Timeline of the East India Company

This video is part of modern history. It is basically a crash course wherein you will quickly learn everything about East India Company from 1600 to 1857. All the events will be covered in a chronological manner. We will also make a beautiful timeline. I'll show you how the events are interconnected and in the end it's going to be a nice fun informative session. With no further ado, let's begin. First, let me make a timeline, an empty timeline. As we go ahead, we will start filling in the dates of the events and it will be easier for you to follow up. Great. First thing first, the Indian history has been divided into three parts and they are ancient history, medieval history and then modern history. Now modern history is the part where we typically talk about the time when India was under the rule of British Empire and medieval history is the time from 8th to 18th century in the later part of this time period. India was under the Islamic rule that is from 13th to 18th century. During this time the famous Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire were the direct rulers of major portion of the Indian subcontinent. So to understand the British rule in India, we have to go a little backward towards the end of medieval period, when the Mughal Empire came to an end, after the death of their last influential and powerful emperor. Here are the list of Mughal emperors who ruled India. In this Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal ruler. After him, none of them were that influential. However, Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last emperor till 1857. So we can say that the Mughal Empire officially came to an end by 1857. Nevertheless, situation changed right after the death of Aurangzeb. So that's where the real story starts. One more thing you need to remember here is that the Europeans had already discovered India way before Mughal invasion. Mughal era started in 1526 with Babur being the first emperor. If you remember Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese explorer, he was the first European to discover the sea route to India in 1498. He went to the harbour in Calicut which is now Kohikud. on the Malabar coast. There they had set up their first trading post. Moments back I said that Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal ruler, but he died in 1707. We'll now put this date on the timeline. Now as soon as a powerful influential ruler died, all of his governors, who were also known as Subedas and the big Zamindars, they all slowly started dividing because it is now beneficial for them to establish their own small regional kingdoms so that they can be the king. It's like now the emperor is dead, so forget Delhi. forget the centre, no one cares what's going to happen. Let's get back to our regional places and establish our own rule. Things of that sort were happening. Now we have the dates 1707 and 1498. Let's get to know what happened in between. At 1498, Portuguese came to India, they came to Calicut. After the Portuguese, the Dutch fleet arrived in Pulicat in 1595. Then came the British, who landed in Surat in 1608. After them, the Danish came to Trangibar in Tamil Nadu. in 1616 and at last the French came to Pondicherry in 1664. They all were collectively called as European traders. Cool, now that we have the dates on the timeline let's understand how the British arrived in India because that's what we are interested in. So you see everyone arrived at different locations since Portuguese came to India almost hundred years before any of the European traders they had more number of trading posts compared to other European traders let's understand how the British arrived in India because that's what we are interested in. So it all started in 1600. The English company acquired a charter from the then ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I. Charter means a written legislative paper of a country. So Queen Elizabeth I signed a paper where she gave, in particular, this English company complete individual right to trade with the eastern countries. Now with this charter, the company went to the eastern side through ocean route, looking for new lands from which it could buy goods at cheap price. and carried them back to Europe to sell at higher prices. Basically, they wanted to be the loan shark. And why so? Because, as per the signed charter, no other English trading company could trade. But then, if you look at the timeline, there are other European traders that already arrived in India before the British, like the Portuguese and Dutch. So that means Britain was not alone. While they didn't see any competition from their own country, but their competition were the other European traders. Remember this. Okay, Now that everyone has arrived on the scene, there comes a big problem. All these European trading companies were interested in buying the same products, and that was fine qualities of cotton and silk. Apart from silk, they were also interested in spices like pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. These all had huge market demand in Europe. So they all had a plan to take it back to European market and sell it for higher prices to make huge profit. You see, now the Britain is no more the loan shark. There are other sharks in the competition. Now seeing this demand, the Indian traders who were selling these goods to them, they increased the prices. of goods. And that's an obvious demand price economics. If the demand is high, naturally the prices would go up. This in turn affected the profit margin of these European traders. So instead of finding different ways to minimize the cost, the only reasonable solution they could think of was to eliminate their competitors. Now you see the sharks are fighting among themselves. This led to fierce battles between these European trading companies. All throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, that is from 1600 to 1700. They regularly sank each other's ships, blocked routes and prevented rival ships from moving with supplies of goods. They even fortified their posts, meaning they built big walls to protect their trading post. Now here's the funny thing, when you fortify your trading post and try to maximize your profits in foreign location, who else is going to have a problem? Let me ask this question in a different manner so that you understand better. If there are two or three guests who came to your home and they are fighting with each other constantly, They are building walls of separation on your property. Who is going to get pissed? It's going to be you. Similarly, the local rulers were getting angry. This led to intense conflict with local rulers. So now we have the European traders fighting with each other. Then the local rulers are fighting with them. And these traders in return are fighting with the rulers. The English company had to then start politics. And it was difficult to separate politics from trade. I think you understand why politics was necessary. This kept on going till 1651 when they finally decided to set up their first English factory on the banks of river Hooghly. Now this was an important step for the British because prior to this they only had a trading post and now they actually built a fully equipped factory with warehouses to stock their supplies and also offices where the company officials would sit. As trade expanded the company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. By 1696, it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later, in 1698, it bribed Mughal officials into giving the company zamindari rights over three villages. One of the villages was Kalikata, which is known today by the name Kolkata. Keeping in mind, the Mughal emperor during this time was Aurangzeb. The English company also persuaded Aurangzeb to issue a farman. A farman is a royal order, like how the English acquired a charter in the beginning from the queen. So, a Farman is similar to that. In fact, they even acquired a Farman from the emperor Jahangir while setting up their first trading post in Surat. So, this Farman that they wanted from Aurangzeb had a condition that would give the company the right to trade duty-free. Now, you do understand this would cause enormous loss of revenue for Bengal. But the company did not care. In fact, they went for more and more concessions and wanted more privileges. Now I'll tell you where they actually wanted more of such privileges. So the main objective of the company was to buy goods and ship it back to the European market to earn profit. This was the initial main goal. But then it would be naive to say that the company had all loyal officials and that they were doing all fair trade. No, it had many corrupt officials who were doing private trade. Many of the officials about whom we will read further because it is interesting to know they made millions of pounds and lived a lavish lifestyle back in England by doing private trade. So we just read that the officials of the company who were carrying on private trade on the side were not paying any tax. Now this was causing heavy loss of revenue to the Bengal government. If you look at the timeline, we are now somewhere in the beginning of the 18th century, that is 1700. And then in 1707, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb died. This is an important milestone because of this. From here, situation changed drastically. You remember in the beginning I said Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal emperor? So after his death, Bahadur Shah I was the next Mughal emperor. But he was not that powerful. And the reason we can draw such a conclusion is because of the fact that after the death of Aurangzeb, all the regional Nawabs wanted to execute their power and authority in their respective regions. So this clearly tells us that Bahadur Shah I was not as influential as Aurangzeb. After Bahadur Shah I, his son, Jehundar Shah and after him, Faruq Siar became the emperor. In a moment, I'll tell you the role of Faruq Siar. So we know that all regional Nawabs wanted to execute their power and authority in their respective regions. The same happened in Bengal as well. Mushid Kuli Khan was the Nawab of Bengal from 1717 to 1727. And he was also the first Nawab of Bengal and a strong ruler. And I've also told you that the company was doing unfair trade. as well as tax-free trade and it was causing huge revenue loss to the bengal government now this was a serious concern for mushid kuli khan because he was the nawab and the ruler of bengal so naturally Really this behavior of the company was making the Nawab angry. Now the Nawab of Bengal had to show the English company who the real boss is. Because now the Mughal emperor was Faruq Siar and after Aurangzeb, none of them were powerful enough to defend the English. So clearly Mushid Kuli Khan had to take matters in his own hands because he was the Nawab of Bengal. He had to defend his region and this led to serious conflicts between the company and the