0:00:06 > 0:00:09Just over 400 years ago, a group of London merchants arrived here
0:00:09 > 0:00:13on the Indian coast hoping to do some peaceful trading.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Those early pioneers dreamt of making huge profits.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23Over 200 years, the company they formed grew into a commercial titan.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Its wealth rivalled that of the British state.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33It had its own army...and eventually ruled over 400 million people.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37Its trade was vital to Britain's commercial success
0:00:37 > 0:00:40and it revolutionised the British lifestyle...
0:00:40 > 0:00:43The East India Company changed the way we dress,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47it changed the way we eat, it changed the way we socialise.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52..and by accident created one of the most powerful empires in history.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01But the company's rise was followed by a dramatic descent into profiteering and corruption...
0:01:02 > 0:01:08..and, eventually, a chilling story of unchecked greed with devastating consequences.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23This is where it all started.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25On December 31st 1600,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30the East India Company was established by royal charter in London
0:01:30 > 0:01:35and granted a monopoly on trade with the East by Queen Elizabeth I.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38It was the beginning of a new age in Britain's history,
0:01:38 > 0:01:43an age of speculation and profit, enterprise and competition,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45an age that saw the beginnings
0:01:45 > 0:01:48of one of the most powerful empires in history.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Capitalism would change for ever the lives of its people and politics.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Trade would make Britain great
0:01:56 > 0:01:59and turn London into the richest city in the world.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Thanks to the East India Company,
0:02:06 > 0:02:11exotic goods like spices from Indonesia, tea and porcelain from China,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14became part of everyday life.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18Every year, huge merchant ships of the East India Company,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21known as East Indiamen, would leave from right here
0:02:21 > 0:02:24loaded down with silver bullion and British merchandise
0:02:24 > 0:02:28heading up the Thames and out to sea to trade with the East.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33On board were young men filled with hope.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35In following their dreams,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39these young men would inadvertently forge an empire,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42an empire that would create thousands of winners...
0:02:42 > 0:02:44but millions of losers.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49One country above all would play a major role
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and become the jewel in the company's crown...
0:02:52 > 0:02:54India.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Our story begins in 1639 at an unlikely spot on the east coast,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08a place that became known as Madraspatnam.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15When the company arrived here it wasn't pursuing dreams of conquest or empire
0:03:15 > 0:03:19but looking for a secure base from which to conduct trade.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21And one of its employees, Francis Day,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24was convinced this was the right spot.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29And with good reason.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31This is the Coromandel Coast,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34a name synonymous with diamonds, pearls and the finest cotton.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41In mid-17th-century Europe, Indian cotton was the height of fashion.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It was cheap, colourful and hard-wearing.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46A fortune could be made exporting it.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Francis Day claimed a section of beach and set up shop.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Within a year, 300 Bengali weavers
0:03:56 > 0:04:01were working here and a handful of Englishmen were busy exporting cloth and spices
0:04:01 > 0:04:06back home for sale in London, much to the delight of the company's shareholders.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14They could send their ships out here, fill their holds with spices
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and hopefully return rich men.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Now, it was a very lucrative trade and it's one that had been exploited
0:04:19 > 0:04:22by other European powers for quite a long time now,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24but by making it a monopoly, they could ensure
0:04:24 > 0:04:28there'd be no domestic opposition to threaten the shareholders' profits.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Even so, the company's investors were taking a huge gamble.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41Each voyage could take two years or more, a long and tense wait to see a return on investment.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Along the way there would be potential loss
0:04:46 > 0:04:49of ships through storms, there could be piracy,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53there could be conquest by local rulers etc etc.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56So this was a very high-risk venture.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But one that had paid dividends from the beginning.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03When company ships first returned from the East Indies in 1607,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05investors had hit the jackpot.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11That single voyage netted an absolutely vast amount of money
0:05:11 > 0:05:13because of these...cloves.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18A single cargo of this ensured that the investors made a 230% profit,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23bringing them £36,000, that's tens of millions in today's money.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27It's hard to comprehend just how much of a revolution this was,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29something that we now take for granted.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Used in medicine as a painkiller,
0:05:32 > 0:05:33cloves were so highly prized
0:05:33 > 0:05:37they were literally worth their weight in gold.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46In Madras the company built a warehouse and several homes along three miles of beach.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Trade was valuable, so they protected their new settlement
0:05:49 > 0:05:53with a stockade and called it Fort St George.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03The original Fort St George was built on this spot.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Now it's been massively strengthened and enlarged over the years,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08but it took 14 years to build
0:06:08 > 0:06:12and the East India Company directors bitterly complained about the cost.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15But this was like a big security barrier for their warehouse.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Madras was the springboard for expansion.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Within 50 years, the company was building two further settlements,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26which they called Bombay and Calcutta.
