Hello there, I was curious about India nd it's relationship with Great Britain or the British Empire in the respect. Occasionally, I'd see Indian paramilitaries or Indian soldiers fighting under the British Flag or British Imperial Flag. The 2nd Great War included more then a 1 million Indian's *volunteering*. I wanted to ask, did the British Indians fight of the British Empire out of loyalty to the Crown or was it something else? I mean, those are quite a lot of Indians fighting for the British Empire. . . so what was it? Loyalty or was it an obligation/Ordered to do it?.
Thanks for your time.
So, while I take a break from writing an essay, I'm going pose a question to all the scholars on r/KnowingBetter. Was the expansion of the British empire more akin to the protection of trade routes and territory than malicious subjugation. I acknowledge that the expansion of any empire, especially in the 18th through 19th centuries was also facilitated by inter-power rivalries in Europe, but looking at some of these conquests, it seems that it was more of a matter of England trying to protect its very lucrative trade routes or territory that it already held.
One example of this is Lord Lugard's expedition into Northern Nigeria to combat slave raids by the Sokoto Caliphate. It is important to understand at this point in time, many muslim nations still legally allowed slavery within their territories and the Sokoto Caliphate was no different. They frequently raided neighboring territories for slaves and according to Paul Lovejoy, Sokoto was one of the largest slave societies in Africa. Once the Sokoto were subjugated; Lugard said this:"The Fulani in old times […] conquered this country. They took the right to rule over it, to levy taxes, to depose kings and to create kings. They in turn have by defeat lost their rule which has come into the hands of the British. All these things which I have said the Fulani by conquest took the right to do now pass to the British. Every Sultan and Emir and the principal officers of state will be appointed by the high Commissioner throughout all this country. The High Commissioner will be guided by all the usual laws of succession and the wishes of the people and chief, but will set them aside if he desires for good cause to do so. The Emirs and chiefs who are appointed will rule over the people as of old time and take such taxes as are approved by the High Commissioner, but they will obey the laws of the Governor and will act in accordance with the advice of the Resident."
This, in all essentiality, ended the legal trade of slaves in Nigeria. Knowing this, how does this change your view on the expansion of the British Empire?
P.S. I apologize I don't have time to pour more research into this, I'm currently working on a four-page essay on Khedival Egyptian society and needed a little break before I burnt myself out. I know that there is still pertinent information that needs to be found and explained so I will be frequently checking the comments section of this post for information that I missed and other
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