# Reorganising the Raj After 1858: Army, Services, Princely States & Divide-and-Rule Source: https://tracknation.in/story/reorganising-the-raj-after-1858-army-services-princely-states-divide-and-rule (TrackNation β€” free UPSC notes with PYQs) > How the British rebuilt the instruments of power after 1857 β€” the army (European domination, the 1:2 Bengal Army ratio, artillery kept European, no Indian above subedar till 1914, the martial-races theory, ~52% of revenue by 1904), the publ ## Reorganising the Instruments of Power 🎯 **Exam priority: Important.** *Tier 2 β€” recurs regularly in Prelims and Mains; cover fully.* **Why this topic matters for UPSC.** Army reorganisation, the Civil Services restructuring, relations with princely states and the divide-and-rule policy are tested under the 'Miscellaneous / British policy' umbrella. - The post-1857 Europeanisation of the officer corps and the policy toward princely states recur. - The policy of 'Divide and Rule' β€” communal, regional β€” is a strong Mains theme. - Mains: how did British policies after 1857 shape the structure of colonial India? The Revolt of 1857 gave the British a terrible fright, and once it was crushed they set about making sure it could **never happen again**. A companion article covers the constitutional changes β€” the **Government of India Act of 1858**, the transfer of power to the Crown, and the new Councils. This article covers the other half of the story: the deliberate **reorganisation of the instruments of power** β€” the army, the public services, the princely states and the everyday machinery of rule β€” so that every lever of force and patronage stayed firmly in British hands. ## Reorganising the Instruments of Power - After 1857 the rulers had learnt, in one historian's phrase, that "**their bayonets were the only secure foundation of their rule**". The whole post-Revolt settlement was therefore built around a single anxiety β€” **how to prevent another revolt** β€” and three instruments were redesigned to that end: the **army** (rebuilt to make a united mutiny impossible), the **public services** (kept British at the top), and the **princely states** (converted from victims of annexation into props of the Empire). - Running through all three was a deeper change of spirit. The British attitude towards India "**changed for the worse**" after the Revolt: the half-hearted earlier impulse to modernise gave way to **consciously reactionary policies**, captured in the historian Percival Spear's line that "**the Indian Government's honeymoon with progress was over**". The guiding maxim of the new regime was the old one of **divide and rule**. ## The Army: Rebuilt to Prevent Another Revolt The first and most carefully redesigned instrument was the army β€” the ultimate sanction of British power, and the very body that had risen in 1857. ## The Army: Rebuilt to Prevent Another Revolt - The Indian army was **carefully reorganised after 1858**. A few changes followed automatically from the transfer of power: the East India Company's **European forces were merged with the Crown's troops**. But the army was reorganised "**most of all to prevent the recurrence of another revolt**", and several steps were taken to **minimise the capacity of Indian soldiers to rise again**. - **European domination was guaranteed.** The proportion of Europeans to Indians was raised and fixed at **one to two in the Bengal Army** (and two to five in the Madras and Bombay armies). European troops were posted at **key geographical and military positions**, and the crucial branches β€” the **artillery**, and later in the 20th century tanks and armoured corps β€” were placed **exclusively in European hands**. - The older policy of **excluding Indians from the officer corps** was strictly maintained. **Till 1914 no Indian could rise higher than the rank of subedar.** The Indian army thus remained a purely **mercenary force**, deliberately isolated from the rest of the population: newspapers, journals and nationalist publications were kept from reaching the soldiers. ## 'Balance and Counterpoise' & the Martial-Races Theory Beyond raising the European ratio, the British re-engineered the Indian half of the army itself, so that the men could never again combine. ## 'Balance and Counterpoise' & the Martial-Races Theory - The Indian section of the army was organised on the principle of "**balance and counterpoise**" β€” or, frankly, **divide and rule** β€” to stop the soldiers from ever uniting again in an anti-British uprising. **Discrimination by caste, region and religion** was built into recruitment, and a deliberate **fiction** was created that Indians were divided into "**martial**" and "**non-martial**" classes. - Soldiers from **Avadh, Bihar, Central India and South India** β€” who had helped conquer India but had then taken part in the Revolt β€” were