0:06:30 > 0:06:36By 1700, it was operating 22 trading posts across India.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Calcutta was one of the biggest. The company's star was rising fast.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48But investors were about to be handed a commercial opportunity
0:06:48 > 0:06:50beyond their wildest expectations.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03For 200 years,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07India had been part of a vast empire ruled by a powerful dynasty.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12The Mughals had imposed a centralised government,
0:07:12 > 0:07:17built imposing monuments and unified the country with a road system and single currency.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24The population was huge compared with Britain's.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28It was about 140 million and Britain then had about four million.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The economic position
0:07:31 > 0:07:36was it was the second largest economy in the world, reputedly,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41with about 25% of the world's GDP.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44For the first few decades,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48the mighty Mughals barely even noticed the East India Company.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53The British didn't cause trouble. And, besides, they paid good money.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57The Mughal Empire had a tax on imports of bullion,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01so they were doing quite well out of the company bringing in all this silver and gold.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05They were also selling the company trading concessions
0:08:05 > 0:08:10and wherever they were able to set up factories they had to pay for it.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14So it was quite a good sort of source of income for the Empire.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22But in 1707, the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27When the last great Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, died,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30his successors were unable to hold his empire together
0:08:30 > 0:08:35and power devolved into a patchwork of competing regional states.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Obsessed with its own problems, therefore,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41the Empire didn't have time to worry about the little old East India Company.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Amid the confusion a deal was signed.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50In exchange for an annual fee
0:08:50 > 0:08:56the East India Company was granted the right to trade duty-free across the state of Bengal.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59No gift could have been greater.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Company merchants previously restricted to the coast
0:09:02 > 0:09:05could now do business across an entire province.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10And as the Mughal Empire weakened further the company expanded.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15The East India Company was sucked into this vacuum.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19It would back one local claimant to a throne against another
0:09:19 > 0:09:24and in return for its support it would be given little land holdings or trading concessions.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27That meant within decades the East India Company
0:09:27 > 0:09:30was becoming a sovereign entity in its own right.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33It had the power to raise revenue, to make war and peace,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36to mint its own coins, to administer justice.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41The East India Company...was becoming a state.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43A state that was controlled
0:09:43 > 0:09:49by 159 civil servants in a London office some 14,000 miles away.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Their headquarters, East India House, has long since disappeared
0:09:52 > 0:09:55under this towering structure, the Lloyd's building.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It was from here that the company was run.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00As its ships scoured the world's oceans,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04they were controlled by directors elected by shareholders,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07who were known collectively as The Court of Directors.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12The East India Company helped to develop many modern business practices
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and turned London into the world's commercial capital.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18By 1800, the state that they administered from London
0:10:18 > 0:10:23would rule 140 million people across 94,000 square miles
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and command an army a quarter of a million strong.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30This was the beginning of Britain's empire.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48The East India Company in its early trading activities
0:10:48 > 0:10:51had a huge influence on the British way of life,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53both in India and back in Britain.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57People were eager to learn about this exotic place
0:10:57 > 0:11:00with its very different customs, dress and culture.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And the Indian products that the company exported to Britain
0:11:03 > 0:11:07became more popular than their British equivalents.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12By 1700, goods were flooding across the sea from India.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Can I have a single tea, please?
0:11:16 > 0:11:21It was the beginning of new kinds of diets, of choice, of consumerism.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24People could now choose to have sugar from the West Indies,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26pepper from India.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31It was also the start of the Brits' obsession with hot drinks.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Tea and coffee arrived for the first time.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Thanks very much.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Delicious.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Gingham, silk, muslin, calico.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58Back in Britain the company was importing a cavalcade of rich new fabrics.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Bowled over by the exquisite skill of India's craftsmen
0:12:01 > 0:12:03the British public went crazy.
0:12:04 > 0:12:0918th-century Indian textiles held at London's Victoria and Albert Museum
0:12:09 > 0:12:13revealed an impressive range of techniques were used in their manufacture.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18All these objects are made of chintz,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21which is basically cotton
0:12:21 > 0:12:25which has been hand painted rather than printed.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30The Indians managed to find ways of dyeing cotton
0:12:30 > 0:12:34so the colours remained brilliant and were colourfast.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37So that was very exciting for people in the West.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Cheap, washable and hard-wearing, they made a huge impact.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Less formal clothing became acceptable and fashionable.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51And it certainly worried the British textile industry,
0:12:51 > 0:12:59because they were very fearful that there would be no demand for their own wool and linen products.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04And at one point it caused such a sensation and so much fear
0:13:04 > 0:13:09- amongst the silk workers that they tore the clothes off people's backs.- Really?
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Because they thought their livelihoods were threatened. So it was that dramatic.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Company merchants were quick to respond to the consumers' changing tastes.
0:13:19 > 0:13:25The East India Company would report back regularly after every shipment to Britain from India
0:13:25 > 0:13:30saying, "Well, we liked this, but these didn't sell so well. And could you do more of the floral sprigs?"
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Or, "Could you do more of this colour?"
