The growing commercial interest of the English East India Company and its officials brought them in direct confrontation with the Indian rulers.

The weaknesses in the prevailing Indian polity helped the British to win the battle against them and alienation of different groups from the rulers made the system vulnerable to external forces.

What made the British conquer India is quite an intricate and intriguing question. They were defeated on many occasions by Haider Ali and Tipu, by the Marathas, by the Sikhs, and by the Gurkhas, but still they won an empire. No one specified characteristic can be attributed to the British conquest of India.

The difficulty in framing it in a phrase or word is because of absence of clearest motivation in the British conquest of India; otherwise, it did possess some of the normal features of a conquering nation. No definite motivation can be attributed to their conquests.

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It was mostly circumstances that made the British take step after step to expand their territories in India. It was opportunist conquests and consolidation.

Till the time of Wellesley, both the company and the government at home were timporous of expansionist designs. Whatever expansion that had occurred till that time was the design of the company to save its own skill since its financial condition had become precarious from time to time. Even in a Charter Act it is clearly stated that Britain had no expansionist designs.

But in the days of Wellesley, a deliberate policy of expansionism was conceived in the form of subsidiary alliance, wars, and outright annexations. The British expansion proceeded from one ambitions design to another during his tenure. We find that as early as 1784 the home government issued directive to the company relating to its political conquests.

Further, the policy of the home government underwent periodic changes relating to the overseas possessions of the empire of England. Therefore, we have to accept the fact that the establishment of the British Raj in India was to some extent governed by the policies of the English government.

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After the envision of Nadir Shah, there was confusion in the political field. And as historical evidence shows, this confusion could not be exploited to one’s own ends either by the Rajputs, or the Marathas or the Nizam. In other words there was a political vacuum in India and this itself was an invitation to the British to establish their rule.

In the 17th century little thought was given to the establishment of an empire. The concentration of their energies was more on the earnings bullion because mercantilism was the governing principle of the country’s economic policy.

From the mid of the 18th century the English policy of rtiercantilism and also its policy towards the empire underwent a metamorphic change, particularly after the loss of American colures in 1783. Imperialism, as a policy, was advocated as late as the second half of the 19th century. Therefore, we have to admit that the changes in the political strategies of England also influenced the British conquest of India.

Keeping all these facts in mind and in particular the proverbial nature of the British nation in christening events and achievements after their occurrence we can examine the motivation behind the conquest of India.

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Even after the victory of the company over the French and the acquisition of the Diwani territories, the Directors of the company and also the House of Commons expressed their fears at the growing political nature from time to time.

In spite of these pious professions and warnings, the British territory in India was expanded because most of the proconsuls sent to India took decisions on their own responsibility. They adopted the policy of expansion as a matter of choice.

Nevertheless, the British policy of expansionism became clear by the year 1818. Therefore, we can say that although the British policy began without any clear-cut aims it ended as paramountacy to imperialism. Which was acknowledged in the proclamation of Queen Victoria is the Empress of India in 1876.