HIS 196B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Brown Bess, Nationstates, Aurangzeb
Document Summary
Lecture 2: succession battles with weak rulers, emperor aurangzeb policies, invasions of nadir shah (1739-41), abdali (1760, corrupt, factious, disloyal mobility, shortage of revenue or jagirdari crisis, peasant rebellion combined with the breakaway of key provinces. Layers of political power in 18th century india: the mughals, regional kingdoms (bengal, awadh, local kings, chieftains, zamindars. Merchant houses: virji vohra in the malabar coast, jagat seths in murshidabad, patna, and calcutta, mathuradas and gopaldas in benares. The age of european nation-states: national and imperial rivalry. Local chieftains would receive short term gain like land through their british allies. Anglo-french struggle in the carnatic(south: battle of fort st. david 1748, pondicherr and madras, treaty of aix-la-chapelle, exchange of madras and cape breton, recall of dupleix. Creation of puppet regimes: workers in british east india company are paid less but they make fortunes through investments in local trade (abuse of internal trade)
