As of 1681, India was ruled by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir. He was engaged in war with the Marathas
in South India,... ...and conflict also started with the East India Company of the Mughal Empire in Bengal. The company wanted to establish a monopoly
on India's trade. British traders were also refusing to pay the taxes imposed by the Mughals. Shaista Khan, the governor of Bengal who was also the maternal uncle of the Mughal Emperor... ...was very upset with the behaviour of
the East India Company. He wrote to his nephew emperor that the British were vile, quarrelsome, and deceitful traders. Meanwhile, English traders were also writing to the company directors in London... ...that the Mughal officers were harassing them and extorting money. That means they take money from them apart from government taxes. Sir Josiah Child, the chairman of the board of directors of the East India Company, was shocked to see such letters. He wrote to his officers in India that... ...now we have only two options... ...either to end the trade or use the sword the King of England gave them. 'With this sword we will win the rights and dignity of the English nation in India'. After writing this, Josiah Child ordered the invasion
of India. British King James II also sent Royal Navy ships
to help the Company. Thus, a regular war began between the Mughals and
the East India Company. It is also called 'Child's War' after Sir Josiah Child. What happened to this war? Who strengthened the foothold of the British in India? I am Faisal Warraich and in the second episode of Desko Suno Jano's series... the East India Company, I will show you all this. In 1606, a naval fleet of 21 warplanes... ...and carried 200 cannons and 600 soldiers reached Bengal from London. The British fighter jets attacked many places including the coastal areas of Bengal and Chittagong. British also captured many Mughal ships. When the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb learned of the British attack,... ...he also ordered a strict retaliation. The Mughal forces in Bengal quickly came into action. The Mughal army repelled the British jets wherever they tried to land in Bengal. The British fleet was soon pushed back much away from the coast of Bengal. After that, the Mughals started confiscating all
the British factories, The British factories in Surat, Patna, Masulipatnam, and Vishakapatnam were attached. Hundreds of English were arrested. These prisoners were chained and were rounded up in the streets of India. Then they were locked up in the jails of Surat and Dhaka. It is said that the conditions of these jails were
the worst... ...and they were kept here like criminals. The biggest blow to the British Company came when Yaqut Khan, a black commander of the Mughal Navy,... ...besieged Bombay, the company's most important
naval base. This siege lasted for about 15 months. There were countless deaths due to a lack of food and disease in the city. It became impossible for the British to break this encirclement. The war between the Mughals and the East India Company lasted from 1686 to 1690. During this period almost all the Company's bases were captured or besieged by the Mughal forces. The Company directors came to the senses due to continuous defeats. So the company... decided to send its two representatives to Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, ...George Weldon and Abram Nawar, for the apology. When these representatives reached the court, the Mughal soldiers tied their hands behind their backs,... ...after which they both appeared before the emperor head down. It seemed as if they were not diplomatic representatives buy beggars. Reaching the emperor's throne, he lay down on the floor. The emperor scolded them badly and asked about the purpose of their visit. Both admitted the company's crimes and apologized. In response, the emperor made a big mistake. He apologized to the Company. On their order, the Company paid a fine of around
150,000 Indian rupees. The Company also promised to obey the Mughal emperor in the future. In addition, the chief officer of the East India Company in India who,... ...led the war against the Mughals, would also leave
the country. After these promises of the Company, Yakut Khan ended the siege of Bombay on the emperor's order. British factories were also restored and prisoners were freed. The British, who were losing ground in India... ...got an opportunity by this to re-establish their foothold. Immediately after this battle, in August 1690, Job Charnock, an agent of the Company,... ...bought some land near Calicut Ghat in Bengal. The British built a fort on this land after a few years. It was named Fort William. A large city was then settled around
the same Fort William,... ...which was named Calcutta or Calcutta after
