Question

Explain the system of the subsidiary alliance.

Answer 1

Hint:: It was a treaty between British East India Company and Indian princely states in which British were trying to decide who was to be the successor and who was to be appointed in administrative posts.

Complete answer: Lord Wellesley planned the subsidiary alliance in which Indian rulers were not allowed to have their independent armed forces as they were to be protected by the company. They had to pay for the subsidiary forces that the company was supposed to maintain for protection and if the Indian rulers failed to make the payment then their power of the territory was taken away as a penalty and later a part of their territory taken as a penalty. If any Indian ruler entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British, then they had to accept British forces in his territory and also agreed to pay for their maintenance. Such a ruler was not in any position to form an alliance ally power, nor would he declare war against any power without the permission of the British. The armed forces of the English East India Company would be permanently deployed in the territories of the Indian rulers. Hyderabad, Mysore, Tanjore, Awadh and Peshwa are the areas in which the Indian state turned into a subsidiary alliance.

Note: Britishers offered such enticing offers to rulers to exptown army which would benefit them in the long run without using direct control.