A Tale of Two Governments: The Complex Relationship Between the Viceroy of India and the British Cabinet 1878-1905

As India became increasingly important in the British imperial consciousness throughout the nineteenth century, so did the question of Indian defense. The British Government and the Viceroy of India did not always agree about how this defense should be conducted, and it was not uncommon, especially in times of crisis, for the Viceroy to shape his own policies, which the London government reluctantly followed. This thesis aims to examine the relationship between the London government and the Viceroy of India in the late nineteenth century, and how it was effected by crises, through three case studies. These are Lord Lytton and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Lord Dufferin and the Panjdeh Crisis, and George Nathaniel Curzon’s attempts to renegotiate British treaties with Afghanistan and his role in the Younghusband expedition. Through this examination, this thesis argues that it was easier for the Viceroy to shape his own policies in times of crisis, and that the absence of a crisis made it easier for the London government to reassert control over policy making