0:00:04 > 0:00:07People often remember their history lessons
0:00:07 > 0:00:09as full of dates and battles,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11kings and queens, facts and figures.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18The story of the past is open to interpretation and much of British
0:00:18 > 0:00:23history is a carefully edited and even deceitful version of events.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27You might think that history is just a record of what happened.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Actually, it's not like that at all.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34As soon as you do a little digging you discover that it's more like a
0:00:34 > 0:00:40tapestry of different stories woven together by whoever was in power
0:00:40 > 0:00:41at the time.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42In this series,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46I'm going to debunk some of the biggest fibs in British history.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48In the 15th century,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52the story of the Wars of the Roses was invented by the Tudors
0:00:52 > 0:00:53to justify their power,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and then immortalised by the greatest storyteller of them all,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59William Shakespeare.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Now is the winter of our discontent.
0:01:03 > 0:01:04In the 17th century,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08politicians and artists helped turn a foreign invasion
0:01:08 > 0:01:13into the triumphal tale of Britain's Glorious Revolution.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Hello. Hoo-hoo!
0:01:16 > 0:01:17And in this programme,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22I'll discover how in the 19th century a British government coup
0:01:22 > 0:01:27in India created the British Raj and was heralded by the Victorians
0:01:27 > 0:01:30as the civilising triumph of the Empire.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34In 1877,
0:01:34 > 0:01:40Queen Victoria got a promotion when she was made Empress of India.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44She was now up there with emperors like Alexander the Great
0:01:44 > 0:01:49or the Caesars, the most powerful potentates in history.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53But Victoria's promotion wasn't just an expression of Britain's
0:01:53 > 0:01:57military might. With Victoria as its motherly figurehead,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Britain was cooking up a new imperial vision.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Tyranny and exploitation were things of the past.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08This would now be a caring empire,
0:02:08 > 0:02:14driven by core Victorian values of honour, respect and justice,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16or so the story goes.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20With history the line between fact and fiction often gets blurred.
0:02:31 > 0:02:3420 years after Victoria became Empress of India,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Britain staged an incredible spectacle.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44On the 22nd of June 1897, the nation celebrated her Diamond Jubilee.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Victoria was now the longest-serving monarch in British history.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52300,000 people had lined the streets to watch the Queen making
0:02:52 > 0:02:56her procession from Buckingham Palace all the way
0:02:56 > 0:02:59up here to St Paul's Cathedral.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Every minute of the day was very tightly timetabled.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07You could read in the newspapers exactly where she was supposed to be
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and when. She was supposed to get here at midday.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Now, all these people had turned out because this was a rare chance
0:03:15 > 0:03:18to see the little old lady who'd led the nation
0:03:18 > 0:03:22for 60 years of unprecedented peace and prosperity.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25But, perhaps even more importantly,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28this was a chance to celebrate the best thing that had ever happened
0:03:28 > 0:03:30to Britain - its Empire.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Since Victoria's reign began in 1837,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40the British Empire had grown to become the largest and most powerful
0:03:40 > 0:03:42empire in the world.
0:03:43 > 0:03:50In 1897, Victoria ruled over 370 million subjects across the globe.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53And the jewel in the Empire's crown was India.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Now, obviously, India brought prestige and
0:03:57 > 0:03:59wealth to the British Empire
0:03:59 > 0:04:01but it did something else very important as well.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05It gave the British the opportunity to show other nations
0:04:05 > 0:04:07how imperialism should be done.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Victoria's jubilee was a great excuse
0:04:12 > 0:04:17for a national slap on the back to celebrate Britain's imperial ideals
0:04:17 > 0:04:20of fair play, justice and honour.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Little mention that the British were invaders in foreign lands,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27that India had been won by fighting bloody battles
0:04:27 > 0:04:29against Indian resistance.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36This history of Victoria's reign was published in jubilee year 1897
0:04:36 > 0:04:40and the writer brings the story of Empire right up into the present.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44He claims that all the Indian people in London for the jubilee
0:04:44 > 0:04:48celebrations were delighted to be here and what's more,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52they represented other happy Indians back at home.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54"One felt," he writes,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58"that each of them represented thousands more who were ready in the
0:04:58 > 0:05:03"hour of peril to draw the sword for the motherland and its Queen."
0:05:04 > 0:05:10He says that the Jubilee marks the high point of the imperial idea.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Now, you might be thinking, "What a lot of nonsense."
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But this vision of India as the jewel in the crown
0:05:16 > 0:05:21of a benevolent empire was fervently believed by most Victorians.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25It had been carefully crafted since 1858 when the government had taken
0:05:25 > 0:05:28formal control of India.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Queen Victoria herself had issued
0:05:30 > 0:05:32the new regime's imperial mission statement.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37"We British will now wholeheartedly respect our Indian subjects.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"India will share all the benefits
0:05:39 > 0:05:42"that have made our tiny island nation great."
0:05:47 > 0:05:52A history of aggressive conquest and exploitation was being moulded
0:05:52 > 0:05:56into an uplifting story to justify the Empire.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00It began here in Kolkata, where the British had made their Indian base
0:06:00 > 0:06:02in the late 18th century.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Looking at a map of India, you might think that Kolkata,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09or Calcutta as it used to be known,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13is a bit of a funny place to choose for an imperial capital.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17It isn't bang in the middle like the really ancient city of Delhi -
0:06:17 > 0:06:21that was a much better place for dominating the subcontinent.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25But when the British first set up shop in the 18th century,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28they weren't intending to dominate the subcontinent at all.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32They'd come here to get rich through trade and, for that,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Calcutta suited them perfectly.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Calcutta's Hooghly River flows out into the Bay of Bengal and into
0:06:46 > 0:06:50convenient sea routes to take goods back to Britain.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54But the first Britons to exploit India's riches here weren't members
0:06:54 > 0:06:57of the establishment - they were buccaneering,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59money-making entrepreneurs.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08They where employees of a vast multinational corporation,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10the British East India Company.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18The East India Company merchants first came to India in 1615
0:07:18 > 0:07:20during the reign of Elizabeth I.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Haggling with the local elite,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27these wheeler-dealers gained a foothold in Calcutta
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and began to dominate trade in the region.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35This private company had no imperial ambitions and certainly
0:07:35 > 0:07:38no civilising mission.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41For them, India was simply a cash cow to be plundered.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Relying on trade deals with the local rulers,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50the company men now set about exploiting all the riches that India
0:07:50 > 0:07:54had to offer - from silks to cotton to tea to spices.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03This band of merchant adventurers stopped at nothing in their pursuit
0:08:03 > 0:08:05of wealth.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Playing by their own rules, they reneged on trade deals,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12they refused to pay tribute to local rulers,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and, when they didn't get their way, resorted to violence.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18With their sharp trading practices,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21today these men seem little more than pirates.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29But the company didn't describe themselves as a bunch
0:08:29 > 0:08:31of bloodthirsty and avaricious merchants.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35No, these men were British and honourable to the core.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41The company's official title made this explicit.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45They called themselves the Honourable East India Company.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49And they went to great lengths to engineer a facade
0:08:49 > 0:08:51of British respectability.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And they built monuments like this -
0:08:54 > 0:08:58an almost exact replica of the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields
0:08:58 > 0:08:59in Trafalgar Square.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05In fact, St John's Church also housed the East India Company's
0:09:05 > 0:09:10first council chambers where these Anglo-Indian merchants could discuss
0:09:10 > 0:09:13their real interests - making money.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14And they were quite successful.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19By the late 18th-century they were like independent rulers
0:09:19 > 0:09:21of large parts of India,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25with their own private army of Indian foot soldiers or sepoys.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27As the company grew in power,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30it still had its pretensions to that word, "honourable".