branded **non-martial** and were no longer recruited on a large scale. The **Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans**, who had **helped suppress the Revolt**, were declared **martial** and recruited in large numbers. - Indian regiments were deliberately made a **mixture of castes and groups placed so as to balance one another**; **communal, caste, tribal and regional loyalties were encouraged** so that nationalism would not grow. **Caste and communal companies** were introduced in most regiments. Charles Wood, the Secretary of State, wrote to Viceroy Canning in **1861** that he never wished to see again "a great Army, very much the same in its feelings" and "confident in its strength" β€” he wanted the regiments so divided that one could readily be turned on another. ## A Costly Machine: ~52% of Revenue by 1904 This security came at an enormous price β€” one paid, as always, out of Indian revenues. ## A Costly Machine: ~52% of Revenue by 1904 - The Indian army became, in time, a **very costly military machine**. In **1904 it absorbed nearly 52 per cent of the Indian revenues**. This was because it served **more than one purpose**: India, the most prized colonial possession of the age, had to be constantly **defended from the competing imperialisms of Russia, France and Germany**, which swelled the army's size. - Secondly, Indian troops were **not maintained for India's defence alone**: they were used to **extend and consolidate British power across Asia and Africa**. Thirdly, the British section served as an **army of occupation** β€” the ultimate guarantee of the British hold on the country. The whole cost fell on **Indian revenues** and was a very heavy burden on them. ## The Public Services: Reserved for the British The second instrument of power was the bureaucracy β€” the body that turned policy into practice. Indians were shut out of it almost as firmly as out of the officer corps. ## The Public Services: Reserved for the British - All positions of power and responsibility were held by members of the **Indian Civil Service (ICS)**, recruited through an **annual open competitive examination held in London**. Indians could sit it in theory β€” **Satyendranath Tagore**, brother of Rabindranath Tagore, became the **first Indian to succeed, in 1863** β€” and one or two joined almost every year thereafter, but their number was negligible beside the English entrants. - In practice the doors stayed barred by a stack of **handicaps**: the exam was held in **far-away London**, conducted in the **alien English language**, and based on **Classical Greek and Latin** learning that needed a long, costly course of study in England. Worse, the **maximum age for entry was cut from twenty-three in 1859 to nineteen by 1878** β€” if a young Indian of twenty-three found it hard, the Indian of nineteen found it impossible. - In the other departments too β€” **Police, Public Works, Medicine, Posts and Telegraphs, Forests, Engineering, Customs and later Railways** β€” the **superior, highly paid posts were reserved for British citizens**. This was no accident. Secretary of State **Lord Kimberley** laid down in **1893** that an "adequate number" of the Civil Service "**shall always be Europeans**", and Viceroy **Lord Lansdowne** stressed "the absolute necessity of keeping the government... in European hands". The services were **Indianised only after 1918**, and even then control was kept British, while Indianised officials still served Britain's imperial purposes. ## The Princely States: From Annexation to Paramountcy The third instrument was the most dramatic reversal of all β€” the princes, once prey to annexation, were now made into the very pillars of British rule. ## The Princely States: From Annexation to Paramountcy - The Revolt led the British to **reverse their policy towards the Indian States**. Before 1857 they had seized every chance to **annex** them; **this policy was now abandoned**. Most princes had stayed loyal and had actively helped crush the Revolt β€” Viceroy **Canning** called them "**breakwaters in the storm**". Their reward was an assurance that their **right to adopt heirs would be respected** and the **integrity of their territories guaranteed** against future annexation. - The Revolt had convinced the British that the states could be **useful allies against popular opposition**. Canning wrote in 1860 (recalling Sir John Malcolm) that keeping up native states "**without political power, but as royal instruments**" was what would let the Empire last; the British historian P.E. Roberts agreed that to preserve them "**as a bulwark of the Empire**" had become a settled principle of policy. - The other side of the bargain was **complete subordination**. As the price of survival, the princes were made to **acknowledge Britain as the paramount power**: Canning declared in 