beyond their means and they could not afford it. So they taxed their people very heavily,

3. The Indian rulers were compelled to disband their own armies. The disbanded soldiers, in course of time, joined robber gangs such as Thugs and Pindaris and troubled the public,

4. The local rulers lived a life of irresponsibility and degradation because they considered

that their security was the British concern and

 5. Though the Indian rulers were not allowed to wage war with each other directly, they were slowly preparing themselves for wars and they were plotting against one another.

After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Maratha ruler Baji Rao II also accepted a subsidiary alliance. several states like: Hyderabad (1798 and 1800), Tanjore (1799), Awadh (1801), Bhonsle (1803), and Indore(1817) adopted this system.

According to the terms of a subsidiary alliance, princely rulers were not allowed to have an independent armed force. They were to be protected by the East India Company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces' that the company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this protection.

The system of subsidiary alliance was applied to many Indian states by Lord Wellesley. Using this system, subsidiary states surrendered its political independence in return for British protection. The ruler who entered into subsidiary alliance had to pay money or give some territory to the English Company. 

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy introduced by Lord Dalhousie. It was based on the idea that in case a ruler of dependent state died childless, the right of ruling over the State lapses to the sovereign. It was used by him to annex the independent Indian States such as the States of Satara, Jaipur, Sambhalpur, Baghat, Udaipur, Jhansi and Nagpur.