How did British Empire take over India? | Fall of Mughal Empire

 Hello, friends!

In 1686, the British East India Company declared war on the Mughals. Aurangzeb was on the throne at the time. This war is said to be a big blunder Because the army of the East India Company, was quite small and weak in comparison to the Mughal army. So it was not surprising that the Mughals defeated the East India Company very easily. The EIC factories in India were seized. Many EIC officials were arrested And the incumbent Governor of the company, had to bow down to Aurangzeb. Despite this, about 300 years later, East India Company, this foreign company, established control over the entirety of the Indian subcontinent. Even the biggest company that you can think of now, Apple, Google, Facebook, East India Company was much bigger and more powerful than any of these companies 

How was this possible? 

 Come, let's try to understand this in today's article. 

News : "British East India Company, the company that ruled India and a large part of the Indian subcontinent..." "Britain destroyed India, through looting, expropriation, and outright theft."  The British continent, was a rouge multinational corporation. "Like no other, one that was set out to trade. But also have powers to take land. To wage war. And also resolve peace." 

 Friends, our story begins in the year 1600, when the East India Company was founded by some merchants. It was a Joint Stock Company, i.e., its business was owned by shareholders. At the outset, there were only 125 shareholders. They came together to raise £70,000 as capital. The object to create this company was to trade in spices. In the Spice Islands of South-East Asia. The next year, in 1601,

 the East India Company undertook its maiden voyage and set up 2 factories in Indonesia. Back then, on the Indonesia islands, Spanish and Portuguese traders were already in business. Additionally, the Dutch traders had recently begun trading in the area. The Dutch company was more profitable than the English company. They had more money and a better army. With time, they became the dominant power in the area. The British East India Compay realised that they needed to shift their operations because there was no scope for competing with the Dutch. To avoid conflict, they started looking at other areas.

 Eventually considering India. There were many spices and textiles in India. So in 1608, EIC merchants reached India and landed in present-day Surat, Gujarat. The Mughals were ruling over the country. The Mughal army consisted of 4 million armed soldiers. Extremely powerful. The officials of the company knew that it'd be futile to fight them. So they decided on trying to establish a friendly relationship so that they could get permission to trade. They tried to appease the local ruler. The captain of the ship, Captain Willian Hawkins,

 travelled a long way to Agra. The Mughal Capital. There he met the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

 He tried to ask him for permission to set up a factory to commence trading in Surat. But Jahangir refused to grant the permission. The simple reason for this was the presence of Portuguese traders in Surat. The Portuguese traders had good relations with the Mughals. So Jahangir had no reason to enable their competitors, the English, British traders. Since EIC couldn't get permission to trade in Mughal territory, the EIC traders decided to move to other areas in India. A territory not controlled by the Mughals. That was under another ruler. In 1611,

 they were successful when they set up their first factory in Andhra Pradesh's Machlipatnam. They were given permission by the local ruler. Over the next years, the East India Company established more factories, and worked hard to gain a foothold in the Indian subcontinent. While doing so, they were constantly in the way of conflict, with the other European traders. In 1612,

 the return to Surat and declared a war against the Portuguese traders. It was named the Battle of Swally. Portuguese lost the battle. Following this, the Portuguese influence started diminishing, and they were mostly restricted to the areas around Goa. East India Company became the biggest player in the Indian subcontinent. After this win, in 1615,

 the East India Company requested the English King James I, to send a royal representative to the Mughal emperor. With his aid, the Mughal emperor may be inclined to agree. So on behalf of the English Crown, Sir Thomas Roe was sent. A diplomat. He did what Hawkins couldn't. When he met Jahangir, he presented marvellous gifts to him. Jahangir was impressed by the gifts. So Jahangir issued a royal edict, a royal order stating that the English were permitted to set up factories in Surat. Not only this, the East India Company was given some exclusive rights as well. Marking territories where the EIC would be the sole trader in exchange of an annual payment to the Mughal emperor. And so, East India Company's factory was finally established in Surat. Over the next few decades, several other factories were established.