the village of Calicut. Along with the Calcutta base, the East India Company had three major naval bases in India. Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. With these three bases they could advance in India. But once again, standing in their way was the Mughal Empire and its powerful rulers. Maybe the good luck of the British or something else, but the fact was that... ...that the Mughal Empire had also begun to rust. Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir was 72 years old. Aurangzeb's grip on the Mughal Empire began to weaken due to the Maratha rebellion in South India. A few years after a crushing defeat, the East India Company... ... had realised this weakness of the Mughals. Taking advantage of this, they once again became arrogant towards the Mughals. Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir died in 1707. After that, his son Bahadur Shah I sat on the throne. But the new emperor did not have the courage of his father. During his reign, rebellions and chaos gripped
the whole of India. The Company took full advantage of this chaos. Three years after the death of Aurangzeb, the British made the first open show of power in India. The Company got this opportunity when it had some skirmishes with the army of a Mughal fort near Madras. The commander of the fort also besieged the British fort for some time. Two Englishmen were also arrested and kept in prison for a few days. In retaliation, the forces of the East India Company attacked Indian settlements near Madras. They carried out looting in 52 towns and villages. They destroyed crops and brutally killed women and children. Due to this attack, the British were in awe of the area... ...and the local rulers started to yield to their authority. The Company directors in London were overjoyed when they learned of this action. They wrote to their officers in India that this incident would show the Indians... ...that the British could fight even against
their powerful rulers. In other words, no one will dare confront the British
in the future. Amid this situation in Madras, the new governor of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan, also complaints against the British. He wrote to the Delhi Darbar that when the British came to our country,... ...they humbly requested to buy land to build a factory. But now... ...they have converted it into a fort,... have dug a moat around it... ...and mounted many cannons on the fort walls. Luring many traders in the name of giving them protection, they... ...have to them settled in the fort. Now, they are earning Rs 100,000 from this fort. These people are robbing the king's subjects and have enslaved many men and women. Murshid Quli Khan was probably talking about Calcutta... ...because the biggest British fort was in Bengal. But no action was taken on this letter of
Murshid Quli Khan either. Because from 1707 the Mughal Empire was rapidly disintegrating. The states of Hyderabad, the Deccan, and Oudh, had seceded from the Mughal Empire. The Marathas started attacks towards Delhi. The Sikh communities in Punjab also gained
semi-autonomy. External invaders from Iran and Afghanistan
also attacked the Mughal Empire. The first Iranian ruler, Nadir Shah, defeated the Mughals at Karnal in 1739. He took the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah Rangela as a prisoner. After this, Nadir Shah's army massacred at least 20,000 civilians in Delhi. The Iranian ruler possessed the famous throne of the Mughals, Takht-i-Taos, and diamond Koh-i-Noor. After plundering for some time, Nadir Shah returned
from Delhi,... ...and a new power in Afghanistan became a threat
to the Mughals. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Abdali freed Afghanistan from the influence of the Mughals and Iranians and... ...declared it an independent state. But at the same time, it started raiding and looting
Punjab for wealth. Delhi also came under their attacks
in the 1750s. Friends, in the biography of Ahmad Shah Abdali,... ...and in our History of Afghanistan series, you have seen this story in detail. There are also links to it on iButton After Emperor Aurangzeb, two major European powers were fighting for control of India. A British East India Company based in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay... ...and the other power was France, which had two large bases in India. One is the fort of Pandey Chari in the south of Madras... ...and the other was the fort of Chandannagar on the bank of the Hooghly river in the north of Calcutta. The French and the British transferred modern arms, guns, and cannons from their countries to their forts. In particular, Pandey Cheri and Madras became training grounds for both armies. Both were recruiting Indians for the war of occupation of India. The first Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam speaking people... ...were recruited into the English and French forces They were foot soldiers trained to fire and charge the enemy with bayonets mounted on guns. For these Indian soldiers, the local language word Sepahi was changed to 'Sepoy' in English. At the beginning of this race to build a powerful army, the French had an edge. It was because of that France was a powerful country at the beginning of the 18th century. Its economy, double that of Great Britain, was double. It had three times the population and the largest
