Military Factors as the Reason for British Presente in India
British interest in India could be said to have been military based.
Indian troops were significant in many wars, not only the two world
wars but they also played important roles in many other wars, such as
in China as early as 1860. Indian troops fought in Afghanistan, which
emphasised British interest in India as they didn't want to let Russia
into the Indian picture. The fact that the British had formal empire
in India meant that the army was important to them, as if it was
informal the army wouldn't have been controlled but they would have
still pulled the string behind the scenes. As for ...view middle of the document...
Their army was no longer useful as the
global situation had calmed down and it made a lot more sense to leave
India without further bad feeling towards the British. As the grip on
India was loosening the British army's resources were more
concentrated on keeping other colonies in the Empire.
Politics, however, was also a reason the British left India. The
Labour Prime Minister, Atlee, at the time wasn't interested in the
empire not like previous conservative leaders and made a statement in
1946 that whatever happened Britain would be out of India by June
1948. The Indians were now basically running the country anyway, apart
from emergency powers the British still kept. Also if we left the
country with pro-British government leaders they would be sympathetic
to the British business interests and the country would remain
virtually informal empire.
International relations put more pressure on the British to leave.
America was now the new dominant figure in the world and it was them
keeping Britain from bankruptcy, the American government at that time
was anti-imperialistic and was not keen on the British Empire. The
British government was more enthusiastic to keep hold of other
colonies when they were loosing grip on India and put more effort into
Africa especially.
Cultural and Religious reasons put even more pressure on the British
to leave India in 1947. Indian nationalism was strengthened by
religion. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims had made the situation
in India a lot more complicated, which was a result of the British
trying to divide the opposition. British culture back home was not as
interested in the Empire...