 Madras, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Agra, Patna, the Company's business was flourishing. Their profits were increasingly good. By trading in cotton, indigo, silk, salt, and later in things like opium and tea. The cities where their factories were set up, economic prosperity was seen in abundance. More people were attracted to these cities. The EIC slowly started to form a monopoly in these cities. They start building fortified bases. Till then, most of the factories of the EIC, where in the Western and South-Eastern coasts of the Indian subcontinent. They now wanted to establish their factories all over Mughal territories. Especially in the East, in Bengal.

 Back then, Bengal meant, present-day West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Odisha combined. Commercially, it was an immensely successful region at the time. The ambitions of the company knew no bounds. The company wanted to get political powers too. The simple reason for this was to create an ease of trading. And to easily remove any competitors. So they requested the English King to bestow more powers on them. To enable them to generate more profits. Around the year 1670,

 the English King Charles II, granted rights to the East India Company to acquire territories. Hold political power, Mint money, Oversee civil and criminal jurisdiction in their territories. Not only this, they could even have a private army form alliances, and even declare wars. Today, it sounds quite unbelievable because when we think of companies now, companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, can you imagine these companies having so much power that they have their private armies, their independent justice systems, be able to print their money, and go to war with other countries. Thankfully, this isn't possible nowadays. But back then, the English monarchy granted these powers to the EIC, which meant that EIC could then become an agent of Imperialism. In 1682, EIC tried to negotiate with the then Mughal Governor of Bengal. Shaista Khan.

 The company wanted the governor to issue a royal edict to enable them to trade easily in Bengal. By this point in time, the company already had some presence in Bengal, but they wanted trading rights and tax cuts. so that trading could become easier. A new Mughal Emperor had ascended to the throne, Aurangzeb.

 When he heard the request of the East India Company, He considered them arrogant. Despite having so many factories, they weren't content. And they wanted to set up factories in Bengal as well. He rejects their petition. The governor of East India Company was Josiah Child.

 He wasn't pleased with Aurangzeb's decision. In the arrogance of the newfound power, enabling the East India Company to have its private army, he declared war against the Mughals. It was in 1986. I referenced this at the beginning of this article. It was a questionable decision from the perspective of the East India Company. Because their army was worthless when facing the Mughal army. The EIC faced a bitter defeat.

 Josiah Child had to bow down and ask for Aurangzeb's forgiveness. There's a historical painting of this scene.

 As you can see on the screen. Aurangzeb forgave the East India Company but levied a fine on them. ₹150,000. ₹150,000 then is about ₹350 million now. After this fine, the trading privileges of the East India Company were restored. And the factories that were seized, were returned. The officials of the company had a lot of patience. They quietly kept on working within their limits. But they were waiting for the right opportunity. An opportunity that would allow them to set up factories in Bengal as well and to get a stronghold over Bengal. They got the opportunity in 1707, when Aurangzeb passed away. After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal empire was greatly weakened. There were constant power struggles. There was infighting among the Mughals, to take the throne and be the next emperor. So the local Nawabs, the local kings and landlords, established their sovereign control over their regions. They split off from the Mughal Empire. During this time, the Marathas, Rajputs, Jats, Rohillas, emerged as regional powers. The Maratha Empire was founded some years before this. Even during Aurangzeb's reign, the Marathas were a threat to the Mughals. Between 1680 to 1758, there were many Maratha-Mughal wars, But after Aurangzeb's death, Marathas easily defeated the Mughal forces and extended their territory to the North.

