From Mid-18th Century to British Dominance
1.1 Decline of the Mughal Empire
Decline of centralized Mughal authority and the rise of powerful regional states — Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad, Mysore, Marathas, Sikhs — with growing regional autonomy and court politics.
1.2 Advent of European Powers
Arrival and rivalry of the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British; Carnatic Wars as a theatre of Anglo-French rivalry; decisive battles such as Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) that paved the way for Company political control.
1.3 British Expansion Policies
Key policies used for expansion: Subsidiary Alliance (Lord Wellesley) — protectorate-style control; Doctrine of Lapse (Lord Dalhousie) — annexation policy based on succession; plus diplomacy and military supremacy.
1.4 Early Administrative Structure & Acts
Important regulatory and constitutional measures: Regulating Act (1773), Pitt's India Act (1784), successive Charter Acts, culminating in the Government of India Act, 1858 that transferred power from Company to Crown.
1.5 Economic Impact of British Rule
Major economic effects: land revenue systems (Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari, Mahalwari), drain of wealth thesis, de-industrialization of handicrafts, commercialization of agriculture, and reorientation of the economy to serve British industrial needs.
Socio-Cultural Developments & Resistance
2.1 Socio-Religious Reform Movements
Movements for social reform led by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Jyotiba Phule, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and others — focusing on abolition of Sati, widow remarriage, caste and gender reforms, and modern education.
2.2 Indian Response to British Rule (Before 1857)
Widespread peasant and tribal uprisings and localized resistances against exploitative policies — early expressions of anti-colonial sentiment prior to 1857.
2.3 The Revolt of 1857
Causes: political discontent, military grievances, economic distress, and religious/ social causes. Nature: large-scale but fragmented. Key centres: Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Bareilly. Consequences: end of Company rule; reorganisation of administration; lessons on colonial control. Reasons for failure: lack of unified leadership, sectionalism, superior British resources.
The Indian National Movement
3.1 Rise of Nationalism (1858–1905)
Formation of local political associations; establishment of the Indian National Congress (1885); dominance of Moderate phase with constitutional methods and petitions.
3.2 Militant Nationalism & Revolutionary Activities (1905–1918)
Partition of Bengal (1905) and the Swadeshi movement; rise of more assertive nationalists; the Surat Split (1907); Morley-Minto Reforms (1909); beginning of revolutionary activity and Home Rule movements; Lucknow Pact (1916) showed Hindu-Muslim cooperation.
3.3 The Gandhian Era (1919–1947)
Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership and mass-based satyagraha: Non-Cooperation (1920), Khilafat allied phases, Civil Disobedience (Dandi March, 1930), and the Quit India Movement (1942) — shaping mass nationalist mobilisation.
3.4 Constitutional Developments
Key constitutional milestones: Government of India Acts (1919 and 1935); multiple wartime and postwar missions (Cripps Mission, Cabinet Mission, Wavell Plan, Mountbatten Plan); final legal step — Indian Independence Act (1947).
3.5 Other Strands of the Movement
Role of revolutionaries (Bhagat Singh), Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA, the Left wing, the Muslim League’s politics, and the intensifying separatist demand that culminated in Partition.
Post-Independence
4.1 Consolidation and Reorganisation
Integration of princely states under Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; the linguistic reorganisation of states (States Reorganisation Act, 1956); early nation-building challenges, administrative consolidation and social-economic planning up to the mid-1960s.