0:09:30 > 0:09:35But a rather different insight can be found inside St John's -
0:09:35 > 0:09:39a picture by Johann Zoffany, the company's go-to portrait painter.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- So, Jayanta, we're standing in a Christian church.- Yes.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45We're looking at a painting of the Last Supper.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47That's not such a surprising thing to find.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52No, it's not, except that Jesus and all the others present here
0:09:52 > 0:09:55are actually members of the fashionable Anglo-Indian society
0:09:55 > 0:09:57in Calcutta in the late 18th century.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00So real people sat to have their pictures painted?
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Yes, Jesus in the middle is a Greek bishop named Father Parthenio.
0:10:05 > 0:10:06To his left,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10the lady figure is actually the police sergeant of Calcutta
0:10:10 > 0:10:13in the late 18th century, named WC Blacquiere,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17who was a transvestite and who was very famous for stalking
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and rounding up criminals while dressed as a woman.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Hang on, you can't just say that.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Are you saying that St John is a transvestite policeman?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Here it is, that's Zoffany's funny take on this.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Slightly subversive.
0:10:31 > 0:10:32OK, and who else?
0:10:32 > 0:10:37This bearded guy sitting on the right foreground with this dagger
0:10:37 > 0:10:39showing up on his waist, he's a Judas here,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42he's actually an auctioneer named William Tulloh.
0:10:42 > 0:10:43He looks pretty unhappy.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47He looks pretty pissed, playing Judas here.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51All the others, they're all company men, powerful and influential.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Isn't this bordering on sacrilege though?
0:10:55 > 0:10:58You've got to be pretty arrogant to depict yourself as an apostle?
0:10:58 > 0:11:01I guess you can say that but that arrogance comes from
0:11:01 > 0:11:05the actual power wielded by these people because they're not only
0:11:05 > 0:11:08making money doing commerce but they are also ruling the roost
0:11:08 > 0:11:10in politics and administration.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14They called themselves the Honourable East India Company.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- Yes.- They weren't honourable from our point of view today at all.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18How do you explain that?
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Well, it's part of this self image which the British created for
0:11:22 > 0:11:27themselves in order to feel good about their enterprise,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29which was really about commerce and moneymaking.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33And they were actually portrayed by fairly influential intellectuals
0:11:33 > 0:11:36at that time as honourable, like David Hume,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39whose volumes on the history of England portrays these people
0:11:39 > 0:11:43as very honourable, holding up the British values.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Hume actually says somewhere in those volumes that the reason
0:11:46 > 0:11:50why they could transform themselves so quickly from a trading enterprise
0:11:50 > 0:11:52into such a powerful political entity
0:11:52 > 0:11:54was the strength of their character.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Endorsed by the likes of David Hume,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04the company men ruled India with little accountability.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08And the British government was happy as long as the money kept rolling in
0:12:08 > 0:12:12because the British East India Company profits enriched
0:12:12 > 0:12:17the British economy by £67 billion a year in today's money.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19But not everyone was impressed.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24In 1756, the local ruler of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28led an uprising against the East India Company.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32He captured Calcutta and locked a group of company men
0:12:32 > 0:12:35in a tiny prison called the Black Hole.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Many died of suffocation.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42The British government would join the company to take terrible revenge
0:12:42 > 0:12:46but only after presenting this event as a savage assault on Britain.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51The Black Hole of Calcutta was about to enter the history books.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55To the memory of the 123 persons who perished
0:12:55 > 0:12:58in the Black Hole prison.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Now, British people will have heard of the Black Hole of Calcutta,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04but what really was it?
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Now, the only account of a survivor, or first-hand account of that
0:13:08 > 0:13:13is from a British general called John Holwell who was in that room.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16What sort of detail does he give us in his account?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19John Holwell is fairly graphic in his details.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23I have an extract here from the Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25This is Holwell's quote.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28"The first effect of their confinement was a continued sweat,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31"which soon produced intolerable thirst,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34"succeeded by excruciating pains in the chest
0:13:34 > 0:13:38"with difficulty of breathing, little short of suffocation."
0:13:38 > 0:13:42So this is a very graphic, horrific, dark story that he's telling.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45True, this is very horrific.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48But what we know is that, at that time,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50it suited the British narrative,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52so they could not just come about and slaughter the natives,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57but their retribution, as ruthless and brutal as it was,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01had to be justified by some pre-existing
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Indian savagery or barbarism.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08It was more than two centuries later in the 1960s that Indian historians
0:14:08 > 0:14:12began to question Holwell's account for the first time.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16And the first one who did that very significantly was a historian named
0:14:16 > 0:14:21RC Majumdar who wrote a book in 1962 where he raised two questions.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26One is that if it was so dark and so cramped in that little black hole,
0:14:26 > 0:14:31then how could Holwell write such a graphic description with such
0:14:31 > 0:14:34excruciating and horrific details.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38The other question was that if the room was so small then there was
0:14:38 > 0:14:44no way you could cram together 146 people in there.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Even if Holwell were true about people dying of suffocation,
0:14:48 > 0:14:53it couldn't have been more than 60 or 70 people, not more.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55We don't know. Majumdar was a nationalist historian,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59so his account was also very subjective.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Was he trying to make the British look really bad?