 Meanwhile, the Mughals faced a new threat in the form of the Persians. In 1739,

 the Persian ruler Nadir Shah attacked India when he plundered and looted treasures taking them back with him. Some years later, in 1748, the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani,

 invaded Mughal territory. The Mughals joined forces with the Rajputs and Sikhs to defeat Nadir Shah. But then came financial problems in the Mughal Empire after fighting so many wars. The regional governors who were paying their portion of the revenue to the Central Mughal government, stopped paying them. And the Indian subcontinent became decentralised into various regions. In the midst of it all, the East India Company was focusing on themselves. They were investing in new technologies setting up new factories and more soldiers were recruited from Great Britain to join the private army of the East India Company. They were strengthening their private army. East India Company was training local Indians as well. The local Indians would work for the East India Company for employment and joined the army. The Indians who were a part of the East India Company's army, were known as Sepoys. With the frequent coronation of new Mughal emperors, the East India Company continued pressurising the Mughal throne. They continued their efforts to get trading privileges in Bengal. They tried negotiating with the new rulers. They tried manipulating them. And finally, in 1717, the then Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar,

 granted tax-free trading rights to the East India Company in Bengal. Not only this, according to the new royal edict, East India Company could even issue a Dastak, a kind of a trade permit, with which all custom duties and transit duties could be waived off, on the goods traded by the East India Company. This was a huge win for the company. Not only did they get permission to establish factories in Bengal, but they also started using this Dastak system for their gains. With the help of the special trade permit, they were paying no taxes. This meant that the revenue previously generated from Bengal, for the Mughal Empire, was now lost. The financial problems of the Mughal Empire worsened. Some months later, in the same year 1717, the former Mughal Governor of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan,

 forsook the Mughal Empire and declared Bengal to be under his sovereign control and declared himself the Nawab of Bengal. Murshid Quli Khan understood the tactics of the East India Company. So he ordered the East India Company to stop their ways and pay taxes. The EIC officials claimed that the demand was unfair. That they were being treated unjustly. And looked down on the Bengali Nawab. The East India Company then decided to get involved in local politics to ensure their profits. Friends, before we move ahead in the story, we need to understand that during this era, when the Mughal Empire was slowly getting weaker, many things were happening simultaneously in India.

 The European competitors of the British East India Company such as the Dutch and the Danes, were also benefiting from the weakening of the Mughal Empire, and setting up their businesses in the Indian subcontinent. The French emerged as new players, when they entered India. These European powers wanted to expand their influence in India. And to get control over the Indian territories. Obviously, the British East India Company wanted to do the same. The French gained territory in India rapidly,

 when they established colonies in Pondicherry and Bengal's Chandernagore. By the mid-1700s, the British and the French were two dominant powers in the Indian subcontinent. In the early 1740s, a French leader Joseph François Dupleix,

 was the Governor General of the French Indian territories. He wanted to establish a French Empire in India. With the change in the motivation of the European forces in India, the motivation of the East India Company changed as well. There was enmity between France and Britain already. Between 1740 and 1748, they had fought the War of Austrian Succession in Europe.

 Some years later, the two countries fought the Seven Years' War in 1756

 When these two powers were trying to expand their power in North America, The enmity between France and Britain was so much, not only did they fight wars in Europe and North America they fought a war in India as well. Between 1746 and 1763,

the Carnatic Wars were fought in Southern India. England won these wars, and the French lost their political influence. Only the territories of Pondicherry and Chandernagore remained with them. Friends, it is interesting to note that the effect on the contemporary Indian rulers of the wars between the British and French. The local Indian rulers were also fighting with each other for power. They saw that the Europeans had better armies, highly trained soldiers, and disciplined officers, they decided to form alliances with them to use European resources in their battles. But the That they would start interfering in domestic politics. Leading to the erosion of domestic power. The European powers could benefit from this plan. They could bribe the opposition leader of an Indian ruler support them with their army, put them on the throne and establish a puppet ruler. To understand this with an example, let's get back to the story of the Bengali Nawabs and the East India Company. In 1756, Siraj-ud-Daulah

 became the new Nawab of Bengal. As I mentioned earlier in the article. The East India Company was constantly disrespecting the authority of the Nawabs. Right from Murshid Quli's reign. But Siraj-ud-Daulah had enough. He didn't want to tolerate it any more. Siraj-ud-Daulah marched to Calcutta with his army. and attacked Fort William in the Bengali capital Murshidabad. He jailed several hundred British officers, and a majority of those British officers actually died. Because they were cramped into a tiny jail cell.