army in Europe. Only in the Navy was Britain superior. Even in India, France had built a stronger army than the British on the basis of its economy. This army was led by Joseph Dupleix. He was the Governor General of the French-controlled territories in India. In 1746 he launched a surprise attack on the British fort of Madras. Against his army of 4000, there were only 300 British soldiers to defend Madras. The French forces forced the British to surrender without any casualties. The French flag started flying over Madras. After this success, the French governor also took up the fight with the Indians. In the southern Indian state of Arcot, which is part of the present Indian state of Tamil Nadu... ...was ruled by Nawab Anwaruddin, a loyal to the Mughal court. He asked Duplex to hand over the Madras fort
to the Mughals. Dupleix refused. Anwaruddin sent 10,000 soldiers to fight him. In response, 700 French soldiers, mostly Indian soldiers, came out to fight. On October 24, 1746, on the bank of the Adyar River near the Bay of Bengal,... ...a decisive battle in Indian history took place. 700 French soldiers took the cover of trees and suddenly opened fire on the Mughal army. Mughal soldiers had guns and a large number of them were cavalry. But their discipline was very poor. When many of the Mughal soldiers were killed by the heavy firing of the enemy,... ...a stampede broke out and the entire army fled. The surprising fact of this battle was that only two French soldiers were killed. Compared to it, the loss of the Mughals was more than 300 killed and wounded. This was the first major defeat of the Indian army by a European power. After this war, the great training and discipline of the French forces created awe in India. The local rulers started giving money to the French
to use for themselves. The French forces remained mercenaries in the wars between the Nawabs and Raje Maharajas for many years. Once a powerful state Hyderabad in the Deccan also got military help from France in an internal conflict. In return for this assistance, Governor Dupleix was given 77,500 pounds. He was also made the honorary commander of 7000 cavalry of the Deccan army. A manor with an annual income of 20,000 was
also gifted. France was getting all these successes. But the British were not oblivious to that. They also began to improve their forces in India. A few years later, they also took back the Madras fort from France under an agreement. After that, the British, like the French, offered military services for money to the local rulers. However, the English company needed a commander who could defeat the French. It soon found this leader. The young commander's name was Robert Clive. Robert Clive was a vagabond and quarrelsome youth. His parents got rid of his ill attitude by getting him a job as a clerk in the Company and sending him to India. When the French captured Madras in 1746, Clive was
also in the city. The French captured him. They tortured Clive and the other Englishmen,
to force them... ...to swear that they would not fight the French in the future. The rest of the English took this oath, but Clive refused. Despite the torture , he remained unmoved. Then one day he escaped from prison by throwing dust in the eyes of the French soldiers. His destination was St. David's, another British fort far from Madras. He reached this fort and received military training from Stringer Lawrence, a British commander. Clive was a clever young man who soon became an expert in military tactics. He was made a lieutenant in the army. In the 17th century, Clive had an important opportunity to show his talents. French forces along with some Indian allies... ...laid siege to the Arcot fort. The people of the fort sought help from the British. But the problem was that the weather was bad. The army had to wade through heavy monsoon
rains to reach the fort. Clive offered his services when other officers were hesitant about the expedition. He arrived at Arcot in the dead of night with only 500 soldiers braving torrential rain. Soon after reaching there, he attacked
the besieging forces. The number of the enemy was much larger than
the English army. But in the rain and darkness, the French commanders failed to see the small British force had attacked them. He retreated, mistaking it for the action of a large army. Thus Arcot remained in the possession of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan, a supporter of the British. Clive had apparently a small victory but it
impacted hugely. This victory raised the morale of the British in India. The following year brought more victories for Clive. In 1752, Clive and his mentor, General Stringer Lawrence, foiled a French attack on Madras. He then fought a few more battles to secure the forts of Arcot and Trichinaplea from French attack, Clive's greatest success came on June 13, 1752. On that day, the French commander Jacques Law surrendered to Robert Clive near Tiruchirappalli. 785 French nationals and their 2000 Indian soldiers became prisoners of the British. Robert Clive's great victories re-established the British foothold in India. He actually proved to be the saviour of the British. The French governor Dupleix was unable to stop