0:15:02 > 0:15:05- Like liars?- Yes. Yes. - Massagers of the truth?
0:15:05 > 0:15:08But we don't know the real truth that happened.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13At the time, the facts, what really happened in the Black Hole,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17didn't matter to the company or the British Government.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20They simply wanted to regain control,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23so a horror story was very useful in whipping up
0:15:23 > 0:15:25public support back home.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28And when the East India Company under General Robert Clive
0:15:28 > 0:15:32took their revenge, Clive's troops were reinforced by the might
0:15:32 > 0:15:35of the British Army at Government expense.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Clive was victorious - he was given a peerage
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and immortalised in the colonial narrative.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43He was now Clive of India.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48But British faith in the East India Company had been shaken.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55The problem was that the company had stopped making a profit.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Re-establishing control of Calcutta
0:15:57 > 0:16:00and Clive's other military manoeuvrings
0:16:00 > 0:16:02had cost an awful lot of money.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06The company had had to borrow money from the Government, a lot of it.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10People at home were beginning to ask, was it worth it?
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The company's honourable status was in doubt.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35While it was being bankrolled millions by the Government,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38company men like Clive were getting rich
0:16:38 > 0:16:40and throwing their money around.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44For many they were no longer seen as the best of British but more like
0:16:44 > 0:16:48oriental tyrants - corrupt and abusing their power.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57Clive had amassed a personal fortune of £4 million in today's money.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01This immediately made him one of the richest men in the country.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05But he wasn't alone - there were other ex-East India Company men
0:17:05 > 0:17:09coming back to Britain with these huge piles of cash
0:17:09 > 0:17:13and they were ready to splash it about on buying property and power.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21This is Sezincote in Gloucestershire,
0:17:21 > 0:17:26purchased in 1795 by a company man, Colonel John Cockerell.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30After his death it was then embellished with this extravagant
0:17:30 > 0:17:36Indian facade by his brothers, also company men, Charles and Samuel.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41The Cockerell family created a fantasy mini version of India
0:17:41 > 0:17:43here in the middle of the Cotswolds.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48From the inside the house seems like a fairly standard Palladian villa.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53But on the outside it's been given this fantastical Mughal coating.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56There are Muslim architectural features,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00like the green dome on the top and the minarets,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04and these very distinctive deeply overhanging eaves.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08But then again there are also Hindu features in the architecture such as
0:18:08 > 0:18:12the octagonal columns each side of the door and, at the top
0:18:12 > 0:18:15of the columns, a little decoration of a lotus flower.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17But then again on top of that,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21there are the architectural jokes in the corners above the arch up there.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Well, we've got some Union Jacks.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32With its mashed up Muslim and Hindu features,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35a visitor from Georgian India would have thought there was something
0:18:35 > 0:18:37a bit odd about this place.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40But imagine what the Gloucestershire neighbours must have thought.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44To them, it must have looked totally alien.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Like many company men, the Cockerells had come back
0:18:47 > 0:18:51with delusions of grandeur to match their wallets.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53But to the old establishment,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57these men were now seen as corrupt upstarts with ideas
0:18:57 > 0:18:59above their station.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02And in the popular press they were satirised by cartoonists
0:19:02 > 0:19:06like James Gillray and labelled as nabobs,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10a perversion of the title nawab, an Indian ruler.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Andrea, what was the problem with these East India men
0:19:14 > 0:19:17coming back to Britain? Why were they so disliked?
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Well, part of it was a little bit of wealth envy.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21They were coming back with massive fortunes,
0:19:21 > 0:19:26buying their way into local society, throwing their money around,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28but it went a lot deeper than that.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30The main concern, really, was how they had got their money.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33So if we look at this cartoon, for example,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37it shows a sort of typical nabob being carried through a sea
0:19:37 > 0:19:40of dead Indian bodies, clutching onto his moneybags.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43He's got £4 million in each hand.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45He is weighed down by his riches.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- Yes, absolutely. - And although he's got dying,
0:19:48 > 0:19:49drowning Indian people in the water,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52he's really bothered about not getting his slippers wet, isn't he?
0:19:52 > 0:19:56This was the concern that these nabobs were coming back
0:19:56 > 0:19:59having spent their time in India simply concerned with profit,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03so they're concerned that this money must be being acquired through sharp
0:20:03 > 0:20:08trading practices, through corruption, blackmail, speculation,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11profiteering, all of these kinds of dark arts that are seen to be closer
0:20:11 > 0:20:13to robbery than to fair trade.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17How did the political establishment fight back against this?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Well, the main way they fought back was by impeaching
0:20:20 > 0:20:22the Governor-General, Warren Hastings.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26We can see here, this is a very famous political cartoon of the time
0:20:26 > 0:20:29which shows the political adversaries Edmund Burke
0:20:29 > 0:20:30and Charles James Fox
0:20:30 > 0:20:33uniting to try and take down Warren Hastings.
0:20:33 > 0:20:34This is Warren Hastings,
0:20:34 > 0:20:41a western ruler of Bengal wearing Indian turban, clothing.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43He's got his little slippers on again,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and he is riding upon a strange creature.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49I believe it's a camel.
0:20:49 > 0:20:50Doesn't look much like a camel.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52A slightly stylised camel.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54He is representing the
0:20:54 > 0:20:56East India Company at this point, is he?
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Yes, effectively.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The bigger concerns here are not so much about Hastings as a person
0:21:01 > 0:21:04but about what the East India Company is doing,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07how governance is being carried out in India. But of course all of that
0:21:07 > 0:21:09is a little bit dry for capturing
0:21:09 > 0:21:12public opinion and public enthusiasm.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16And Burke realises that to have this debate he needs to go for a target
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and that target is Warren Hastings.