1862 that "the Crown of England stood forward, the unquestioned Ruler and **Paramount Power** in all India". In **1876 Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India** to emphasise British sovereignty over the whole subcontinent, and **Lord Curzon** later made plain that the princes ruled **merely as agents of the British Crown**. - As the paramount power the British claimed the right to **supervise the internal government** of the states β€” interfering through the **Residents**, appointing and dismissing ministers, even removing rulers. The change is shown by **Mysore** (whose ruler Bentinck had deposed in 1831; the adopted heir was recognised after 1868 and the state **fully restored to the young Maharaja in 1881**) and by **Baroda** (whose ruler **Malhar Rao Gaekwad**, accused in 1874 of misrule and of trying to poison the Resident, was **deposed but the state not annexed** β€” another Gaekwad was put on the throne). ## The Reactionary Turn & 'Divide and Rule' Behind these three instruments lay a single, consciously reactionary spirit β€” and its master-key was the policy of divide and rule. ## The Reactionary Turn & 'Divide and Rule' - The British attitude **changed for the worse** after 1857. Earlier they had at least paid **lip-service** to "preparing" Indians for self-government; now the view was openly put that Indians were **unfit to rule themselves** and must be ruled by Britain indefinitely. The army and the Civil Service had already been redesigned to exclude Indians from real power; the same reactionary turn reached into every field. - The central method was **divide and rule**. Having conquered India by exploiting its disunity, after 1858 the British went on setting **prince against people, province against province, caste against caste, group against group, and β€” above all β€” Hindus against Muslims**. The **Hindu-Muslim unity shown during the Revolt** had alarmed them, and they were determined to break it to weaken the rising nationalist movement. - Immediately after 1857 they **repressed Muslims**, confiscating their lands and property on a large scale and favouring Hindus; **after about 1870 the policy was reversed**, and an effort was made to **turn upper- and middle-class Muslims against the nationalist movement**. The British cleverly used the lure of **government service** β€” on which the educated, lacking other openings, depended almost entirely β€” to **split the educated classes along religious lines**, promising official favours on a communal basis in return for loyalty. - The same reaction showed in **hostility to educated Indians** (sneered at as "**babus**" once they began to organise a nationalist movement and founded the **Indian National Congress in 1885**) and in a new **friendship with the most conservative classes** β€” the princes, zamindars and landlords (the talukdars of Avadh had their lands restored), hailed as the "natural leaders" of the people and used as **counterweights against the nationalist intelligentsia**. ## Why This Matters for UPSC - **Prelims:** the army reorganisation (the **1:2 Bengal Army ratio**, artillery kept European, **no Indian above subedar till 1914**, "balance and counterpoise", the **martial / non-martial races** theory, **~52% of revenue in 1904**); the **ICS** (exam in London, **Satyendranath Tagore the first Indian, 1863**, age limit cut to **19 by 1878**, Indianised after 1918); the princely states ("**breakwaters in the storm**", **paramountcy**, right of adoption, **Empress of India 1876**, the **Residents**, Mysore & Baroda); and **divide and rule**. - **Mains:** how the post-1857 reorganisation of the army, services and princely states was designed to make the Raj revolt-proof; and how "divide and rule" β€” above all between Hindus and Muslims β€” became the master-policy of the consolidated Raj. ## Further Reading - Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on modern Indian history (any UPSC reading list). ## Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs Test how well you can explain the reorganisation of the Raj after 1858 β€” the army, the public services, the princely states and divide-and-rule. Decide your answer, then open Show answer. ## Practice Questions **Q1.** After 1858 the Indian army was reorganised most of all in order to: - (a) cut military expenditure - (b) fight the Russians in Central Asia - (c) Indianise the officer corps - (d) prevent the recurrence of another revolt **Answer: (d)** β€” The rulers had learnt that their bayonets were the only secure foundation of their rule, so the army was rebuilt above all to make another 1857 impossible. **Q2.** After 1858 the proportion of Europeans to Indians in the Bengal Army was raised and fixed at about: - (a) one to two - (b) one to four - (c) one to one - (d) two to three **Answer: (a)** β€” The European-to-Indian ratio was fixed at one to two in the Bengal Army (and two to five in the Madras and Bombay armies), guaranteeing European domination. **Q3.