Nawab of Bengal. Mushid Kuli Khan eventually died in 1727 and he also had successors just like any other ruler. But I want you to know that there were only three Nawabs including Mushid Kuli Khan who were strong rulers of Bengal. Otherwise, if we go on to talk about each and every person's detailed account, then history becomes a never-ending subject. So fast forward to the next strong ruler, Aliwardi Khan. He became the Nawab in 1740. He ruled for almost 16 years and in his 16 years of power, he was mostly engaged in various wars against the Marathas. Because Maratha was another empire in India who wanted to establish their rule just like the Mughals. In fact, they are also credited to a large extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. Anyways, back to the storyline. Towards the end of Aliwadi Khan's 16 years of power, he turned his attention to rebuilding and restoring Bengal. And that's when his focus shifted to the English company. and then even he died in 1756. The third strong ruler of Bengal was Sirajuddawla. He was the grandson of Aliwardi Khan. He became the Nawab in 1756, soon after the death of Aliwardi Khan, who was his maternal grandfather. Even Sirajuddawla did not like the English company's behaviour and their way of trade, and he wanted to do something about the situation, because the company was depriving the Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and undermining the authority of the Nawab. So if at all a question comes, what were the reasons behind or what led to the conflicts between the Nawabs of Bengal and the English company? The answer would be, the company was not paying taxes, they were expanding their fortification, they were causing the Bengal government heavy loss of revenue, they were writing disrespectful letters and trying to humiliate the Nawab and his officials. So these were the reasons behind the conflict between the Nawabs of Bengal and the English company. Till now we have heard the Nawab's side of story and as usual every story has two sides. So now let's hear what the company's justification to these allegations were. The company said that the unjust demands of the Bengal government were ruining the trade of the company and trade could flourish only if the duties were removed. They also said to expand trades the company had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages and rebuild its forts. This was the company's justification. Obviously both the Nawab and the company had different views. clearly contradicting each one's. And finally, this led to the famous Battle of Plassey. Now, Sirajuddala became the Nawab of Bengal. As I've said earlier, he was a strong ruler, just like Aliwadi Khan. Plus, he also did not like how the company was doing duty-free trade and humiliating the Nawab's administration. So, overall, he was angry and wanted to be strict with the company. Now, this worried the company because the company always wanted a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges to the company. Now the company wanted to play politics here. They wanted to make one of Sirajudala's rival, the Nawab of Bengal, who would act like a puppet of the company. And Sirajudala came to know about this conspiracy and also the English interest in colonization of his region. He simply asked the company to stop interfering in the political affairs of his region. Then he also asked them to stop fortification work around the Fort William and pay the tax revenues. As usual, the company did not listen to his directives. So in 1756, when Sirajuddawla became the Nawab, in that year itself, he captured Fort William at Calcutta with his 30,000 soldiers and kept English soldiers and officials as temporary captives in the cells of that fort. So basically he attacked the English company. Now this news was immediately sent to the company officials in Madras. They sent forces on naval fleets under the command of Robert Clive. Robert Clive was an officer in the company's army. At that time, he was a left-hand colonel. Finally, in 1757, Robert Clive led the company's army against Sirajudala at Plassey. Plassey is a place near to the city of Mushidabad, which was the capital of the Nawab of Bengal. So what Robert Clive did was, he played politics and made an agreement with Mir Jaffar, who was one of Sirajudala's commanders. Clive had promised to make him Nawab after crushing Sirajudala. As a result, the English company won the Battle of Plassey. They defeated Sirajuddawla because Mir Jafar took large portion of the Nawab's army away from the battlefield, ensuring his defeat. Sirajuddawla fled from the battlefield on a camel, securing whatever he could. But he was later captured by Mir Jafar's forces and was assassinated. Now the Battle of Plassey was the first major victory of the company in India. Since Robert Clive was the one who made it possible, he was immediately made as the governor of Bengal by his superiors in Madras. So in 1757, Clive was made as the governor of Bengal. The victory gave massive boost to the company because now they felt they were capable of ruling as well apart from trading. But then the company was not interested in taking over the responsibility of administration. Their prime object was to expand their trade. with privileges from the local ruler. For this to happen, the company had to get itself involved in the internal affairs of the states. Keeping that in mind, the company started a new system called as the residency system in which the company would appoint a resident who dealt with the relations between British India and a large number of princely states, in particularly looking after the interest of the company's trade. So in 1758, Governor Robert Clive chose Warren Hestings as the British resident in Bengali capital of Mushitabad. Now this person, Warren Hastings, was one of the prisoners who was held by Sirajuddala's forces when they captured Fort William at Calcutta in 1756, due to which Battle of Plassey took place in the following year. So anyways, by appointing residents, we can clearly see what the company's intentions were. They wanted to use political, economic and diplomatic methods to extend their influence. For example, the company with the help of its residents, was trying to decide who was to be the successor of the throne and who was to be appointed in administrative posts. And by doing so, it can extend its influence and become more powerful. Now this period from 1757 is the beginning of company rule in India. Now after the 1757 Battle of Plassey, Mir Jaffar was made the Nawab of Bengal, as promised by Robert Clive. He was known as the Puppet Nawab. Now, even the puppet Nawabs were not always as helpful as the company wanted them to be. After all, they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity and sovereignty if they wanted respect from the regional people. So what did the company do when Mir Jaffar protested? Well, the company deposed him and installed his son-in-law Mir Qasim in his place. Meaning they installed another puppet Nawab. So in 1760, Mir Qasim was made as the Nawab of Bengal. And in the same year, Governor Robert Clive left India and returned to Britain with massive wealth. He again came back later, about which I'll tell you in a while. As time went by, even Mir Qasim complained. In 1764, the company fought the Battle of Buxar under the command of Major Hector Munro. Against the combined armies of Mir Qasim, who was the Nawab of Bengal, made by the company, then Shujaud Dola, who was the Nawab of Awadh, and the then Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. It was due to the lack of basic coordination among these three allies led to their defeat in Battle of Buxar. Mir Qasim fled the battlefield and later committed suicide. And Mir Jafar was reinstalled as the Nawab of Bengal in 1764 by the company. So he was made twice the Nawab of Bengal by the company. During the Battle of Buxar, Robert Clive was in England. He returned to India for the second time in 1765. And was appointed the Governor of Bengal in 1765. to 1767 for the second time. In 1765, Mir Jaffar died as he was the Nawab of Bengal and soon after his death, the mood of the company changed because the company demanded more money from the Nawab to finance its wars and meet the demands of trade and its other expenses. It wanted more territories and more revenue and a lot of times these puppet Nawabs would not listen as they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity to gain respect in front of their people. So basically, the company was tired of the puppet Nawab system. Governor Robert Clive then wrote to the company chairman in London. He said, We must indeed become Nawabs ourselves. Remember, Clive was an officer in the company's army, who was made the governor of Bengal. He did not have any authority to conquer the Bengal province. While he could not, instead, he lobbied his superiors for permissions to become a Nawab. In 1765, He introduced the dual system of government for the Bengal province. The dual system of government was a double system of administration, which was introduced by Robert Clive. Under this system, the administration was divided between the company and the Nawab, but the whole power was actually concentrated in the hands of the company. This complex system remained in practice during the period from 1765 to 1772. Under this system, the company undertook the defense and left the civil administration in the hands of Nawab. With no surprise, finally in 1765, the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II appointed the company as the Diwan of the Bengal provinces. Of course, the Emperor did not do this in free will. The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II was just defeated by the English in Battle of Buxar. The Emperor Shah Alam II was forced to grant the Diwani of Bengal to the English company. As a Diwan of Bengal, the company got the right to collect taxes on behalf of the emperor from the eastern province of bengal bihar and orissa these rights allowed the company to collect revenue directly from the people of bengal bihar and orissa in return the company paid an annual tribute to the emperor now this solved a major problem of the company that it had all these years while it was doing trade with india once they got the divani rights the company stopped receiving money from england to buy merchandise in india The revenue received from Bengal was used for this purpose. And the money earned by selling these goods went back to England, not spent in Bengal. You see how one thing led to another and eventually the company became economically self-sufficient and was also sending money back to England. So basically the British loot of India begins. Now apart from becoming a Diwan and acquiring more resources, power and authority, the company officials had some unfulfilled wish. Each company officials began to have visions of living like Nawabs. Now if you remember in the beginning I said a lot of the company officials made millions of pounds and lived a