0:21:19 > 0:21:20By company standards,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Hastings wasn't the shadiest character by any means,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28but he was high profile, the perfect scapegoat for the Government.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33He was charged with tyranny, robbery, corruption and blackmail.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The trial dragged on for seven years.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39In the end it was impossible to make all the charges stick
0:21:39 > 0:21:42to one individual. Hastings was acquitted.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44But the show trial had worked.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47The East India Company had been discredited.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54The government was waking up to the dire situation in India.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57In future, company men would be kept in check.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03In 1784, the Government passed an act.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06It's full title makes it pretty clear what it was all about.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It was an act for the better regulation of the affairs
0:22:10 > 0:22:12of the East India Company.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16The cosy relationship between the company
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and the British establishment was on the turn.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25The merry band of merchants were now depicted as rather too merry.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Drunkards who'd succumbed to the vices of the Orient and grown
0:22:29 > 0:22:32too close to the locals and their culture.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Take, for example, the rather fabulously-named
0:22:35 > 0:22:38James Achilles Kirkpatrick.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41This is his memorial in St John's Church.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46He was a Lieutenant Colonel for the company and he had a Muslim wife
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and Muslim children.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53There was a boy, Ghulam Ali, and a girl, Noor-un-Nissa.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56He was obviously perfectly happy with the situation.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58But not everybody was.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Shortly before Kirkpatrick's death,
0:23:00 > 0:23:02his children came to live in England.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06And there they were given new names for their new life.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Here's the record of their baptism.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Ghulam Ali became William George
0:23:11 > 0:23:16and Noor-un-Nissa became Catherine Aurora.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Must have been confusing for the poor kids.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24As the enforced conversion of his children from Islam to Christianity
0:23:24 > 0:23:27reveals, some company men like Kirkpatrick
0:23:27 > 0:23:31had more enlightened views about race and religion than
0:23:31 > 0:23:35the British establishment. At the end of the 18th century,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39the Government began to think that the company was growing degenerate,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43corrupted by the influence of native religions.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46The most dangerous of all - Hinduism.
0:23:46 > 0:23:53Hindus made up 90% of the 250 million-strong Indian population.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57The British called the country India but its ancient native name
0:23:57 > 0:24:00was Hindustan.
0:24:00 > 0:24:01Land of the Hindus.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Ever since the British had arrived in India they'd struggled
0:24:08 > 0:24:13to understand Hinduism with its, to them, exotic gods and goddesses,
0:24:13 > 0:24:18more than a million of them, and its confusing caste system.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22But at least the earlier visitors in the 18th century had had a go
0:24:22 > 0:24:27at appreciating it. For example, the Scottish historian William Robertson
0:24:27 > 0:24:32thought that Hinduism expressed the sophistication of Indian culture.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35He wrote that the Indian people had made more progress towards
0:24:35 > 0:24:38civilisation than any other people.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Robertson's opinions reflected a certain 18th-century view
0:24:45 > 0:24:50of India's culture as exotic, fascinating, even praiseworthy.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56By the 19th century, though, many British people reviled Hinduism.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59The ancient custom of sati, for example,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04of burning a man's widow after his death seemed shocking.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08It had been East India Company policy not to rock the boat,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11not to interfere with native beliefs.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16But now the British establishment was taking a very different view.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Historians were now totally disrespectful of Indian culture.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23In fact, they were horrified by it.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27For example, James Mill wrote a wildly successful history of India
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and he doesn't have a good word to say about Hindus.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36He thinks they're full of antisocial passions and malignity,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38but at the same time, they're cowards.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43"This people run from danger with more trepidation and eagerness
0:25:43 > 0:25:48"than has been ever witnessed in any other part of the globe."
0:25:48 > 0:25:52The funny thing was that James Mill had never been to India.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54He probably hadn't even met a Hindu.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59And then we have the evangelical historian Charles Grant.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03He too thinks that the natives are extremely depraved
0:26:03 > 0:26:05but Mr Grant has a solution.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09He thinks it's the introduction of our light and knowledge
0:26:09 > 0:26:10among that benighted people,
0:26:10 > 0:26:15especially the pure, salutary, wise principles of our religion.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22Grant's history became a Bible for missionaries and James Mill's,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24well, that became the standard textbook
0:26:24 > 0:26:27for any young company official going out to India.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31In fact, Mill was even employed back in Britain to oversee the education
0:26:31 > 0:26:33of new recruits.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40The anti-Hindu propaganda in these history books helped justify
0:26:40 > 0:26:43the Government's assault on the East India Company.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48It opened the way for more direct meddling in the affairs of India.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52The British Government claims that they were protecting company men
0:26:52 > 0:26:55from further pollution by immoral practices.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00And in 1811, when the Government gave missionaries the licence
0:27:00 > 0:27:01to preach in India,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04they thought the natives would be grateful for their conversion
0:27:04 > 0:27:05to Christianity.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10But in 1857 that comforting fiction went up in flames.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14In March of that year,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19resistance to the British erupted amongst the Indian soldiers.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Over the next 15 months,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24bitter fighting broke out with heavy military and civilian casualties
0:27:24 > 0:27:29on both sides. India became a bloodbath.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33The East India Company's hold on the country was falling apart.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39This is the Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41It was a state-of-the-art weapon.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46It had performed very well for the British Army in the Crimean War,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50so when the East India Company's army needed new guns in 1856,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52this is the model they chose.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57Unfortunately, they were shooting themselves in the foot.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The problem was the cartridges.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03They were lubricated with tallow,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06that's animal fat, either pork or beef.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10To load the gun you have to bite the end off the cartridge like this.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15And out comes the powder.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Now, that's not very nice for anybody to have to do
0:28:18 > 0:28:22and the majority of the soldiers in the East India Company army
0:28:22 > 0:28:24were either Hindus or Muslims.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30To them it was sacrilegious because for Hindus the cow is a holy animal
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and Muslims are forbidden to eat pork.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38As wave after wave of rebellion spread across the subcontinent,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42the cartridges became a rallying point for Indian resistance to the
0:28:42 > 0:28:46British and their disregard for Indian religions and culture.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51For the Indian soldiers,
0:28:51 > 0:28:55this business of the cartridges was important because it was tangible,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57it focused their grievances.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01For the British though, it was used to bolster the fiction
0:29:01 > 0:29:04that this was a purely military matter.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09It wasn't part of wider discontent, this was simply an Indian mutiny.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18By describing the uprising as a mutiny, a military matter,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21the British were trying to control the story.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Like the Black Hole incident 100 years before,
0:29:25 > 0:29:30the situation seemed to call for swift, sharp retribution.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33If this was painted as soldiers disobeying orders,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37or a military mutiny, then a brutal response was justified.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50This is Barrackpore, just outside modern Kolkata
0:29:50 > 0:29:54In Hindi, Barrackpore means the City of Barracks
0:29:54 > 0:29:59and in 1857 this was the site of an East India Company army base.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The Indian uprising began here,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06as did the British decision to call it a mutiny.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12I'm going to see the statue of an Indian soldier who is said to have
0:30:12 > 0:30:16started the rebellion, Mangal Pandey.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20It was 29th of March 1857.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24He came out of his barracks with his red coat, the hat,
0:30:24 > 0:30:30but significantly not the pantaloon but the traditional Indian dhoti.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33So the top half was British and the bottom half was Indian?