 This incident is named the Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta. The British were infuriated with this. They decided to removed Siraj-ud-Daulah from power at any cost. Here, they used the tactics they had learned in the Carnatic Wars. They decided to use the rivals of the Nawab to remove him from the throne. The thing was, not everyone was pleased with Siraj-ud-Daulah being on the throne. In his opposition, was the family of Jagath Seth.

 A powerful family of bankers, merchants, and moneylenders based in Murshidabad.

 They were one of the richest families of Bengal of the time. And had a significant influence on the court of the Nawabs. Apart from this, the commander of Siraj-ud-Daulah's army, Mir Jafar,

 harboured desires of becoming a Nawab. Under the leadership of Robert Clive, the East India Company, joined hands with the Seth family and with Mir Jafar. And planned to remove Siraj-ud-Daulah from the throne. Today, it's easy to change governments by bribing MLAs, but back then, changing the rulers meant literally sending an army to fight Siraj-ud-Daulah was no fool. He was aware of the steps taken by the East India Company. He reasoned that if the EIC could join forces with his enemies to dethrone him, why shouldn't he do so too? He approached the French, known rivals of the British, joined forces with them to fight their common enemies together. This war was fought in June 1757. The Battle of Plassey.

 Even though Siraj-ud-Daulah's army was 15 times bigger in size, he still lost. After winning, the British put their new friend Mir Jafar on the throne, he became the new puppet Nawab of Bengal. Later, Siraj-ud-Daulah was assassinated. And the French presence in Bengal, ended after this. Chandernagore, the only area in Bengal under the French control slipped out of French hands and came under British control. Battle of Plassey is an important turning point in history. Because after this, the British gained political power. Even though indirectly. Some years later, their puppet Nawab, Mir Jafar, Started getting into disagreements with the East India Company. He wasn't as complacent as the British had hoped. He went and formed an alliance with the Dutch East India Company, in an effort to defeat the East India Company and to throw them out of Bengal. When the East India Company got to know about this, they removed Mir Jafar from the throne. And his son-in-law Mir Qasim became the new Nawab of Bengal Again, the company hoped that he would be a puppet Nawab following their directions. Qasim

 became the new Nawab of Bengal in 1761. But as before, he too got into disagreements with the British East India Company. He saw how the company was misusing their powers. He too wanted to be free of the British. So in 1763, he took his army to war with the British forces. But by this point in time, the British forces had become very powerful. They defeated Mir Qasim. The British then removed Mir Qasim from the throne and called Mir Jafar back. They gave him another chance to be the Nawab on the condition that he would be a good puppet. Qasim left Bengal and realised that the war could not be won alone. If he wanted to throw the British out of Bengal, he cannot do it alone with his army. He approached the Nawab of Awadh Shuja-ud-Daula, and the incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.

 The three formed an alliance and decided to eradicate the British influence. Their alliance fought the British in 1764,

 in the Battle of Buxar. The British won this battle as well. After this war, the East India Company decided that they had enough with the puppet rulers none of the puppet Nawabs behaved the way they wanted. So they decided to be the new rulers of Bengal. So in 1765, according to the Treaty of Allahabad,

 Robert Clive became the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bengal. Officially, another major point in this Treaty was that Shah Alam II had issued an edict, to grant Diwani Rights of Bengal to the East India Company. All revenue from Bengal in the form of taxes collected, would go to the East India Company alone. Officially, the East India Company became the new ruler of Bengal. This company had many sources of revenue. Their trading business was quite profitable. And now they were collecting taxes as well. Their revenue grew manifold. They could buy new products to trade strengthen their military power spend more on the infrastructure, and just like that, the Bengal area was under British control. Here, this reminds me of an interesting quote. "IMPERIALISM IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF CAPITALISM" You can see why this is true. By this point in time, the East India Company had the funds, resources, and the power to expand their territory. To get control of the other areas in India, they used some really interesting techniques. 