lavish lifestyle back in England, all looted from the Indian treasury. One such person was Robert Clive. He made a lot of money in India. He came to Madras from England in 1743. at the age of 18. During that time he was just an assistant shopkeeper in the English company. Later he joined the company's army branch as an officer. Because of his contribution and success in wars between other European traders, then the Battle of Plassey, he was made the governor of Bengal twice. First in 1757 and second in 1764. Then in the following year, that is in 1765, he persuaded the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II to grant the company Diwani of Bengal. In 1767, he left India. His Indian fortune was worth 4,1,102 pounds. Just imagine the kind of quick money some of these company officials were making while doing private trade, as well as looting from the local Nawabs and the provincial treasury. After five years of leaving India, that is in 1772, he was charged with corruption by the British Parliament, who was suspicious of his vast wealth. Although he was acquitted, He committed suicide in 1774. This clearly proves that he was involved in many big corrupt activities during his time in India. So this was the quick story of Robert Clive, who was also known as the Clive of India. It would not be correct in saying that all the company officials were corrupt like Clive. In fact, there were many who did not make a lot of money. There were many who died in India due to disease and war. Many of them came from humble backgrounds as their desire was to earn enough in India. return to Britain and lead a comfortable life. And those who returned with a lot of wealth, like Robert Clive, lived a lavish, flashy lifestyle. They were called Nabobs. It's an English version of Indian word Nawab. Now if you look at the timeline, we are now somewhere around 1774. But let's go back to 1772. During this time, the company acquired power, not only in Bengal, but also in Bombay and Madras. British territories were broadly divided into administrative units called presidencies. There were three presidencies, Bengal, Madras and Bombay. Each was ruled by a governor. Just like how Robert Clive was the governor of Bengal, like that there were governors of Madras and Bombay. The supreme head of the administration was the Governor General. Meaning, all these governors would report to the Governor General. And Warren Hastings was the first Governor General of India. He was appointed as the Governor General in 1772. And not to forget, Warren Hastings is the same guy who was once the prisoner of Siraj Dhaula when he captured Fort William at Calcutta in 1756. Moments back I said, Warren Hastings became the Governor-General in 1772. Actually, it was 1773. I missed it by a year. In 1771, he was appointed as the Governor of Bengal. Just like how Robert Clive was the Governor. So, I apologize for that. By now, we know that the major part of the Company's rule in India was divided in the form of presidencies. They are Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Let me make a new timeline from here on so that everything looks clear. Warren Hastings became the governor of Bengal in 1771. Before his arrival as the governor, the dual system of government was already there and it proved to be very defective and unsatisfactory. Remember the dual system of government that was introduced by Robert Clive in 1765 and it lasted till 1772, there was absolutely no justice during this time. The courts were the instruments of power. That's why in 1771, the company authorities asked the then governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, to adopt certain measure and ensure that the collection of land revenue was smooth and fair to the local people. When the company acquired Diwani in 1765, a year after the victory in Battle of Buxar, it created a class of middlemen who collected revenue on behalf of the company. and exploited the farmers. There was a dire need for a change in regards to civil and criminal justice system. Now keeping that in mind, in 1772, Governor Warren Hastings formulated a new system of justice, which was also known as the Judicial Plan of 1772. So what happened was, the area of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was divided into several districts. Each district was to have two courts, a criminal court, which was named as Forjtari Adalat, and a civil court, which was named as Diwani Adalat. And each of these districts had an English collector as its head. Now you can relate how the present-day district administrative system came into existence. The idea behind the plan was to create a fair justice system by correcting the defects and to retain as far as possible the local tradition and codes of law to which the people had become accustomed. That's why the Kazis and the Pandits were asked to interpret Indian laws for the English district collectors. Basically, Hastings'plan was to create a fair system of justice for the local people. That's why we can also say that the Hastings Plan of 1772 was in many respects a boon to the people at that time and the reason we can say so is because before 1772, under the dual administration system, there was no such thing as justice. The famous Great Bengal Famine of 1770 is a perfect example of how worse the policies of the English company were. So many people died due to hunger. It's in millions. They did not invest in India at all. There was a constant loot going on. The change in judicial system in 1772 to some extent brought back the confidence of the people in the government and the justice which they once had under the Nawab rule. But even this plan had a big defect. There were actually two huge defects in Hastings'plan. One was that now the collector acted as the administrator, the judge and the magistrate. If you see, too much power was given to a single official. And the second defect was the interpretation of the Indian law by the Kazis and the Pundits. Because relying on these native law officers while taking any judgment proved to be unsatisfactory. As you see, most of the time, these Kazis and Pundits used to give an interpretation of the law which were well suited or biased to certain section of the community. And that again created a divide. In 1773, a new Supreme Court was established at Fort Williams in Calcutta. Now you must be thinking where did this Supreme Court come from? Now if you recollect from the previous video, in 1772 Robert Clive was charged with corruption by the British Parliament because of the massive wealth he had acquired while he was in India. Because of that, the British Parliament was facing a dilemma. It was concerned about the management of the Company's rule in India. On one hand, the East India Company was important to the British Empire and on the other, the it also wanted to stop the servants of the company from engaging in private trade, which they were doing for a long time. Now, in order to deal with this situation, the British Parliament came up with an Act or a law for establishing certain rules and regulations for the better management of the company affairs in India. That's how the Regulating Act of 1773 was established. We'll put this date on the timeline. Now, this Act also laid the foundations for a centralized administration in India. That's how the Governor-General position was created. Since Bengal was the most important presidency, Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, became the obvious choice for the Governor-General position. That's how the Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, became the first Governor-General of British India in 1773. Now, this Regulation Act of 1773 also created a new Supreme Court, about which we spoke about moments ago. So, the 1772 Judicial Plan of Warren Hastings with support from the Regulation Act of 1773 of the British Parliament, made way for the establishment of the first Supreme Court in India and also gave a promotion to Warren Hastings by making him the first Governor-General of British India. So now Warren Hastings became the first Governor-General of British India in 1773 and that made him an important figure who played a significant role in the expansion of company power. So if you see, till now we only saw most of the East India Company's actions in Bengal. Not to forget, the company had strong presence in Madras and Bombay provinces. Hence, it also means that the company had a similar intention of acquiring more and more territories and expand the company rule, just like how it did in Bengal. One such place was the South Indian state of Mysore. The company branch in Madras strongly wanted control over Mysore because it controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast, where the company purchased pepper and cardamom. Plus, even the rulers of Mysore had anti-European views. So, acquiring Mysore would turn out to be lucrative for the company. Look at this map and see how much of land was controlled by the Mysore Kingdom. The company fought four wars against the Mysore Kingdom under the name Anglo-Mysore War. The first Anglo-Mysore war was fought in 1767 to 1769 under the leadership of Haider Ali. The company took the help of Nizam of Hyderabad but the Nizam ended up helping the Sultan and the company lost the war almost losing Madras. The second Anglo-Mysore war was fought between 1780 to 1784 but this time it was under the leadership of Tipu Sultan who was the son of Haider Ali. Haider Ali died in 1782 that's why Tipu Sultan had to fight 3 out of 4 wars with the company. The second war was a bloody battle and again the company lost. Tipu Sultan retook Mangalore from the British and totally stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom. And disallowed local merchants from trading with the company. So in a way nobody actually won, it was a draw. The third Anglo-Mysore war was fought between 1790 to 1792. It was again under the leadership of Tipu Sultan. But this time, France was an ally of Mysore. Tipu Sultan established a close relationship with the French in India and modernized his army. Together, they invaded Travancore which was British ally. Mysore lost its capital Seringapatam to the company. So here the company won and they acquired the capital city of Mysore. In this picture, you can see how British took away two of Tipu Sultan's sons as hostage. The fourth and the last Anglo-Mysore war was fought in 1799. In this, Tipu Sultan died. because the East India Company saw the alliance of Mysore and the French as a threat. Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader. He was posted in Egypt during 1799 and even the British had a presence in Egypt. So Tipu Sultan wrote letters to Napoleon and in return, Napoleon assured his support to Tipu against the British in India. This was definitely a threat to the East India Company. So the company asked help from the Maratha Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad. Mysore was attacked from all four sides. Tipu was shot and killed in the capital city of Seringapatam. So this way from 1767 to 1799, the East India Company fought four wars with Mysore and finally killing Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War of 1799. Warren Hastings was the Governor General from 1773 to 1785. After him, Lord Cornwallis became the Governor General from 1786 to 1793. And his successor was Lord Wellesley from 1798 to 1825. So it was during Lord Wellesley's tenure, Tipu Sultan was killed. And the company expanded its rule in Mysore. So just now we spoke about the company's rule in Mysore. And how they defeated Tipu Sultan with the help of Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad. Now here is the clever part. The company even fought wars with the Marathas. To maintain their power, The British used political warfare as their means to take down their opponents. From the late 1700s, the company wanted to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power. Maratha Empire was a Hindu warrior group that emerged from the western Deccan Plateau, which is present-day Maharashtra. They had dreams of ruling India from Delhi, just like the Mughals. Maratha Empire was divided into many states, under different chiefs. In this map, you can see how the Maratha Empire had so much land territory under their control. So naturally they were under the radar of the East India Company because the company pursued an aggressive policy of territorial expansion. They wanted to acquire as much territory as possible to establish their rule in India. And if you see the Mughals, the Marathas and the Mysore Kingdom had most of the land territory that the British went aggressively behind with their political and diplomatic methods. After the end of the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, The East India Company had an eye on the Maratha Empire. Because in the Third Battle of Manipath, the Marathas were defeated by the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali. We have already seen that the 1757 Battle of Plassey was the first major war that the company had won on Indian soil. So the company got so much confidence that it thereafter went on several wars with the Indian rulers like Battle of Buxar, First Anglo-Mysore War etc. So it is natural that they also had an eye on the Maratha Empire after their defeat in 1761 battle of Panipat. The company fought three wars against the Maratha Empire under the name Anglo-Maratha Wars. The first one took place in between 1775 to 1782. 1775 was also the time when the company had acquired enough power in India. They even rolled out many administrative policies. By this time, the first Governor-General position was created. Then the first Supreme Court was established. This all tells us that by 1775, The company had expanded its rule in many regions of India. So we should not be surprised that now the company went on war against the Marathas. The first Anglo-Maratha war started with Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai. The second Anglo-Maratha war took place in between 1803 to 1805. It ended with the British acquiring several parts of Odisha. And the third Anglo-Maratha war took place between 1817 to 1818. This was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war crushed the Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension. The company now had complete control over the territories of Mysore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, Ravencourt, Cochin and many other princely states. Now if you see, during the first Anglo-Maratha war, the Governor General Warren Hastings was in office. He left office in 1785. Then Lord Cornwallis came in 1786. He was there till 1793. After Cornwallis, it was John Shore from 1793 to 1798. After him, Richard Wellesley was the Governor General from 1798 to 1805. So the Second Anglo-Maratha War took place under the leadership of Governor General Richard Wellesley. And he left office as soon as the battle got over. And in the third Anglo-Maratha war, Francis Hastings was the Governor General. So don't mistake him with Warren Hastings. They both have the same last name, but they are two different people. If you look at the timeline, so far the company went to war against so many rulers and the victories behind these wars gave enough confidence to the company that now the company claimed that its authority was supreme. That means its power was greater than that of any Indian states. Now, in order to be a supreme power, the company had to take a step towards bringing the Indian kingdoms within the boundary of the British political power. Basically, annex them. Meaning of the word annex is to join or add. So, to add the Indian states, the company came up with a policy called Subsidiary Alliance. According to the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their own independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the company and in return, the rulers had to pay for the subsidiary forces. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of the territory was taken away as penalty. Now let's get to know a little more about Subsidiary Alliance. The doctrine of Subsidiary Alliance was framed by Lord Wellesley, the Governor General of British India from 1798 to 1805. So if you see the timeline between 1798 to 1805, it was the time when the 4th Anglo-Mysore War got over, as well as the 2nd Anglo-Maratha War took place. It was during this time the policy of subsidiary lands was introduced. And if you want an exact date as in which year exactly it was introduced, then I believe it had to be in 1799, when the company won the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in which Tipu Sultan was killed. Because soon after that war, the Mysore kingdom was placed under the Wodeyar dynasty. Now if the company fought a war and then made another dynasty in charge of it, then it had to do so with certain conditions, right? It cannot be a charity. So, that was the first incident when the company officially rolled out the Subsidiary Alliance policy. So, the date 1799 fits well because that time Lord Wellesley was the Governor-General and Subsidiary Alliance is a creation of Governor-General Lord Wellesley. Now, unofficially, the Nawab of Awadh, that is Shujao Dola, was the first to enter into Subsidiary Alliance after the 1764 Battle of Buxar. Now, I am not trying to confuse you over here. I just want you to think critically because in one hand the policy of subsidiary alliance was framed by Lord Wellesley about whom we clearly know that he was the Governor General from 1798 to 1805 and on the other we know that in 1764 Battle of Buxar, three parties fought against the company. If you recollect, it was the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, then the Nawab of Awadh, Shujaudawla and the Mughal Emperor of that time, Shah Alam II. And we know that the company won the war. it acquired Diwani of Bengal. Officially Bengal was under the company's control. But what about Awadh? The company did not do anything to Shujao Dola. Instead, they forced him to enter into an alliance. And that was the first instance of subsidiary alliance. In the late 1830s, the East India Company became worried about Russia. It imagined that Russia might expand across Asia and enter India from northwest. Driven by this fear, the British now wanted to secure their control over the northwest. They fought a long war against Afghanistan under the name First Anglo-Afghan War. That was fought between 1838 to 1842. The British won the war and established indirect company rule there. Sindh was taken over in 1843. Next in line was Punjab because if you see, it clearly lies in the boundary. But the presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held back the company. After his death in 1839, almost immediately, his kingdom began to fall into disorder. Two wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom under the name the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company. between 1845 and 1846. It resulted in partial domination of the East India Company in the Sikh Kingdom. Although the Sikh army was weakened by the war, British interference in the Sikh government led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War within three years. The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire and the annexation of the Punjab. and what subsequently became the North West Frontier Province by the East India Company. Henry Hardinge was the Governor General during the time of the First Anglo-Sikh War and Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. Soon after the end of Second Anglo-Sikh War, Governor General Dalhousie introduced a policy that came to be known as Doctrine of Lapse. This policy was an upgraded version of Subsidiary Alliance policy because if you remember in Subsidiary Alliance, The Indian rulers were not allowed to have their own forces. They were forced to depend on the company forces for any kind of protection and that too in exchange of payment. And according to this new policy of doctrine of lapse, if an Indian ruler died without a male successor, his kingdom would lapse and would become part of company's territory. One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this new policy. For example, Satara district of Maharashtra was took over in 1848 Then Sambalpur state of Odisha was taken over in 1850. Then Udaipur was taken over in 1852, followed by Nagpur in 1853 and then Jhansi in 1854. The famous story of Jhansi ki Rani tells us about how she was ordered to leave the palace and fort of Jhansi because her son Damodar Rao was adopted and was not her biological son. So the East India Company applied the doctrine of lapse policy and took over her state and territories. And finally, in 1856, the Company took over the states of Awadh. Remember, Awadh was already an alliance of the Company. But in 1856, the British took over Awadh. Governor-General Lord Dalhousie said, it was due to the misgovernance of the ruler Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, as he was not ruling properly. So, to free the people from the misgovernment of the Nawab, the British had to take over the state. Wajid Ali Shah was 10th and the last Nawab of Awadh. He held the position for 9 years. The British humiliated the Nawab and he was removed and sent to Kolkata on a pension. Seeing this, it enraged the people of Awadh, who later joined the great revolt that broke out in 1857. This revolt was also known as the Sepoy Mutiny and also India's first struggle for independence. The revolt of 1857 saw the end of the East India Company's rule in India. On August 2nd, 1858, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858, Under this act, the company was formally dissolved and its ruling powers over India were transferred to the British Crown. In other words, from here on, the era of the new British Raj started which lasted until partition of India in 1947, about which we will learn in a separate video. I hope you have found this video informative. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.