0:30:33 > 0:30:35That might be indicative of something, you know.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38- Something is going on.- That I'm going to revolt against the British.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43- And what happened?- Then one of the British officers came forward
0:30:43 > 0:30:46but Mangal Pandey shot him but he missed.
0:30:46 > 0:30:53A second British officer came and he ordered sepoys to come out to help
0:30:53 > 0:31:00them but most of the Indian sepoys, they didn't come out to help him.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Nobody came, the other sepoys didn't come.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05No, they didn't come. Then the third officer,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07who was the commanding officer,
0:31:07 > 0:31:13he came and he called the sepoys to come out or he will shoot them.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Then the sepoys came but when Mangal Pandey saw that
0:31:17 > 0:31:19then he shot himself.
0:31:19 > 0:31:25He was injured seriously and he was arrested and after that
0:31:25 > 0:31:28he was hanged under this banyan tree.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32It sounds to me like this really was, technically, a mutiny.
0:31:32 > 0:31:33He broke the rules of being a soldier.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Yeah, in the British eyes of course he did,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39but from the Indian point of view this was a just thing,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42it is the result of the colonial exploitation
0:31:42 > 0:31:44of India by the British.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48And when did Indian historians themselves start to come out
0:31:48 > 0:31:50with their own version of what happened?
0:31:50 > 0:31:56It was a person called VD Savarkar who wrote a book
0:31:56 > 0:32:00in the early 20th century and the name of the book is
0:32:00 > 0:32:03First War of Independence.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Now here also it was not Indian mutiny or Indian revolt -
0:32:07 > 0:32:09Indian war of independence.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13Still now, in school books and textbooks in the colleges,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Mangal Pandey is regarded as the first martyr
0:32:15 > 0:32:18of the Indian independence movement.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Do you think that this whole event, call it a mutiny, a war,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24whatever you like, it's a really fascinating case study
0:32:24 > 0:32:26- for historians, isn't it? - Sure, it is. It is.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30You have to see the whole thing in the perspective of the time.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Visiting Barrackpore today with the crumbling ruins of the military
0:32:36 > 0:32:40barracks around the cherished memorial to Mangal Pandey,
0:32:40 > 0:32:42history is on the side of the sepoys.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49But in 1857 it was a very different story.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Back then, today's heroic freedom fighter was portrayed by the British
0:32:53 > 0:32:58establishment as a drug-crazed villain disobeying orders,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02the ringleader of a mutiny.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05As the resistance quickly spread across the country,
0:33:05 > 0:33:10"Remember Mangal Pandey," became the Indian resistance cry.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14And for the British, Pandey became a byword for mutineer.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20The killing on both sides was ferocious.
0:33:20 > 0:33:25For the British, the crisis point came in June 1857 when Indian rebels
0:33:25 > 0:33:29at Cawnpore killed over 200 British women and children.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33They then dumped their bodies in a well.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39Once again the British began whipping up a frenzy for vengeance.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43The scene at the Cawnpore slaughter was deliberately left untouched
0:33:43 > 0:33:46to provoke the bloodlust of the relief forces.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52For instance, we have this shoe that survives and it was found
0:33:52 > 0:33:54near the well at Cawnpore.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59So the story goes that this little shoe fell off the foot of a dead
0:33:59 > 0:34:03little boy as his body was being thrown down the well for disposal.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06- That's right.- Do you see this as a sort of prop for telling
0:34:06 > 0:34:09a particular story about what happened on that day then?
0:34:09 > 0:34:13I'd certainly think so. I think if this was a soldier's boot
0:34:13 > 0:34:15it wouldn't have had the same impact. It's a child's shoe.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18It's a really powerful thing to see, isn't it?
0:34:18 > 0:34:23It's emotive, it's telling you they're not just attacking our men,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25they're attacking our women and our children.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29It goes further with another object that is linked to the same incident.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34A lock of hair that is in our collection.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Have a quick read of the caption.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39The little note says, "Hair of the murdered women and children,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41"over 200 of them."
0:34:41 > 0:34:45But another account tells us of the Highlanders that arrived at the well
0:34:45 > 0:34:50of Cawnpore and vowed to themselves that for every strand of hair
0:34:50 > 0:34:52that we find, a mutineer shall die.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54- Oh, my goodness. - The message was revenge.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Justification for revenge.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02The message was received loud and clear and the British retribution
0:35:02 > 0:35:06was merciless. To show people at home that vengeance had been done,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09it was then graphically recorded.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13This watercolour is a depiction of mutineers being blown away.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17They're tied to the mouths of cannons and then blown to pieces.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21So the cannonball is about to come out through the middle of him?
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Quite gruesome. You see typically reports saying the head goes up,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28the arms go to the side and the legs fall.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Why were they killed in such an inhumane manner?
0:35:31 > 0:35:36It was something used by the Mughals in the 1600s which was really aimed
0:35:36 > 0:35:40at punishing Hindu people so that they wouldn't have a body in their
0:35:40 > 0:35:44afterlife and therefore couldn't go through the reincarnation cycle
0:35:44 > 0:35:46that they believed in.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50So the scattering of the physical remains of the person,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53this ensured a kind of double death in this life and for all
0:35:53 > 0:35:55- future lives to come.- Certainly so.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58That's one of the reasons why this is probably painted and it was a way
0:35:58 > 0:36:01of stamping authority and showing victory.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08By the time the British finally crushed the rebellion in July 1859,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11conservative estimates say that 11,000 British
0:36:11 > 0:36:15and over 100,000 Indians had died.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19The British were victorious but India was in turmoil.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22Since the unrest had started,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25the Government had begun to realise that India couldn't be held
0:36:25 > 0:36:27by brute force alone.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Britain needed to start winning over Indian hearts and minds.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36The Government decided to begin a new chapter
0:36:36 > 0:36:38for British rule in India.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42In 1858, the East India Company were told...
