11 min readConcept sheetSection A MCQ (1 mark) and objective (2 marks, two parts); Section B very short answer (2 marks) or short answer (3 marks); Section B map work (4 marks)

Wars, the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse

After Bengal, the British beat Mysore, the Marathas and the Sikhs, and took more states through the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse.

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War1799: Tipu Sultan died fighting; the British took Seringapatam

Third Anglo-Maratha War1817 to 1819: the Peshwa was dethroned and sent to Bithur near Kanpur

Annexation of Punjab1849, by Lord Dalhousie, after the Second Anglo-Sikh War

States taken under the Doctrine of LapseSatara 1848, Sambalpur 1850, Udaipur 1852, Nagpur 1853, Jhansi 1854

Three sets of wars that broke Indian resistance

Wars	Indian side	Result
Anglo-Mysore Wars (four wars; the last in 1799)	Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan	Tipu died fighting in 1799. The British took Seringapatam, Kanara and Coimbatore.
Anglo-Maratha Wars (the last was the Third War, 1817 to 1819)	The Peshwa and Maratha chiefs, weakened by quarrels among themselves	The Peshwa was dethroned and his lands annexed. He was pensioned off to Bithur near Kanpur.
Anglo-Sikh Wars (first war from 1845; second war ended in 1849)	The Sikh state built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh (died 1839)	The Sikhs lost at Gujrat on the Chenab (now in Pakistan). Dalhousie annexed Punjab in 1849; Ranjit Singh's son Dalip Singh was given a pension and sent away to England.

Subsidiary Alliance and Doctrine of Lapse

Subsidiary AllianceBrought in by Lord Wellesley (1798). An Indian ruler had to disband his own army and keep British troops in his state at his own cost. He gave up control of his foreign affairs and could make no alliance without the British. In return the British promised to protect him. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to accept it.

Doctrine of LapseUsed by Lord Dalhousie (Governor-General 1848 to 1856). If a ruler under British protection died without a natural heir, his adopted son could not inherit the throne, property or pension. The state lapsed, that is, passed to the British.

Your lesson also lists Awadh (1856) here. Dalhousie did annex Awadh in 1856, but on the charge of misrule, not for want of an heir. The Udaipur of 1852 was a small state in present-day Chhattisgarh, not the city in Rajasthan.

Who lost when states were annexed

The Third Battle of Panipat (1761), which the Marathas lost to Ahmad Shah Abdali, had already weakened the strongest Indian power.
Rulers lost their thrones; some, like the Peshwa and Dalip Singh, were simply pensioned off.
Soldiers of disbanded armies lost their jobs.
Craftspeople who made goods for royal courts lost their buyers.
Nobles, scholars and priests lost the support of rulers, chiefs and zamindars and became poor.
The British also took Assam, Arakan and parts of the north-east, Nepal and Burma (1818 to 1826), and Sind (1843).
By the middle of the 19th century, no Indian power was left that could challenge the British.

Activity: you are the heir

Imagine you are 15 years old in the 19th century. Your uncle rules a small state under British protection. He has no child, so he names you his heir. The British refuse to accept you.

1
List what you would lose: the throne, the state's revenue, the pension and the army.
2
List who else suffers: soldiers, artisans, priests and scholars who depended on the court.
3
Write the peaceful steps you could take, such as an appeal to the Company and to London, as many real heirs did.
4
Recall Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Her adopted son was refused in 1854, and she later fought in the revolt of 1857.
5
Write your answer in about 50 words and say whether you think the policy was fair.

On the map

Seringapatam (Srirangapatna): Tipu Sultan's capital, an island town in the Kaveri near Mysuru, southern Karnataka.
Bithur: on the Ganga near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh; where the last Peshwa was sent.
Satara: in western Maharashtra, south of Pune; lapsed in 1848.
Nagpur: near the centre of India, in eastern Maharashtra; lapsed in 1853.
Jhansi: in the Bundelkhand region of southern Uttar Pradesh, near the Madhya Pradesh border; lapsed in 1854.
Sambalpur: in western Odisha on the Mahanadi; lapsed in 1850.
Lucknow: capital of Awadh, in central Uttar Pradesh on the Gomti; Awadh annexed in 1856.

In real life

At Srirangapatna near Mysuru, a memorial marks the place where Tipu Sultan fell in 1799. Jhansi's hilltop fort, home of Rani Lakshmibai, still draws visitors from across India.

Exam angle

2 marks: “What was the Doctrine of Lapse? Name two states annexed under it.” If a ruler under British protection died without a natural heir, his adopted son could not inherit, and the state passed to the British. Examples: Satara (1848) and Jhansi (1854).

2 marks: “Write any two conditions of the Subsidiary Alliance.” (1) The ruler disbanded his army and kept British troops at his own cost. (2) He gave up control of foreign affairs and made no alliance without British consent.

1 marks: “Who annexed Punjab in 1849?” Lord Dalhousie, after the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

Remember it

Subsidiary = Soldiers (British troops in your state, Wellesley). Lapse = Lost heir (no natural son, Dalhousie).