First, in the regions in the Indian subcontinent not under British control, the British appointed Residents there.

 Residents were basically British officials, who worked as diplomats to the various states and regions. These Residents tried to establish friendly relations with the local rulers, and form alliances with them. The rulers who would accept their friendship, were then 'advised' by them on how to conduct politics. They tried to indirectly interfere in local politics. 

Second, the local rulers of the other states, the East India Company pressurised them to enter into a Subsidiary Alliance with the East India Company. Subsidiary Alliance was an interesting system. According to this alliance, the local rulers weren't allowed to have their armies. They weren't allowed to fight their battles. Instead, the East India Company would form an army on their behalf and the local ruler would pay the East India Company to form this army. From the perspective of the ruler, thy can save some money. They don't have to maintain an army. But from the perspective of the East India Company, it was a clever move. If the local rulers have no army, they would not be able to fight them. On top of it, they were getting paid to do so. In case the local rulers could not pay the East India Company, for any reason, some portion of their territory would be confiscated by the East India Company. And this happened quite often. So slowly and steadily, the East India Company kept gaining more territories. According to the Subsidiary Alliance, the East India Company had promised that the company would not interfere in the internal affairs of the rest of the areas. But this was an empty promise. In the background, the company was interfering in the local politics through their Residents. With this technique, a large amount of area came under the indirect control of the East India Company. The regions that formed the Subsidiary Alliance with East India Company, were later came to be known as the Princely States of India. In 1798, Hyderabad was the first state to form a Subsidiary Alliance with the company. 

The thrid technique was quite simple. if both these techniques failed, the East India Company used their brute military force They literally took an army and occupied new areas. Using these techniques, by 1818 the East India Company had become the most powerful entity in the Indian subcontinent. By 1818,

 about 2/3rds of the Indian subcontinent was under the control of East India Company. And 78% of the population living in this subcontinent was living under the East India Company's rule. 

Later on, a fourth technique was used to get control over the remaining areas. The Doctrine of Lapse. This was introduced in 1847, by the EIC officials. It was enforced the most by Lord Dalhousie,

 between 1848 and 1856. According to this Doctrine, if an Indian ruler died, and they didn't have a natural male heir the kingdom would automatically lapse and become a part of the East India Company's territory. Many famous cities came under British control because of this Doctrine.

 Satara in 1848, Udaipur in 1852, Nagpur in 1853, Jhansi in 1854, and finally Awadh in 1856. Apart from these techniques, there were many administrative reforms in the East India Company. Without it, to establish control of an area of this scale was achieved by several kings and emperors, but they couldn't sustain that rule. The East India Company was constantly reforming So that they could easily regulate the different territories in the country. For example, the Regulating Act of 1773. that created the post of the Governor General of Bengal. Warren Hastings

 became the first Governor General of Bengal. These made it easier to rule. By the early 1800s, the last remaining major power other than the British in the Indian subcontinent was the Maratha Empire and the Mysore Kingdom.

 How did the East India Company defeat these two? 

It's an interesting story. I have made an article on How British Destroyed Maratha Empire? you can chick out by click here https://latestaroundour.blogspot.com/2023/06/%20Anglo-Maratha-Wars.html After the Doctrine of Lapse, came the Revolt of 1857, it is known as the First War of Independence.

 Even though Indian revolutionaries lost the war, but according to the Government of India Act, 1858, the British government nationalised the East India Company. All the territories, military forces, and the wealth accumulated by the East India Company went to the British government. At this point in time, the rule of East India Company ended. And the British Raj began. In 1874, the company was finally dissolved. The Mughal Empire ended after 1857 when the last emperor Bahadur Shah Jafar was exiled to Burma. And his successors were killed. So, friends, this was the interesting story of one of the most powerful companies in the world. If you liked this article, you can watch other history-related article, Let's meet in the next article.

Thank you very much!