0:36:42 > 0:36:44MUSIC: Dance Of The Knights by Sergei Prokofiev
0:36:44 > 0:36:47You're fired.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Now when the Government had intervened previously
0:36:50 > 0:36:52in the business of the East India Company,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55it had been with the aim of moderating its affairs,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58sometimes there'd been a bit of a slap on the wrist but this time it
0:36:58 > 0:37:03was different. This was a full-on, asset-stripping annihilation
0:37:03 > 0:37:06of the East India Company.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09It was immediately stripped of all power.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12The company's top dog, the Governor-General,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15was evicted from his palatial residence and sent home
0:37:15 > 0:37:19to be replaced by a new Government representative, the Viceroy.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24The new age of the Raj was dawning.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28The Government now had to prove that the regime in India really had
0:37:28 > 0:37:34changed and was already weaving an imperial narrative to do just that.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39To avoid accusations of corruption or self-interest,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42power wasn't transferred directly to Parliament.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47Instead, it was vested in the person of Queen Victoria herself.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Victoria eagerly got in on the act.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54She made a public proclamation to the world that the new regime
0:37:54 > 0:37:59had swept away all the bad practices of the old East India Company.
0:38:00 > 0:38:06"We will respect the rights, dignity and honour of the native princes.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10"Everyone of any religious faith shall alike enjoy
0:38:10 > 0:38:14"the equal and impartial protection of law.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18"We will respect land inherited from ancestors.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23"Our earnest desire is to stimulate the peaceful industry of India,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25"to promote public works and improvements.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28"Their prosperity will be our strength."
0:38:31 > 0:38:35Victoria's proclamation was a masterstroke.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38It transformed a government coup into a moral mission
0:38:38 > 0:38:40to improve the lives of all Indians.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49The new declaration distanced the British establishment from any
0:38:49 > 0:38:53involvement in the East India Company's atrocities.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58Britain's image as a plundering nation was now being repackaged
0:38:58 > 0:39:01for both Indian audiences and those back home.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04In this 18th-century image,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Britannia is taking things from the Empire.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10She's saying, "Mmm, jewels. I want them."
0:39:10 > 0:39:14And even her lion is looking greedily at the ropes of pearls.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16But in the 19th-century image,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18the relationship is the other way around.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22In this picture, Victoria is giving something
0:39:22 > 0:39:24to her grateful imperial subject.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29Look, this lucky fellow is about to get a present and this,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31as the title of the painting puts it,
0:39:31 > 0:39:35is the secret of England's greatness.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Britain's new imperial mission statement was clear.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41The Empire would take responsibility for the welfare
0:39:41 > 0:39:45of its Indian subjects. They would no longer be subjugated
0:39:45 > 0:39:49and exploited, but respected and rewarded.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50That would smooth things over.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56In 1861, a new knightly order was created -
0:39:56 > 0:39:59the Order of the Star of India.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02When the Indian princes were made Knights Commander of this order,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04they were supposed to feel like
0:40:04 > 0:40:06they'd joined the British establishment -
0:40:06 > 0:40:10a bit like school prefects getting given a badge.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14But they were also given at this point a medal showing the head
0:40:14 > 0:40:17of Queen Victoria. Now, hang on.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Human representations can be offensive to Muslims,
0:40:21 > 0:40:22as many of the princes were.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Once again, the British were merrily misunderstanding
0:40:26 > 0:40:28their Indian subjects.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32In reality, the replacement of East India Company rule
0:40:32 > 0:40:35with a British Raj offered only a veneer of change.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Beneath the surface, the British Government
0:40:38 > 0:40:41was continuing to exploit India's riches.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45But this message, that the Empire was now all about civilisation,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47was very powerful.
0:40:48 > 0:40:54And in 1868, this imperial manifesto gained another powerful champion -
0:40:54 > 0:40:57the new Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00He coined the phrase, "The jewel in the crown,"
0:41:00 > 0:41:05to emphasise his view of India's importance for the Empire.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Disraeli was highly ambitious.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13Partly for himself, yes, but also for Britain and for the Empire.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16He thought that Britain shouldn't just maintain its Empire,
0:41:16 > 0:41:17it should expand.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21And that for this purpose, a figurehead like an empress
0:41:21 > 0:41:23would be awfully useful.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28In 1876, Disraeli engineered the Royal Titles Act,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31giving his imperial jewel some extra sparkle.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37Queen Victoria would become the Empress of India.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42This was a very clever move on Disraeli's part.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47Ever since Albert had died in 1861, Victoria had been in mourning.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51She had rather withdrawn from the world and her people thought
0:41:51 > 0:41:53that she had forgotten about them,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56almost that she had been shirking her responsibilities.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00But now she was back in the limelight.
0:42:00 > 0:42:06The imperial narrative now had a powerful yet maternal leading lady.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Disraeli enjoyed his own promotion too,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13as the delighted Victoria made him an earl.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17But Victoria's elevation didn't have unanimous approval.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22Many thought the title of empress stank of autocratic rule.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25It was against the principles of constitutional monarchy.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30And besides, what would the Indian population think?
0:42:31 > 0:42:36Disraeli and his supporters needed to spin a story to prove that
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Victoria's promotion was best for Britain, best for India,
0:42:40 > 0:42:42best for the Empire.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46What was needed was a party, and that's exactly what they got.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Lord Lytton, who was Queen Victoria's newly-promoted
0:42:53 > 0:42:57representative in India, expressed the opinion that Indians
0:42:57 > 0:42:59would go mad for a bit of bunting.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04There were immense cultural differences,
0:43:04 > 0:43:09but both Indians and the British revelled in pageantry and spectacle.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14Celebrations were to be held across India and there would be one
0:43:14 > 0:43:16show-stopping event.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21It was decided that the celebrations weren't to be in Calcutta, but here,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24in Delhi. Because this wasn't just a party,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28this was a cleverly crafted statement of propaganda.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34The choice of Delhi was highly symbolic.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38For centuries, Delhi had been the capital of the great ruling
0:43:38 > 0:43:39Indian dynasty, the Mughals.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44It was still full of magnificent buildings signifying their power.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50By situating themselves amidst all this grandeur,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54the British were claiming that they were the natural successors
0:43:54 > 0:43:55to a mighty empire.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Delhi had also played a central role in the so-called mutiny.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09The rebels had made their stand alongside the last Mughal emperor,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11here in his Red Fort.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18By holding the celebrations in Delhi,
0:44:18 > 0:44:23the British were reminding the Indians of their dominance.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26The British couldn't deny that they were foreign interlopers,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29but they now hammered home the message that they were a benign
0:44:29 > 0:44:31force for good.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35To appeal to the Indians, the entire event took the form of a durbar,
0:44:35 > 0:44:40a tradition where Mughal emperors held court with their subjects.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45These formal ceremonies were accompanied by lavish festivities
0:44:45 > 0:44:47with vibrant musical processions
0:44:47 > 0:44:52leading to the final audience with the emperor at his fort.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57In 1877, the British created their own durbar spectacular
0:44:57 > 0:45:02with an extraordinary mishmash of Indian and British pageantry.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06When the durbar of 1877 happens,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10the idea of a durbar is retained but it is given a spin.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14I'm saying that the durbar of 1877 reminds me a little
0:45:14 > 0:45:18of the chicken tikka masala, which incidentally I ate
0:45:18 > 0:45:21- for the first time when I went to England.- Really?