his successes. Therefore, the French dismissed him from the post of governor and sent him back to Paris. Meanwhile, Lord Clive, who had earned a lot of wealth due to his military campaigns,... ...also retired and went to England,... ...where he became a member of Parliament. After Dupleix and Lord Clive left India, there was brief peace between the English and the French. But this was temporary. In 1755, an event took place that changed the history of Great Britain, France, and India. The flames of war flared up again. But this incident... ...happened in France, thousands of kilometers away from India. What was this event? In November 1755, the London headquarters of the East India Company received an intelligence report. This report was sent by a British agent from Brittany in France. It was reported that a powerful French fleet had left Brittany on an important military expedition. Now Britain and France were once again on the verge of war. It was due to the intensified clashes between the British and French colonies in America. You know, this was a time when America did not fight Britain... ...for independence nor did it win it as yet. So there was a war going on between the French and British forces at that place. This war could also affect India. The directors of the East India Company felt that this French fleet would probably... ...attack Madras or Calcutta. There was a solid reason for them to think so. Before that, Madras was captured by the French fleet
during the war in 1746. Now the British did not want to take this risk. So they immediately took two major steps. Firstly, they warned the British governors of Madras and Calcutta of a French attack and... ...ordered them to tighten their security. Secondly, it was decided to send Robert Clive
back to India. Here friends you must know that Clive was expelled from the British Parliament. He was accused of buying the membership in the Lower House of... ...of the British Parliament, which is also called the House of Commons. For this reason, Parliament impeached him. Clive was badly hit by this impeachment. The wealth he had earned from India he squandered on his political career. Now he needed more wealth. So when the East India Company offered to send him back to India, he immediately accepted. Clive was made the Deputy Governor of Madras with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army. But before he reached India, the war had started there. But this war was not fought with France but with the young Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal. It happened that when, as per the order of the East India Company, the governor of Calcutta,... ...Roger Drake tried to fortify the fort, the Nawab raised an objection to it. He captured Calcutta considering the new fortifications of the British against the trade agreement. He also confiscated a British factory located in the Qasim Bazar area of Bengal. Once again the Company's presence in India was in jeopardy. Given the importance of Calcutta, Robert Clive got ready for war with the Nawab soon after he reached Madras. He reached Bengal with 3000 troops. In January 1757, he captured Calcutta. In March, Clive also captured Chandannagar, the most important base of the French allies of Siraj-ud-Daula. Thus the French forces were not able to provide much military support to the Nawab. When Clive saw that Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula was weakened, he hatched a plot. He planned to overthrow the Nawab in league with Mir Jafar, the military commander of Bengal. On June 23, 1757, near Murshidabad, the capital of Bengal,.. ...another decisive battle in Indian history was fought
in Plassey. With the help of Mir Jafar, Clive's small army of
about 3000 soldiers... ...defeated Siraj-ud-Daula's army of 60 to 70 thousand. We have shown you the full story of the Battle of Plassey on Dekho Suno Jano. Here is the link to this video the iButton. Siraj-ud-Dawla was captured and killed after
the Battle of Plessey. In his place, Mir Jafar was entrusted with
the government of Bengal. While Lord Clive was appointed Governor of Calcutta. In return for the help of the British, Mir Jafar gave them a gift of 123,8575 pounds. In this, Clive received a share of £170,000. In the next eight years, the government of Bengal,
in terms of political gifts... ...paid 2.5 million pounds to the British. In 1760, Clive left Bengal laden with wealth for London. According to an estimate, the value of this wealth
was 12 million pounds. Perhaps he believed by defeating the European powers he secured the Company's power in Bengal. The English occupation of Bengal was not only threatened by the Europeans. The hatred for the British was in the hearts of
Bengalis from the first day. For them, the British were just foreign invaders
and looters. In a situation, when the people of Bengal hated them,... ...the East India Company felt it needed a legal authority to get acceptable in the eyes of the people. The search for this authority took him to
the battlefield of Buxar. What was the story of the Battle of Buxar? What was the outcome of the Bengal War of Independence? How did Aurangzeb's successors fall to the mercy of the British? All this you will see in the next episode
of East India Company. In this episode, we briefly mentioned the story of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and Mir Jafar. We have a separate documentary on this historic betrayal and the first major victory of the British in Bengal. You can watch this wonderful documentary here. Here you can see Tipu Sultan's biography. Here is the complete playlist of East India Company
for you.