I'll show you how the events are interconnected and in the end it's going to be a nice fun informative session. With no further ado, let's begin. First, let me make a timeline, an empty timeline.

As we go ahead, we will start filling in the dates of the events and it will be easier for you to follow up. Great. First thing first, the Indian history has been divided into three parts and they are ancient history, medieval history and then modern history. Now modern history is the part where we typically talk about the time when India was under the rule of British Empire and medieval history is the time from 8th to 18th century in the later part of this time period. India was under the Islamic rule that is from 13th to 18th century.

During this time the famous Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire were the direct rulers of major portion of the Indian subcontinent. So to understand the British rule in India, we have to go a little backward towards the end of medieval period, when the Mughal Empire came to an end, after the death of their last influential and powerful emperor. Here are the list of Mughal emperors who ruled India.

In this Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal ruler. After him, none of them were that influential. However, Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last emperor till 1857. So we can say that the Mughal Empire officially came to an end by 1857. Nevertheless, situation changed right after the death of Aurangzeb. So that's where the real story starts. One more thing you need to remember here is that the Europeans had already discovered India way before Mughal invasion.

Mughal era started in 1526 with Babur being the first emperor. If you remember Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese explorer, he was the first European to discover the sea route to India in 1498. He went to the harbour in Calicut which is now Kohikud. on the Malabar coast. There they had set up their first trading post. Moments back I said that Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal ruler, but he died in 1707. We'll now put this date on the timeline.

Now as soon as a powerful influential ruler died, all of his governors, who were also known as Subedas and the big Zamindars, they all slowly started dividing because it is now beneficial for them to establish their own small regional kingdoms so that they can be the king. It's like now the emperor is dead, so forget Delhi. forget the centre, no one cares what's going to happen. Let's get back to our regional places and establish our own rule.

Things of that sort were happening. Now we have the dates 1707 and 1498. Let's get to know what happened in between. At 1498, Portuguese came to India, they came to Calicut.

After the Portuguese, the Dutch fleet arrived in Pulicat in 1595. Then came the British, who landed in Surat in 1608. After them, the Danish came to Trangibar in Tamil Nadu. in 1616 and at last the French came to Pondicherry in 1664. They all were collectively called as European traders. Cool, now that we have the dates on the timeline let's understand how the British arrived in India because that's what we are interested in.

So you see everyone arrived at different locations since Portuguese came to India almost hundred years before any of the European traders they had more number of trading posts compared to other European traders let's understand how the British arrived in India because that's what we are interested in. So it all started in 1600. The English company acquired a charter from the then ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I. Charter means a written legislative paper of a country. So Queen Elizabeth I signed a paper where she gave, in particular, this English company complete individual right to trade with the eastern countries.

Now with this charter, the company went to the eastern side through ocean route, looking for new lands from which it could buy goods at cheap price. and carried them back to Europe to sell at higher prices. Basically, they wanted to be the loan shark. And why so?

Because, as per the signed charter, no other English trading company could trade. But then, if you look at the timeline, there are other European traders that already arrived in India before the British, like the Portuguese and Dutch. So that means Britain was not alone. While they didn't see any competition from their own country, but their competition were the other European traders.

Remember this. Okay, Now that everyone has arrived on the scene, there comes a big problem. All these European trading companies were interested in buying the same products, and that was fine qualities of cotton and silk. Apart from silk, they were also interested in spices like pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.

These all had huge market demand in Europe. So they all had a plan to take it back to European market and sell it for higher prices to make huge profit. You see, now the Britain is no more the loan shark.

There are other sharks in the competition. Now seeing this demand, the Indian traders who were selling these goods to them, they increased the prices. of goods.

And that's an obvious demand price economics. If the demand is high, naturally the prices would go up. This in turn affected the profit margin of these European traders.

So instead of finding different ways to minimize the cost, the only reasonable solution they could think of was to eliminate their competitors. Now you see the sharks are fighting among themselves. This led to fierce battles between these European trading companies.

All throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, that is from 1600 to 1700. They regularly sank each other's ships, blocked routes and prevented rival ships from moving with supplies of goods. They even fortified their posts, meaning they built big walls to protect their trading post. Now here's the funny thing, when you fortify your trading post and try to maximize your profits in foreign location, who else is going to have a problem?

Let me ask this question in a different manner so that you understand better. If there are two or three guests who came to your home and they are fighting with each other constantly, They are building walls of separation on your property. Who is going to get pissed?

It's going to be you. Similarly, the local rulers were getting angry. This led to intense conflict with local rulers. So now we have the European traders fighting with each other.

Then the local rulers are fighting with them. And these traders in return are fighting with the rulers. The English company had to then start politics.

And it was difficult to separate politics from trade. I think you understand why politics was necessary. This kept on going till 1651 when they finally decided to set up their first English factory on the banks of river Hooghly. Now this was an important step for the British because prior to this they only had a trading post and now they actually built a fully equipped factory with warehouses to stock their supplies and also offices where the company officials would sit. As trade expanded the company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory.

By 1696, it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later, in 1698, it bribed Mughal officials into giving the company zamindari rights over three villages. One of the villages was Kalikata, which is known today by the name Kolkata. Keeping in mind, the Mughal emperor during this time was Aurangzeb. The English company also persuaded Aurangzeb to issue a farman.

A farman is a royal order, like how the English acquired a charter in the beginning from the queen. So, a Farman is similar to that. In fact, they even acquired a Farman from the emperor Jahangir while setting up their first trading post in Surat. So, this Farman that they wanted from Aurangzeb had a condition that would give the company the right to trade duty-free.

Now, you do understand this would cause enormous loss of revenue for Bengal. But the company did not care. In fact, they went for more and more concessions and wanted more privileges.

Now I'll tell you where they actually wanted more of such privileges. So the main objective of the company was to buy goods and ship it back to the European market to earn profit. This was the initial main goal.

But then it would be naive to say that the company had all loyal officials and that they were doing all fair trade. No, it had many corrupt officials who were doing private trade. Many of the officials about whom we will read further because it is interesting to know they made millions of pounds and lived a lavish lifestyle back in England by doing private trade.

So we just read that the officials of the company who were carrying on private trade on the side were not paying any tax. Now this was causing heavy loss of revenue to the Bengal government. If you look at the timeline, we are now somewhere in the beginning of the 18th century, that is 1700. And then in 1707, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb died. This is an important milestone because of this. From here, situation changed drastically.

You remember in the beginning I said Aurangzeb was the last powerful Mughal emperor? So after his death, Bahadur Shah I was the next Mughal emperor. But he was not that powerful. And the reason we can draw such a conclusion is because of the fact that after the death of Aurangzeb, all the regional Nawabs wanted to execute their power and authority in their respective regions. So this clearly tells us that Bahadur Shah I was not as influential as Aurangzeb.

After Bahadur Shah I, his son, Jehundar Shah and after him, Faruq Siar became the emperor. In a moment, I'll tell you the role of Faruq Siar. So we know that all regional Nawabs wanted to execute their power and authority in their respective regions. The same happened in Bengal as well.

Mushid Kuli Khan was the Nawab of Bengal from 1717 to 1727. And he was also the first Nawab of Bengal and a strong ruler. And I've also told you that the company was doing unfair trade. as well as tax-free trade and it was causing huge revenue loss to the bengal government now this was a serious concern for mushid kuli khan because he was the nawab and the ruler of bengal so naturally Really this behavior of the company was making the Nawab angry. Now the Nawab of Bengal had to show the English company who the real boss is.

Because now the Mughal emperor was Faruq Siar and after Aurangzeb, none of them were powerful enough to defend the English. So clearly Mushid Kuli Khan had to take matters in his own hands because he was the Nawab of Bengal. He had to defend his region and this led to serious conflicts between the company and the Nawab of Bengal.

Mushid Kuli Khan eventually died in 1727 and he also had successors just like any other ruler. But I want you to know that there were only three Nawabs including Mushid Kuli Khan who were strong rulers of Bengal. Otherwise, if we go on to talk about each and every person's detailed account, then history becomes a never-ending subject.

So fast forward to the next strong ruler, Aliwardi Khan. He became the Nawab in 1740. He ruled for almost 16 years and in his 16 years of power, he was mostly engaged in various wars against the Marathas. Because Maratha was another empire in India who wanted to establish their rule just like the Mughals. In fact, they are also credited to a large extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. Anyways, back to the storyline.