0:45:21 > 0:45:23It is not something that featured in Indian menus
0:45:23 > 0:45:29until quite recently. So the idea of chicken tikka masala is an invention
0:45:29 > 0:45:33based on three staples taken from an Indian diet
0:45:33 > 0:45:38but turned and transformed into a completely unrecognisable dish.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42How did the British go about reinventing this tradition?
0:45:42 > 0:45:46For example, the shehnai players that would have traditionally
0:45:46 > 0:45:50accompanied a royal procession in Mughal India were replaced
0:45:50 > 0:45:52by a fanfare of Wagner
0:45:52 > 0:45:57and I would imagine that the 88,000 people who had gathered to watch
0:45:57 > 0:46:01the spectacle and the 63 maharajas who had come from different parts
0:46:01 > 0:46:03of the country to be a part of the durbar
0:46:03 > 0:46:05had possibly never heard Wagner play.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Lots of things were invented.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09For example, look at these.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13Many of the rulers did not really have their own heraldry,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15their own insignia.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18This is completely a figment of somebody's imagination.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23So this is a brand-new coat of arms, invented for the ruler of Hyderabad?
0:46:23 > 0:46:27- Completely.- He's lucky, he's got a lovely little tiger.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30He does indeed. These seem to me very Anglo-Saxon images.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Because the tradition of heraldry, that is a western European thing.
0:46:34 > 0:46:35What have the other ones got, then?
0:46:35 > 0:46:38This is Jodhpur.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40He has been given some pigeons.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42These are falcons.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44Falcons, yes.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48And what looks like a tiger but I am not sure what that is.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50This is again an invented tradition.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52These are things that were invented for the occasion.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58In 1877, with Wagner trumpeting out over the spectacle,
0:46:58 > 0:47:03the durbar was a resounding success story.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07It was spun so cleverly that few commented on its vast costs
0:47:07 > 0:47:10at a time when famine was ravaging India.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16The money could have been spent on saving the five and a half million
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Indians who died from starvation.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23But, no, this was the climax to the positive story that the Raj
0:47:23 > 0:47:25was a wonderful new age of Empire.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35At the finale, a proclamation was read out.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37It was from the Queen.
0:47:37 > 0:47:38"We trust," it began...
0:47:38 > 0:47:40She is using the royal we.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44"..that the present occasion may tend to unite in bonds
0:47:44 > 0:47:48"of close affection, ourselves and our subjects.
0:47:48 > 0:47:49"That from the highest to the humblest,
0:47:49 > 0:47:54"all may feel that under our rule the great principles of liberty,
0:47:54 > 0:47:58"equity and justice are secured to them.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01"This is the object of our Empire."
0:48:05 > 0:48:10Every action was now heralded as part of the civilising narrative.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Train stations and railways would modernise this ancient,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17disconnected territory as never before.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22And new educational institutions would offer every Indian subject
0:48:22 > 0:48:24the chance to improve his or her lot.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36Educating the natives was a key part of the mission of Empire,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39at least according to Thomas Babington Macaulay,
0:48:39 > 0:48:41politician and historian.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46Macaulay thought Indian schoolboys ought to study British history
0:48:46 > 0:48:50because that would show them how a society could and should develop.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55Britain showcased the triumphant march of progress.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01Macaulay first expressed his educational policies in the 1830s.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04He thought that with a good dose of education,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Indians could not only better themselves,
0:49:06 > 0:49:08but help the British run the country.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Of course, they'd have to get the right sort of education -
0:49:14 > 0:49:16not Indian, but British.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Macaulay thought that there was less valuable historical information
0:49:23 > 0:49:27to be collected from all the books ever written in Sanskrit
0:49:27 > 0:49:32than you would find in an English prep school textbook.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36Macaulay believed that a native could only be called learned
0:49:36 > 0:49:40or honourable if he had learnt his Milton, his Locke,
0:49:40 > 0:49:41and his Isaac Newton.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Giving Indians British educational opportunities became
0:49:46 > 0:49:49a key enterprise under crown rule.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52It was central to the repackaging of the Empire.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55But for the people of India,
0:49:55 > 0:50:00the new educational policy exposed the civilising claims of the British
0:50:00 > 0:50:01to be something of a sham.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06The Indians, the educated Indians,
0:50:06 > 0:50:12they had started realising that they had been sort of tricked
0:50:12 > 0:50:17by the British imperialists because while the Queen,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21the proclamation of the Queen, had spoken of equality,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24there remained a lot of discrimination between the British
0:50:24 > 0:50:29and the Indians, insofar as jobs were concerned.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32What sort of jobs where these educated Indians hoping to get?
0:50:32 > 0:50:36They wanted to hold important posts in the civil services.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Moreover, they wanted to hold important positions
0:50:41 > 0:50:42in the realm of law.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44But here there was a bar.
