ABSTRACT
The development of British power in India was a continuous process from the middle of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, there were several main phases of expansion. The first phase, which ended in 1765, was characterised by the establishment of British power in Bengal and the maintenance of Oudh as a buffer state. The second great period of expansion is associated with the names of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Wellesley and may be considered as having lasted from 1786 to 1805. If conditions in India had remained unchanged from the time of Clive the policy of standing aloof might have been practicable. The decadence of the Mughal Empire opened the way for a disastrous invasion by Nadir Shah, the Persian, in 1739; and when a few years later Ahmad-Shah-Abdali succeeded to the position of Nadir Shah, he, too, cast envious eyes on the riches of Upper India.
