PDF Days of darkness: The Gettysburg civilians by William G Williams in History

Description

In 1930; the American historian and philosopher Will Durant wrote that Britain s conscious and deliberate bleeding of India... [was the] greatest crime in all history . He was not the only one to denounce the rapacity and cruelty of British rule; and his assessment was not exaggerated. Almost thirty-five million Indians died because of acts of commission and omission by the British in famines; epidemics; communal riots and wholesale slaughter like the reprisal killings after the 1857 War of Independence and the Amritsar massacre of 1919. Besides the deaths of Indians; British rule impoverished India in a manner that beggars belief. When the East India Company took control of the country; in the chaos that ensued after the collapse of the Mughal empire; India s share of world GDP was 23 per cent. When the British left it was just above 3 per cent. The British empire in India began with the East India Company; incorporated in 1600; by royal charter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I; to trade in silk; spices and other profitable Indian commodities. Within a century and a half; the Company had become a power to reckon with in India. In 1757; under the command of Robert Clive; Company forces defeated the ruling Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal at Plassey; through a combination of superior artillery and even more superior chicanery. A few years later; the young and weakened Mughal emperor; Shah Alam II; was browbeaten into issuing an edict that replaced his own revenue officials with the Company s representatives. Over the next several decades; the East India Company; backed by the British government; extended its control over most of India; ruling with a combination of extortion; double-dealing; and outright corruption backed by violence and superior force. This state of affairs continued until 1857; when large numbers of the Company s Indian soldiers spearheaded the first major rebellion against colonial rule. After the rebels were defeated; the British Crown took over power and ruled the country ostensibly more benignly until 1947; when India won independence. In this explosive book; bestselling author Shashi Tharoor reveals with acuity; impeccable research; and trademark wit; just how disastrous British rule was for India. Besides examining the many ways in which the colonizers exploited India; ranging from the drain of national resources to Britain; the destruction of the Indian textile; steel-making and shipping industries; and the negative transformation of agriculture; he demolishes the arguments of Western and Indian apologists for Empire on the supposed benefits of British rule; including democracy and political freedom; the rule of law; and the railways. The few unarguable benefits the English language; tea; and cricket were never actually intended for the benefit of the colonized but introduced to serve the interests of the colonizers. Brilliantly narrated and passionately argued; An Era of Darkness will serve to correct many misconceptions about one of the most contested periods of Indian history.