0:50:44 > 0:50:50Indian judges, they were never allowed to try a European offender.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55The European offender was exclusively tried by a British judge
0:50:55 > 0:50:57or a European judge.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00So we have the rhetoric of Empire - very clear.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02But the reality is quite different.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04It was definitely different.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08There was a glass ceiling and beyond that limit the Indians
0:51:08 > 0:51:10could not cross over.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14In 1883, there was a move to smooth over the cracks.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18CP Ilbert, a member of the Calcutta Law Council,
0:51:18 > 0:51:22put forward a motion to give Indian judges the right to try
0:51:22 > 0:51:27British individuals. But that didn't go down very well either.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32It disturbed the Anglo-Indian community because they shuddered
0:51:32 > 0:51:37at the very thought of their trial under an Indian, a brown judge.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43So there was a white mutiny against the Ilbert bill
0:51:43 > 0:51:45and ultimately the bill was defeated.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Would you say that the Ilbert bill then was the last straw
0:51:49 > 0:51:52for educated Indians? They got fed up with the Empire.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Yes. That was the last straw on the camel's back.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58For many newly educated Indians,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02the rejection of the Ilbert bill was evidence that Victoria's
0:52:02 > 0:52:06proclamation was little more than a pack of lies.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10The imperial mission was having a rough ride in India.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13But one person remained true to the new story
0:52:13 > 0:52:15of a benign British Empire.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27Yes, the Empress of India was very partial to a chicken tikka.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Victoria may never have visited the jewel in her crown,
0:52:38 > 0:52:43but she did create a tiny slice of India on the Isle of Wight.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45At her holiday home at Osborne House,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49she created a special Indian room, the Durbar Room.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53It was put together by Indian craftsmen under the supervision
0:52:53 > 0:52:56of Rudyard Kipling's grandfather.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59Victoria couldn't go to her durbar, but with her new room,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02the durbar had come to her.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05And she was far better informed about India than most
0:53:05 > 0:53:07of her British subjects.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10In the late 19th-century,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14most Britons had never met anybody from the subcontinent.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18But a growing number of Indians were now making Britain their home.
0:53:19 > 0:53:20In 1889,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24Britain's first purpose-built mosque was constructed to cater for this
0:53:24 > 0:53:27growing Indian population in Woking.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32And it is here that I am meeting Shrabani Basu, who has researched
0:53:32 > 0:53:37the life of a man who fired up Victoria's passion for India -
0:53:37 > 0:53:38Abdul Karim.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44Here we have got Abdul Karim looking terribly grand.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46What are all these medals that he is wearing here?
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Well, she gave him land and titles. He had every title.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Just stopped short of a knighthood, actually.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55He is quite the aristocrat in his sort of study.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59At ease, looking extremely distinguished, if I might say.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01And there is a photo of Queen Victoria there.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03And a photo of the Queen on the table there.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Is he just a sort of token gesture to bolster the idea that she is this
0:54:07 > 0:54:10benign Empress of India?
0:54:10 > 0:54:11It started like that.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14He was sent to her as a jubilee present, as a servant,
0:54:14 > 0:54:19to stand behind her at table, just look grand and wait on her.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21But this relationship developed.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Within a year, he has become her private teacher, her munshi.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29For 13 years, he taught her Urdu, and by the end of her life,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31she could read and write Urdu.
0:54:31 > 0:54:32She loved showing off.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37She would invite royalty from India and say a few lines in Urdu.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Is this her own private journal?
0:54:39 > 0:54:42This is actually her last entry in her journal.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45It is quite moving because it is written two months before her death.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49November 7th, 1900, Windsor Castle.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51And she writes about the weather,
0:54:51 > 0:54:52that she has just got back from Balmoral.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55They weren't exactly talking about high politics.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Sounds more domestic.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59It is. The journals show a domestic side,
0:54:59 > 0:55:04but we know that she took a keen interest in Indian politics
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and this is coming from Abdul because of the letters she writes
0:55:06 > 0:55:10to the Viceroy in which she asks detailed questions about riots,
0:55:10 > 0:55:15tension between Hindus and Muslims, and she even offers some solutions.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18She says, "The Hindus have so many festivals. Why can't they just
0:55:18 > 0:55:22"postpone one of their festivals so they don't clash during Muharram?"
0:55:22 > 0:55:25And the poor Viceroy, Lord Lansdowne, he writes back,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27"Postponing a Hindu festival would be like changing
0:55:27 > 0:55:29"the day for Christmas."
0:55:29 > 0:55:32So she is a little bit naive, but she is trying very hard.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37Victoria was taking her symbolic empress role rather too literally.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40And the British establishment were not amused.
0:55:41 > 0:55:46The doctor, he actually writes that this is all munshi-mania
0:55:46 > 0:55:50and it reaches the stage where they actually want to label
0:55:50 > 0:55:53the Queen insane and they say, "If you do not stop now
0:55:53 > 0:55:57"because of the munshi, we will say you are insane."
0:55:57 > 0:56:00And she gives them an earful.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Victoria's munshi-mania reached its peak in 1897,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07the year of her Diamond Jubilee.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11On the day of the celebrations, Abdul Karim was her honoured guest.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16For his dismayed detractors, this was the year of the munshi.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19But things would very shortly change.
0:56:19 > 0:56:26In 1901, Victoria, Empress of India, died, after 63 years on the throne
0:56:26 > 0:56:28at the age of 81.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30While the nation mourned her passing,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34in recognition that she had nurtured the Empire towards unprecedented
0:56:34 > 0:56:39greatness, her beloved Abdul Karim was finally put in his place
0:56:39 > 0:56:40by the establishment -
0:56:40 > 0:56:44sent back to India, stripped of his honours and gifts.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52As Britain entered the 20th century, the Empire was strong.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55But the imperial narrative was wearing thin.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Indian resistance to British power was growing,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01and even some Britons began to question
0:57:01 > 0:57:02the recent history of the Raj.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08One historian, who'd formerly been an ardent imperialist,
0:57:08 > 0:57:09had this to say.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14He said that the Empire treated its subject races with a curious mixture
0:57:14 > 0:57:16of good and evil.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23The stories of the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Indian mutiny
0:57:23 > 0:57:25were being rewritten.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29The villains of the Raj were turning into heroes
0:57:29 > 0:57:31of a growing nationalist movement.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36When the British gave up control of the Indian subcontinent
0:57:36 > 0:57:41on August 15th, 1947, Britain lost 80% of its subjects -
0:57:41 > 0:57:44nearly 390 million people.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48It's jewel in the crown had gone forever,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52and as the new Indian flag was raised at the Red Fort in Delhi,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58spoke of India's tryst with destiny.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02"History begins anew for us.
0:58:02 > 0:58:07"The history which we shall live and act and others will write about."
0:58:09 > 0:58:14A richly embroidered chapter in British history was at an end.
0:58:17 > 0:58:18In this series,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22I've tried to tell you how stories from history change according
0:58:22 > 0:58:23to who is telling them.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27But don't think that I've given you the definitive version,
0:58:27 > 0:58:31because I promise you that in years to come, a different historian
0:58:31 > 0:58:33will be telling you a different tale.