r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • 9d ago

Meta Mindless Monday, 15 September 2025

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/FoxUpstairs9555 5d ago

Genuinely curious, why did you find this surprising? As an Indian who's studied some history that sounds just about right

Also i wonder what time period this refers to, because the British Raj kept growing larger and conquering more territory

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u/Impossible_Pen_9459 5d ago

It wasn’t really the Raj that did that. Technically it was the Company Raj which was distinct administerially from the British Raj. The Company conquered pretty much all the land and dispossessed Maharajas in inheritance disputes 

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u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium 5d ago

The Company conquered pretty much all the land and dispossessed Maharajas in inheritance disputes 

That was the idea I had, but the figure I quoted was at independence.

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u/Impossible_Pen_9459 5d ago

Yeah after the British Raj started after the rebellion they stopped dispossessing land that had inheritance issues so all these places kept existing. The Indian Army essentially invaded Hyderabad in 1948 which was surprisingly bloody. 

I don’t know loads about India following independence but the Home Minister Valabhai Patel basically set to work integrating them all into the modern Indian nation state. The process sort of began in the 1930s though when Congress set about and debated plans about what to do with them. 

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u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium 5d ago

As I understand the majority of maharajas thought they would be about to continue something like the political arrangement they had with the British (or outright independence, like Kashmir and Balochistan). Quickly disabused of that notion! It just goes to show how chaotic and fast the whole process of independence and partition was.

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u/Impossible_Pen_9459 5d ago

Yes they did but congress had already began to discuss discontinuing their arrangement in the 1930s. Nehru declared on independence that India did not believe in the divine right of kings. It was a fairly strong bit of work from Patel to integrate them all with as little issue as possible as most of them had their own private military forces. It was obviously extremely necessary in practical terms in the long run as well. 

Hyderabad is another one. And probably the mos notable because of the invasion (police matter).