Towards the end of Aliwadi Khan's 16 years of power, he turned his attention to rebuilding and restoring Bengal. And that's when his focus shifted to the English company. and then even he died in 1756. The third strong ruler of Bengal was Sirajuddawla.

He was the grandson of Aliwardi Khan. He became the Nawab in 1756, soon after the death of Aliwardi Khan, who was his maternal grandfather. Even Sirajuddawla did not like the English company's behaviour and their way of trade, and he wanted to do something about the situation, because the company was depriving the Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and undermining the authority of the Nawab. So if at all a question comes, what were the reasons behind or what led to the conflicts between the Nawabs of Bengal and the English company? The answer would be, the company was not paying taxes, they were expanding their fortification, they were causing the Bengal government heavy loss of revenue, they were writing disrespectful letters and trying to humiliate the Nawab and his officials.

So these were the reasons behind the conflict between the Nawabs of Bengal and the English company. Till now we have heard the Nawab's side of story and as usual every story has two sides. So now let's hear what the company's justification to these allegations were.

The company said that the unjust demands of the Bengal government were ruining the trade of the company and trade could flourish only if the duties were removed. They also said to expand trades the company had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages and rebuild its forts. This was the company's justification. Obviously both the Nawab and the company had different views.

clearly contradicting each one's. And finally, this led to the famous Battle of Plassey. Now, Sirajuddala became the Nawab of Bengal.

As I've said earlier, he was a strong ruler, just like Aliwadi Khan. Plus, he also did not like how the company was doing duty-free trade and humiliating the Nawab's administration. So, overall, he was angry and wanted to be strict with the company. Now, this worried the company because the company always wanted a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges to the company. Now the company wanted to play politics here.

They wanted to make one of Sirajudala's rival, the Nawab of Bengal, who would act like a puppet of the company. And Sirajudala came to know about this conspiracy and also the English interest in colonization of his region. He simply asked the company to stop interfering in the political affairs of his region.

Then he also asked them to stop fortification work around the Fort William and pay the tax revenues. As usual, the company did not listen to his directives. So in 1756, when Sirajuddawla became the Nawab, in that year itself, he captured Fort William at Calcutta with his 30,000 soldiers and kept English soldiers and officials as temporary captives in the cells of that fort. So basically he attacked the English company. Now this news was immediately sent to the company officials in Madras.

They sent forces on naval fleets under the command of Robert Clive. Robert Clive was an officer in the company's army. At that time, he was a left-hand colonel. Finally, in 1757, Robert Clive led the company's army against Sirajudala at Plassey. Plassey is a place near to the city of Mushidabad, which was the capital of the Nawab of Bengal.

So what Robert Clive did was, he played politics and made an agreement with Mir Jaffar, who was one of Sirajudala's commanders. Clive had promised to make him Nawab after crushing Sirajudala. As a result, the English company won the Battle of Plassey.

They defeated Sirajuddawla because Mir Jafar took large portion of the Nawab's army away from the battlefield, ensuring his defeat. Sirajuddawla fled from the battlefield on a camel, securing whatever he could. But he was later captured by Mir Jafar's forces and was assassinated.

Now the Battle of Plassey was the first major victory of the company in India. Since Robert Clive was the one who made it possible, he was immediately made as the governor of Bengal by his superiors in Madras. So in 1757, Clive was made as the governor of Bengal.

The victory gave massive boost to the company because now they felt they were capable of ruling as well apart from trading. But then the company was not interested in taking over the responsibility of administration. Their prime object was to expand their trade.

with privileges from the local ruler. For this to happen, the company had to get itself involved in the internal affairs of the states. Keeping that in mind, the company started a new system called as the residency system in which the company would appoint a resident who dealt with the relations between British India and a large number of princely states, in particularly looking after the interest of the company's trade. So in 1758, Governor Robert Clive chose Warren Hestings as the British resident in Bengali capital of Mushitabad.

Now this person, Warren Hastings, was one of the prisoners who was held by Sirajuddala's forces when they captured Fort William at Calcutta in 1756, due to which Battle of Plassey took place in the following year. So anyways, by appointing residents, we can clearly see what the company's intentions were. They wanted to use political, economic and diplomatic methods to extend their influence.

For example, the company with the help of its residents, was trying to decide who was to be the successor of the throne and who was to be appointed in administrative posts. And by doing so, it can extend its influence and become more powerful. Now this period from 1757 is the beginning of company rule in India.

Now after the 1757 Battle of Plassey, Mir Jaffar was made the Nawab of Bengal, as promised by Robert Clive. He was known as the Puppet Nawab. Now, even the puppet Nawabs were not always as helpful as the company wanted them to be. After all, they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity and sovereignty if they wanted respect from the regional people. So what did the company do when Mir Jaffar protested?

Well, the company deposed him and installed his son-in-law Mir Qasim in his place. Meaning they installed another puppet Nawab. So in 1760, Mir Qasim was made as the Nawab of Bengal. And in the same year, Governor Robert Clive left India and returned to Britain with massive wealth.

He again came back later, about which I'll tell you in a while. As time went by, even Mir Qasim complained. In 1764, the company fought the Battle of Buxar under the command of Major Hector Munro.

Against the combined armies of Mir Qasim, who was the Nawab of Bengal, made by the company, then Shujaud Dola, who was the Nawab of Awadh, and the then Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. It was due to the lack of basic coordination among these three allies led to their defeat in Battle of Buxar. Mir Qasim fled the battlefield and later committed suicide.

And Mir Jafar was reinstalled as the Nawab of Bengal in 1764 by the company. So he was made twice the Nawab of Bengal by the company. During the Battle of Buxar, Robert Clive was in England. He returned to India for the second time in 1765. And was appointed the Governor of Bengal in 1765. to 1767 for the second time. In 1765, Mir Jaffar died as he was the Nawab of Bengal and soon after his death, the mood of the company changed because the company demanded more money from the Nawab to finance its wars and meet the demands of trade and its other expenses.

It wanted more territories and more revenue and a lot of times these puppet Nawabs would not listen as they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity to gain respect in front of their people. So basically, the company was tired of the puppet Nawab system. Governor Robert Clive then wrote to the company chairman in London.

He said, We must indeed become Nawabs ourselves. Remember, Clive was an officer in the company's army, who was made the governor of Bengal. He did not have any authority to conquer the Bengal province. While he could not, instead, he lobbied his superiors for permissions to become a Nawab. In 1765, He introduced the dual system of government for the Bengal province.

The dual system of government was a double system of administration, which was introduced by Robert Clive. Under this system, the administration was divided between the company and the Nawab, but the whole power was actually concentrated in the hands of the company. This complex system remained in practice during the period from 1765 to 1772. Under this system, the company undertook the defense and left the civil administration in the hands of Nawab.

With no surprise, finally in 1765, the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II appointed the company as the Diwan of the Bengal provinces. Of course, the Emperor did not do this in free will. The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II was just defeated by the English in Battle of Buxar. The Emperor Shah Alam II was forced to grant the Diwani of Bengal to the English company. As a Diwan of Bengal, the company got the right to collect taxes on behalf of the emperor from the eastern province of bengal bihar and orissa these rights allowed the company to collect revenue directly from the people of bengal bihar and orissa in return the company paid an annual tribute to the emperor now this solved a major problem of the company that it had all these years while it was doing trade with india once they got the divani rights the company stopped receiving money from england to buy merchandise in india The revenue received from Bengal was used for this purpose.

And the money earned by selling these goods went back to England, not spent in Bengal. You see how one thing led to another and eventually the company became economically self-sufficient and was also sending money back to England. So basically the British loot of India begins.

Now apart from becoming a Diwan and acquiring more resources, power and authority, the company officials had some unfulfilled wish. Each company officials began to have visions of living like Nawabs. Now if you remember in the beginning I said a lot of the company officials made millions of pounds and lived a lavish lifestyle back in England, all looted from the Indian treasury. One such person was Robert Clive.

He made a lot of money in India. He came to Madras from England in 1743. at the age of 18. During that time he was just an assistant shopkeeper in the English company. Later he joined the company's army branch as an officer.

