← GPSC syllabus
GPSC (Gujarat)Stage 2: Main Examination
Modern India from the Mid-18th Century to Independence
What the official syllabus says
GPSC Main Examination, Paper IV: General Studies-I, (A) History.
- Modern Indian history including Gujarat from about the middle of the 18th century until Independence - significant events, personalities, issues.
This page covers India as a whole. Gujarat in the same period is on Gujarat: Modern History and the Freedom Struggle; the freedom struggle has its own page.
Topics in detail
The line asks for significant events, personalities and issues. Arrange them in a timeline, then study the issues (economic policy, administration, resistance) that run across it.
Decline of the Mughals and the rise of the Company
- Successor states: Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad; the Marathas, the Sikhs, Mysore
- Anglo-French rivalry and the Carnatic Wars
- Plassey (1757), Buxar (1764) and the Diwani of Bengal (1765)
- Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Maratha and Anglo-Sikh wars
- Subsidiary alliance (Wellesley) and the doctrine of lapse (Dalhousie)
The Revolt of 1857
- Causes: political, economic, military, religious and social
- Centres and leaders: Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Bihar; Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nana Saheb, Rani Lakshmibai, Tatya Tope, Kunwar Singh
- Nature of the revolt and the debate over it; why it failed
- Consequences: Crown rule (1858), reorganisation of the army, policy towards princes
Colonial economy and administration
- Land revenue settlements and peasant indebtedness
- Railways, commercialisation of agriculture, famines
- Drain of wealth: Dadabhai Naoroji, R. C. Dutt
- Education and the press; the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and the Ilbert Bill controversy
Popular resistance
- Peasant movements: Indigo revolt (1859-60), Deccan riots (1875)
- Tribal revolts: Santhal (1855-56), Munda Ulgulan under Birsa Munda
Personalities to know
- Administrators: Warren Hastings, Cornwallis, Wellesley, Bentinck, Dalhousie, Ripon, Curzon
- Indian leaders and thinkers of the 19th century: Rammohan Roy, Dadabhai Naoroji, Ranade, Tilak, Gokhale
Issues
- Why the Company succeeded against Indian powers
- Colonialism and the Indian economy
- Social and cultural impact of British rule
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1757 | Battle of Plassey |
| 1764 | Battle of Buxar |
| 1773 | Regulating Act |
| 1793 | Permanent Settlement of Bengal |
| 1799 | Fall of Tipu Sultan at Srirangapatna |
| 1818 | End of the Peshwa's rule |
| 1849 | Annexation of Punjab |
| 1857 | Revolt of 1857 |
| 1858 | Government of India Act; rule of the Crown |
| 1885 | Indian National Congress founded |
The rise of Indian nationalism
- Causes: political unification, communications, Western education, the press, the economic critique, racial discrimination
- Pre-Congress associations: the British Indian Association, the Bombay Presidency Association, the Indian Association, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha
- The new educated middle class and its demands
Overlaps
- Prelims General Studies: arrival of Europeans, Company rule, 1857 in India and Gujarat, national leaders.