** Which branch of the army was kept exclusively in European hands after 1858? - (a) the artillery - (b) the cavalry - (c) the engineers - (d) the infantry **Answer: (a)** β€” The crucial branches β€” the artillery, and later tanks and armoured corps β€” were placed exclusively in European hands, while European troops held key positions. **Q4.** Until which year could no Indian rise higher than the rank of subedar in the army? - (a) 1885 - (b) 1858 - (c) 1947 - (d) 1914 **Answer: (d)** β€” The policy of excluding Indians from the officer corps was strictly maintained; till 1914 no Indian could rise above the rank of subedar. **Q5.** The 'martial races' theory was used after 1857 to: - (a) promote Indians to officer rank - (b) abolish caste in the army - (c) raise an all-volunteer Indian army - (d) recruit heavily from groups (Sikhs, Gurkhas, Pathans) who had helped suppress the Revolt while branding others 'non-martial' **Answer: (d)** β€” A fiction of 'martial' and 'non-martial' classes was created: the Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans who helped crush the Revolt were recruited heavily, while groups from Avadh, Bihar and the south were branded non-martial. **Q6.** By 1904 the Indian army absorbed roughly what share of India's revenues? - (a) about 35 per cent - (b) about 20 per cent - (c) nearly 75 per cent - (d) nearly 52 per cent **Answer: (d)** β€” The army had become a very costly machine β€” in 1904 it absorbed nearly 52 per cent of Indian revenues, since it also served as an army of occupation and of imperial expansion. **Q7.** Who was the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Service examination, and in which year? - (a) R.C. Dutt, 1871 - (b) Satyendranath Tagore, 1863 - (c) Surendranath Banerjea, 1869 - (d) Rabindranath Tagore, 1885 **Answer: (b)** β€” Satyendranath Tagore, brother of Rabindranath, became the first Indian to pass the ICS examination, held in London, in 1863. **Q8.** The maximum age for entry into the ICS was lowered, making it still harder for Indians, from twenty-three in 1859 to: - (a) twenty-one by 1870 - (b) eighteen by 1880 - (c) nineteen by 1878 - (d) twenty by 1885 **Answer: (c)** β€” The maximum age was cut from twenty-three (1859) to nineteen (1878); the exam in London, in English, on Greek and Latin, already made Indian entry very difficult. **Q9.** Loyal Indian princes were described by Viceroy Canning, and the post-1857 states policy, as: - (a) 'breakwaters in the storm' and a 'bulwark of the Empire' - (b) equal sovereign allies - (c) a relic to be abolished - (d) dangerous rivals to be annexed **Answer: (a)** β€” Canning called the loyal princes 'breakwaters in the storm'; annexation was abandoned and the states were preserved as a 'bulwark of the Empire', subordinated to British paramountcy. **Q10.** In 1876 Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India in order to: - (a) emphasise British sovereignty and paramountcy over the entire subcontinent - (b) grant self-government to the princes - (c) end the doctrine of lapse - (d) create the Indian Civil Service **Answer: (a)** β€” Assuming the title 'Empress of India' (1876) underscored British sovereignty over all India; the princes were made to acknowledge Britain as the paramount power and ruled as agents of the Crown. ### UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs) *The army, ICS, princely states and divide-and-rule are steady Prelims topics (the question below is a real UPSC PYQ, CSE 2018) and recur in Mains on the consolidation of the Raj.* **Q1.** Which among the following events happened earliest? (UPSC CSE 2018) - (a) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj. - (b) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath. - (c) Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Service examination. - (d) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neel Darpan. **Answer: (d)** β€” Neel Darpan (1858-59) is the earliest. For reference: Satyendranath Tagore entered the ICS in 1863, Dayanand founded the Arya Samaj in 1875, and Bankim Chandra wrote Anandmath in 1882. So option (d) is correct. ### Mains Practice Questions Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly β€” they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover. - β€œAfter 1857 the British rebuilt the army to make another revolt impossible.” Examine the steps taken in the reorganisation of the Indian army. - How were the public services, especially the ICS, kept a preserve of the British after 1858? - Trace the change in British policy towards the princely states after 1857 β€” from annexation to paramountcy. - β€œDivide and rule, above all between Hindus and Muslims, was the master-policy of the consolidated Raj.” Discuss.