Because of his contribution and success in wars between other European traders, then the Battle of Plassey, he was made the governor of Bengal twice. First in 1757 and second in 1764. Then in the following year, that is in 1765, he persuaded the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II to grant the company Diwani of Bengal. In 1767, he left India.

His Indian fortune was worth 4,1,102 pounds. Just imagine the kind of quick money some of these company officials were making while doing private trade, as well as looting from the local Nawabs and the provincial treasury. After five years of leaving India, that is in 1772, he was charged with corruption by the British Parliament, who was suspicious of his vast wealth.

Although he was acquitted, He committed suicide in 1774. This clearly proves that he was involved in many big corrupt activities during his time in India. So this was the quick story of Robert Clive, who was also known as the Clive of India. It would not be correct in saying that all the company officials were corrupt like Clive. In fact, there were many who did not make a lot of money. There were many who died in India due to disease and war.

Many of them came from humble backgrounds as their desire was to earn enough in India. return to Britain and lead a comfortable life. And those who returned with a lot of wealth, like Robert Clive, lived a lavish, flashy lifestyle. They were called Nabobs. It's an English version of Indian word Nawab.

Now if you look at the timeline, we are now somewhere around 1774. But let's go back to 1772. During this time, the company acquired power, not only in Bengal, but also in Bombay and Madras. British territories were broadly divided into administrative units called presidencies. There were three presidencies, Bengal, Madras and Bombay.

Each was ruled by a governor. Just like how Robert Clive was the governor of Bengal, like that there were governors of Madras and Bombay. The supreme head of the administration was the Governor General.

Meaning, all these governors would report to the Governor General. And Warren Hastings was the first Governor General of India. He was appointed as the Governor General in 1772. And not to forget, Warren Hastings is the same guy who was once the prisoner of Siraj Dhaula when he captured Fort William at Calcutta in 1756. Moments back I said, Warren Hastings became the Governor-General in 1772. Actually, it was 1773. I missed it by a year. In 1771, he was appointed as the Governor of Bengal.

Just like how Robert Clive was the Governor. So, I apologize for that. By now, we know that the major part of the Company's rule in India was divided in the form of presidencies.

They are Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Let me make a new timeline from here on so that everything looks clear. Warren Hastings became the governor of Bengal in 1771. Before his arrival as the governor, the dual system of government was already there and it proved to be very defective and unsatisfactory. Remember the dual system of government that was introduced by Robert Clive in 1765 and it lasted till 1772, there was absolutely no justice during this time. The courts were the instruments of power.

That's why in 1771, the company authorities asked the then governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, to adopt certain measure and ensure that the collection of land revenue was smooth and fair to the local people. When the company acquired Diwani in 1765, a year after the victory in Battle of Buxar, it created a class of middlemen who collected revenue on behalf of the company. and exploited the farmers.

There was a dire need for a change in regards to civil and criminal justice system. Now keeping that in mind, in 1772, Governor Warren Hastings formulated a new system of justice, which was also known as the Judicial Plan of 1772. So what happened was, the area of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was divided into several districts. Each district was to have two courts, a criminal court, which was named as Forjtari Adalat, and a civil court, which was named as Diwani Adalat.

And each of these districts had an English collector as its head. Now you can relate how the present-day district administrative system came into existence. The idea behind the plan was to create a fair justice system by correcting the defects and to retain as far as possible the local tradition and codes of law to which the people had become accustomed. That's why the Kazis and the Pandits were asked to interpret Indian laws for the English district collectors. Basically, Hastings'plan was to create a fair system of justice for the local people.

That's why we can also say that the Hastings Plan of 1772 was in many respects a boon to the people at that time and the reason we can say so is because before 1772, under the dual administration system, there was no such thing as justice. The famous Great Bengal Famine of 1770 is a perfect example of how worse the policies of the English company were. So many people died due to hunger.

It's in millions. They did not invest in India at all. There was a constant loot going on. The change in judicial system in 1772 to some extent brought back the confidence of the people in the government and the justice which they once had under the Nawab rule. But even this plan had a big defect.

There were actually two huge defects in Hastings'plan. One was that now the collector acted as the administrator, the judge and the magistrate. If you see, too much power was given to a single official. And the second defect was the interpretation of the Indian law by the Kazis and the Pundits.

Because relying on these native law officers while taking any judgment proved to be unsatisfactory. As you see, most of the time, these Kazis and Pundits used to give an interpretation of the law which were well suited or biased to certain section of the community. And that again created a divide.

In 1773, a new Supreme Court was established at Fort Williams in Calcutta. Now you must be thinking where did this Supreme Court come from? Now if you recollect from the previous video, in 1772 Robert Clive was charged with corruption by the British Parliament because of the massive wealth he had acquired while he was in India. Because of that, the British Parliament was facing a dilemma.

It was concerned about the management of the Company's rule in India. On one hand, the East India Company was important to the British Empire and on the other, the it also wanted to stop the servants of the company from engaging in private trade, which they were doing for a long time. Now, in order to deal with this situation, the British Parliament came up with an Act or a law for establishing certain rules and regulations for the better management of the company affairs in India. That's how the Regulating Act of 1773 was established. We'll put this date on the timeline.

Now, this Act also laid the foundations for a centralized administration in India. That's how the Governor-General position was created. Since Bengal was the most important presidency, Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, became the obvious choice for the Governor-General position. That's how the Governor of Bengal, Warren Hastings, became the first Governor-General of British India in 1773. Now, this Regulation Act of 1773 also created a new Supreme Court, about which we spoke about moments ago.

So, the 1772 Judicial Plan of Warren Hastings with support from the Regulation Act of 1773 of the British Parliament, made way for the establishment of the first Supreme Court in India and also gave a promotion to Warren Hastings by making him the first Governor-General of British India. So now Warren Hastings became the first Governor-General of British India in 1773 and that made him an important figure who played a significant role in the expansion of company power. So if you see, till now we only saw most of the East India Company's actions in Bengal. Not to forget, the company had strong presence in Madras and Bombay provinces. Hence, it also means that the company had a similar intention of acquiring more and more territories and expand the company rule, just like how it did in Bengal.

One such place was the South Indian state of Mysore. The company branch in Madras strongly wanted control over Mysore because it controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast, where the company purchased pepper and cardamom. Plus, even the rulers of Mysore had anti-European views.

So, acquiring Mysore would turn out to be lucrative for the company. Look at this map and see how much of land was controlled by the Mysore Kingdom. The company fought four wars against the Mysore Kingdom under the name Anglo-Mysore War.

The first Anglo-Mysore war was fought in 1767 to 1769 under the leadership of Haider Ali. The company took the help of Nizam of Hyderabad but the Nizam ended up helping the Sultan and the company lost the war almost losing Madras. The second Anglo-Mysore war was fought between 1780 to 1784 but this time it was under the leadership of Tipu Sultan who was the son of Haider Ali.

Haider Ali died in 1782 that's why Tipu Sultan had to fight 3 out of 4 wars with the company. The second war was a bloody battle and again the company lost. Tipu Sultan retook Mangalore from the British and totally stopped the export of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports of his kingdom.

And disallowed local merchants from trading with the company. So in a way nobody actually won, it was a draw. The third Anglo-Mysore war was fought between 1790 to 1792. It was again under the leadership of Tipu Sultan.

But this time, France was an ally of Mysore. Tipu Sultan established a close relationship with the French in India and modernized his army. Together, they invaded Travancore which was British ally. Mysore lost its capital Seringapatam to the company. So here the company won and they acquired the capital city of Mysore.

In this picture, you can see how British took away two of Tipu Sultan's sons as hostage. The fourth and the last Anglo-Mysore war was fought in 1799. In this, Tipu Sultan died. because the East India Company saw the alliance of Mysore and the French as a threat.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader. He was posted in Egypt during 1799 and even the British had a presence in Egypt. So Tipu Sultan wrote letters to Napoleon and in return, Napoleon assured his support to Tipu against the British in India. This was definitely a threat to the East India Company. So the company asked help from the Maratha Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Mysore was attacked from all four sides. Tipu was shot and killed in the capital city of Seringapatam. So this way from 1767 to 1799, the East India Company fought four wars with Mysore and finally killing Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War of 1799. Warren Hastings was the Governor General from 1773 to 1785. After him, Lord Cornwallis became the Governor General from 1786 to 1793. And his successor was Lord Wellesley from 1798 to 1825. So it was during Lord Wellesley's tenure, Tipu Sultan was killed.

