Chris Mecca Beats

- Chosen by Voters THE HISTORY OF THE INDAIN SUB-CONTINENT IN MODERN TIMES.By early 1700s, the Sikh Empire and the Hindu Marathas had emerged as formidable foes of the Mughals.[41] Following the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire entered a period of gradual decline and by mid-18th century, a large portion of the Mughal territory came under the control of the Maratha Empire.[42]From the 16th century, European imperialist nations, such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, and Great Britain, established trading posts in India and later took advantage of various internal conflicts to establish colonies. By 1856, most of India had come under the control of the British East India Company.[43] A year later, a nationwide insurrection of rebelling military units and kingdoms seriously challenged the Company's control but eventually failed. As a result of the instability, India was brought under the direct rule of the British Crown. Between 1860 and 1900, the Indian subcontinent suffered some of the worst famines in its history causing the death of about 14.5 million people.[44] Mahatma Gandhi (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru, 1937. Nehru would go on to become India's first prime minister in 1947.In the 20th century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress (INC) and other political organisations.[45] Some Indian radical revolutionaries led armed rebellions against the British Raj.[46] However, the defining aspect of the Indian independence movement was the nonviolent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi and the INC.[47] Under the leadership of Gandhi, millions of Indians participated in the Quit India civil disobedience movement against the British Raj.[48]In September 1939, India declared war on Germany and at the height of the World War II, more than 2.5 million Indian soldiers were fighting against the Axis powers.[49] The Indian Army was one of the largest Allied forces contingents which took part in the North and East African, Western Desert and the Italian Campaign and played a crucial role in halting the progress of Imperial Japan in the South-East Asian theatre. [50][51] However, certain Indian nationalists collaborated with the Axis powers to overthrow the British Raj. The Indian National Army (INA), led by Subhash Chandra Bose, forged an alliance with the Axis powers and fought an unsuccessful military campaign against British India.[52]In 1943, a perceived shortage of food leading to large-scale hoarding and soaring food prices coupled with poor food distribution mechanism and inadequate response of the British officials resulted in a catastrophic famine in the Bengal region which killed about 1.5 to 3 million people.[53][54] After World War II, a number of mutinies broke out in the Air Force and Navy and the INA trials caused considerable public unrest.[55][56] On 15 August 1947, the British Raj was dissolved following which the Muslim-majority areas were partitioned which led to the creation of a separate sovereign dominion known as Pakistan.[57] The partition led to a population transfer of more than 10 million people between India and Pakistan and the death of about one million people.[58]Soon after the end of the British Raj, the accession of the 552 princely states to the Union of India went smoothly with the exception of Junagadh, Kashmir and Hyderabad.[59] Junagadh acceded to Pakistan which caused considerable internal unrest.[60] As a consequence, India militarily occupied Junagadh and held a plebiscite, following which Junagadh joined India.[61] After negotiations between India and then Nizam of Hyderabad ended in a stalemate, India launched a successful "police action" to annex Hyderabad.[61] Facing deteriorating political situation, unrest among the Muslim-majority populace and a Pakistani military invasion, the then Maharaja of Kashmir decided to seek military assistance from India and signed the Instrument of Accession.[61][62] The subsequent armed conflict between India and Pakistan ended in December 1948 and the Line of Control formed the de facto border between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir.[63]On 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect under which the country was established as a secular and a democratic state.[64] In 1961, India successfully invaded Goa to liberate it from Portuguese rule, following which Goa was incorporated into the Indian union.[ Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India 11 months ago 100% 4 Votes