India and Britain - the years of Empire

Aims

This course aims to:

1. Give you a secure base of knowledge and understanding of major themes in the colonial relationship between India and Britain from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
2. Help you to understand and interpret source material of different types relating to British rule in India and to the lives of those who lived under it.
3. Help you to discuss and reach informed assessments of different interpretations of the people, issues, events and developments which feature in the course.

Content

This course traces the complex and controversial story of Britain’s imperial relationship with India from the earliest trading contacts in the 17th century through to the blood-stained process by which Britain withdrew from imperial rule and partitioned the Indian Empire.

In the early days of the relationship, India was the mighty Empire and England the smaller, less powerful country, going through a period of internal turbulence and conflict. However, over the course of the next century those positions reversed, as India fell into internal conflict and Britain, in rivalry with France, developed into a global power with an increasingly strong political and military presence in the Mughal Empire. The contrasting figures of Robert Clive and Warren Hastings reflected the conflict in attitudes increasingly to be found within the British, who saw their role either as one of profiteering or of engagement with India’s political and cultural identity.

In the 19th century the British increasingly came to their role not just as one of ruling India but of changing it to conform more closely to western norms and patterns. This led, perhaps inevitably, to a violent clash in 1857, which began as a military mutiny but soon spread into a much wider rebellion against Britain’s increasingly assertive role.

But many Indians supported Britain’s rule and provided a basis for the British to develop an imperial Raj under the supremacy of the British monarch, who also fulfilled the role of Indian Emperor. The British set about a very successful programme of westernising key aspects of India’s culture and infrastructure. However, this process contained the seeds of the end of Britain’s imperial role, as a westernised and radicalised Indian middle class developed an increasingly sophisticated nationalist movement in opposition to British imperial rule.

Presentation of the course

The main method of presentation will be illustrated lectures, with time built in for discussion. We will also look at some source material to see how it can be evaluated to help us understand the issues and the outlook of the people who created it.

Class sessions

1. Royal England and Mughal India – the beginnings of the relationship of England and India and the origins of the East India Company.
2. The Honourable Company and its Servants – The East India Company in the age of Clive, Hastings and Wellesley.
3. The Age of Reform – India in Britain’s ‘Age of Reform’, in the early 19th century.
4. The Soldier Sahibs – the military men who dominated British India.
5. 1857 – the great military mutiny and uprising that ended Company rule.
6. The Royal Raj – the construction of the Raj and the imperial role of the monarchy.
7. The Life of the Raj – how the British lived in colonial India.
8. The Song of the Women – the lives of women under the Raj.
9. The Nationalist Challenge – the development of Indian nationalism.
10. Visions and Violence – the world wars and the bloodstained end of British imperial rule.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Talk with confidence and knowledge about major events and themes in the history of the relationship between India and Britain in the period of the course.
2. Discuss with insight and understanding the major political ideas and ideologies which underpinned British rule in India and Indian responses to it.
3. Reach an informed assessment of the historical debates on British colonial and imperial rule in India and of its legacy and implications today.

Required reading

Allen, Charles, Plain Tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the 20th Century (London: Abacus, 2000)
Bowen, H V ‘British India, 1765-1813’ in P.J. Marshall (ed.) (1998) The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford: OUP)
Dalrymple, William, The Anarchy: the relentless rise of the East India Company (London: Bloomsbury, 2020)
James, Lawrence, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India (London: Abacus, 1998)
Khan, Yasmin, The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan (Yale UP, 2008)
Knight, Lionel, Britain in India, 1858-1947 (London: Anthem, 2012)
Tharoor, Shashi, Inglorious Empire: what the British did to India (London: C. Hurst, 2017)
Von Tunzelmann, Indian Summer: the Secret History of the End of an Empire (Simon and Schuster, 2011)

Typical week: Monday to Friday

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students. 

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.