And the company expanded its rule in Mysore. So just now we spoke about the company's rule in Mysore. And how they defeated Tipu Sultan with the help of Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad.

Now here is the clever part. The company even fought wars with the Marathas. To maintain their power, The British used political warfare as their means to take down their opponents. From the late 1700s, the company wanted to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power. Maratha Empire was a Hindu warrior group that emerged from the western Deccan Plateau, which is present-day Maharashtra.

They had dreams of ruling India from Delhi, just like the Mughals. Maratha Empire was divided into many states, under different chiefs. In this map, you can see how the Maratha Empire had so much land territory under their control.

So naturally they were under the radar of the East India Company because the company pursued an aggressive policy of territorial expansion. They wanted to acquire as much territory as possible to establish their rule in India. And if you see the Mughals, the Marathas and the Mysore Kingdom had most of the land territory that the British went aggressively behind with their political and diplomatic methods. After the end of the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, The East India Company had an eye on the Maratha Empire. Because in the Third Battle of Manipath, the Marathas were defeated by the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali.

We have already seen that the 1757 Battle of Plassey was the first major war that the company had won on Indian soil. So the company got so much confidence that it thereafter went on several wars with the Indian rulers like Battle of Buxar, First Anglo-Mysore War etc. So it is natural that they also had an eye on the Maratha Empire after their defeat in 1761 battle of Panipat. The company fought three wars against the Maratha Empire under the name Anglo-Maratha Wars.

The first one took place in between 1775 to 1782. 1775 was also the time when the company had acquired enough power in India. They even rolled out many administrative policies. By this time, the first Governor-General position was created. Then the first Supreme Court was established.

This all tells us that by 1775, The company had expanded its rule in many regions of India. So we should not be surprised that now the company went on war against the Marathas. The first Anglo-Maratha war started with Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai.

The second Anglo-Maratha war took place in between 1803 to 1805. It ended with the British acquiring several parts of Odisha. And the third Anglo-Maratha war took place between 1817 to 1818. This was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war crushed the Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension.

The company now had complete control over the territories of Mysore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, Ravencourt, Cochin and many other princely states. Now if you see, during the first Anglo-Maratha war, the Governor General Warren Hastings was in office. He left office in 1785. Then Lord Cornwallis came in 1786. He was there till 1793. After Cornwallis, it was John Shore from 1793 to 1798. After him, Richard Wellesley was the Governor General from 1798 to 1805. So the Second Anglo-Maratha War took place under the leadership of Governor General Richard Wellesley. And he left office as soon as the battle got over. And in the third Anglo-Maratha war, Francis Hastings was the Governor General.

So don't mistake him with Warren Hastings. They both have the same last name, but they are two different people. If you look at the timeline, so far the company went to war against so many rulers and the victories behind these wars gave enough confidence to the company that now the company claimed that its authority was supreme.

That means its power was greater than that of any Indian states. Now, in order to be a supreme power, the company had to take a step towards bringing the Indian kingdoms within the boundary of the British political power. Basically, annex them. Meaning of the word annex is to join or add.

So, to add the Indian states, the company came up with a policy called Subsidiary Alliance. According to the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to have their own independent armed forces. They were to be protected by the company and in return, the rulers had to pay for the subsidiary forces. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment, then part of the territory was taken away as penalty. Now let's get to know a little more about Subsidiary Alliance.

The doctrine of Subsidiary Alliance was framed by Lord Wellesley, the Governor General of British India from 1798 to 1805. So if you see the timeline between 1798 to 1805, it was the time when the 4th Anglo-Mysore War got over, as well as the 2nd Anglo-Maratha War took place. It was during this time the policy of subsidiary lands was introduced. And if you want an exact date as in which year exactly it was introduced, then I believe it had to be in 1799, when the company won the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in which Tipu Sultan was killed. Because soon after that war, the Mysore kingdom was placed under the Wodeyar dynasty.

Now if the company fought a war and then made another dynasty in charge of it, then it had to do so with certain conditions, right? It cannot be a charity. So, that was the first incident when the company officially rolled out the Subsidiary Alliance policy. So, the date 1799 fits well because that time Lord Wellesley was the Governor-General and Subsidiary Alliance is a creation of Governor-General Lord Wellesley. Now, unofficially, the Nawab of Awadh, that is Shujao Dola, was the first to enter into Subsidiary Alliance after the 1764 Battle of Buxar.

Now, I am not trying to confuse you over here. I just want you to think critically because in one hand the policy of subsidiary alliance was framed by Lord Wellesley about whom we clearly know that he was the Governor General from 1798 to 1805 and on the other we know that in 1764 Battle of Buxar, three parties fought against the company. If you recollect, it was the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, then the Nawab of Awadh, Shujaudawla and the Mughal Emperor of that time, Shah Alam II.

And we know that the company won the war. it acquired Diwani of Bengal. Officially Bengal was under the company's control. But what about Awadh?

The company did not do anything to Shujao Dola. Instead, they forced him to enter into an alliance. And that was the first instance of subsidiary alliance.

In the late 1830s, the East India Company became worried about Russia. It imagined that Russia might expand across Asia and enter India from northwest. Driven by this fear, the British now wanted to secure their control over the northwest.

They fought a long war against Afghanistan under the name First Anglo-Afghan War. That was fought between 1838 to 1842. The British won the war and established indirect company rule there. Sindh was taken over in 1843. Next in line was Punjab because if you see, it clearly lies in the boundary. But the presence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held back the company.

After his death in 1839, almost immediately, his kingdom began to fall into disorder. Two wars were fought with the Sikh kingdom under the name the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company.

between 1845 and 1846. It resulted in partial domination of the East India Company in the Sikh Kingdom. Although the Sikh army was weakened by the war, British interference in the Sikh government led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War within three years. The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire and the annexation of the Punjab. and what subsequently became the North West Frontier Province by the East India Company.

Henry Hardinge was the Governor General during the time of the First Anglo-Sikh War and Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. Soon after the end of Second Anglo-Sikh War, Governor General Dalhousie introduced a policy that came to be known as Doctrine of Lapse. This policy was an upgraded version of Subsidiary Alliance policy because if you remember in Subsidiary Alliance, The Indian rulers were not allowed to have their own forces.

They were forced to depend on the company forces for any kind of protection and that too in exchange of payment. And according to this new policy of doctrine of lapse, if an Indian ruler died without a male successor, his kingdom would lapse and would become part of company's territory. One kingdom after another was annexed simply by applying this new policy.

For example, Satara district of Maharashtra was took over in 1848 Then Sambalpur state of Odisha was taken over in 1850. Then Udaipur was taken over in 1852, followed by Nagpur in 1853 and then Jhansi in 1854. The famous story of Jhansi ki Rani tells us about how she was ordered to leave the palace and fort of Jhansi because her son Damodar Rao was adopted and was not her biological son. So the East India Company applied the doctrine of lapse policy and took over her state and territories. And finally, in 1856, the Company took over the states of Awadh. Remember, Awadh was already an alliance of the Company.

But in 1856, the British took over Awadh. Governor-General Lord Dalhousie said, it was due to the misgovernance of the ruler Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, as he was not ruling properly. So, to free the people from the misgovernment of the Nawab, the British had to take over the state.

Wajid Ali Shah was 10th and the last Nawab of Awadh. He held the position for 9 years. The British humiliated the Nawab and he was removed and sent to Kolkata on a pension. Seeing this, it enraged the people of Awadh, who later joined the great revolt that broke out in 1857. This revolt was also known as the Sepoy Mutiny and also India's first struggle for independence.

The revolt of 1857 saw the end of the East India Company's rule in India. On August 2nd, 1858, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858, Under this act, the company was formally dissolved and its ruling powers over India were transferred to the British Crown. In other words, from here on, the era of the new British Raj started which lasted until partition of India in 1947, about which we will learn in a separate video. I hope you have found this video informative.

If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.

Transcript for:Timeline of the East India Company

Transcript for:
Timeline of the East India Company