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The British retail fashion industry was born.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Pyjamas, bandannas, dungarees,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44dozens of new words entered the English dictionary.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50Demand for Indian textiles was so great it threatened to destroy Britain's industry.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08The Government even passed a law to ban people from wearing Indian textiles,
0:14:08 > 0:14:13but it didn't work, testimony to the rising power of the consumer.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Over the next 100 years,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23sales of Indian textiles would generate 60% of the company's income.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27While the British back at home were succumbing to Indian influences
0:14:27 > 0:14:30the British in India were also changing.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Many company men formed lifelong relationships with Indian women
0:14:34 > 0:14:37and some even adopted the local tradition of polygamy.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44The East India Company had serious misgivings
0:14:44 > 0:14:47about its employees cohabiting with local women.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51But, then again, knowledge of local markets was good for business.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Liaisons with indigenous women teach men languages,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58so the company really has a vested interest
0:14:58 > 0:15:01in these relationships being close and tight-knit.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06By the middle of the 18th century,
0:15:06 > 0:15:1090% of company employees in India had local partners.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Morning, driver.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Many could now afford several mistresses and a house full of servants.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Right, let's go!
0:15:22 > 0:15:24But something odd was going on.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27They'd arrived here as humble merchants,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31but their new-found wealth was having a bizarre effect.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35They adopted the ostentatious, flamboyant lifestyles of an Eastern prince,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40surrounded themselves with armies of servants, being carried from place to place in a palanquin.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45The pomposity and extravagance of these white Mughals knew no bounds.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Much to the annoyance of their fellow countrymen.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I think this is my favourite picture from the period.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06It shows a man who looks like a Mughal emperor,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09he's sitting on a cushion, smoking a hookah, attended by servants,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12master of all he surveys in his luscious robes and turban.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15But that is no Mughal emperor,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17in fact it's an accountant from Yorkshire.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21His name's John Wombwell, he's living the dream.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Whilst some lived like overblown maharajahs,
0:16:26 > 0:16:32others, like Major General Charles Stuart, engaged with India on a more profound level.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Charles Stuart came out here from his native Ireland aged 19
0:16:37 > 0:16:39and immediately fell in love with the place.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43He had a house here on Wood Street which he turned into a museum,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46filling it up with Indian artefacts and carvings.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48He was happy to show anybody around
0:16:48 > 0:16:52and share his passion for all things Indian.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Stuart's encounter with India changed his life.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Within a year of his arrival, he had discarded Christianity and become a Hindu.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Hindoo Stuart, as he became known, learned the local languages,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15dressed like a local, would have been very comfortable in places like this.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19He took a local woman as a wife and had a brood of mixed-race children.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21He even hired a group of Brahmins, Hindu scholars,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25to prepare the family's food in traditional Hindu manner.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Stuart wasn't unusual in embracing his new home.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Many Britons and Indians accepted each other
0:17:36 > 0:17:38in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45The British came to India before the 19th century very much as explorers,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48adventurers, people out to make their money,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51and they encountered a very old and very complex civilisation
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and they were often impressed by it.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56And so they didn't feel that they were in any way superior to Indians,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59they were just simply one of a number of groups jostling in India
0:17:59 > 0:18:03to try and earn a living and to try and make their way.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06In these early days of the company's activities in India,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11respect and tolerance for Indian customs, culture and religion were encouraged.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17They weren't there to change India or Indians but to profit from them.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23In the final analysis, integration was good for business.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28And business was what mattered to the company above all else.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39In the mid-18th century,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43the East India Company was at the heart of a global conflict.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Driven by antagonism between the great world powers
0:18:47 > 0:18:49of the 18th century over colonial interests,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53the Seven Years' War raged from Europe to North America
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and across the world's oceans.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01But in India the ultimate prize was control over trade.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04ALL CHANT
0:19:04 > 0:19:07A bitter rivalry grew between Britain and France
0:19:07 > 0:19:10over their colonial and trading interests.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14They both hoped to be the greatest European power on the Indian subcontinent.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18The East India Company's hostility towards their French counterpart
0:19:18 > 0:19:22grew into an escalating military confrontation.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25The British and French had set up trading posts
0:19:25 > 0:19:27within a few miles of each other,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30the French at Pondicherry and Chandernagore,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34the British at Madras and Calcutta.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39In 1756, rivalry exploded into open warfare.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43The merchants of the East India Company had traditionally tried to avoid war,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46its costs were certain but its outcomes far less so.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47It was bad for business.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50But as the French grew more threatening in the subcontinent,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53the company realised it needed to get more serious
0:19:53 > 0:19:55about the military side of things,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and the motley crews guarding its forts in India weren't up to scratch.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02What it needed was a serious standing army.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08The company decided to strengthen its garrison at Fort St George.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12In January 1748, 150 British troops arrived in Madras
0:20:12 > 0:20:18led by an irascible old soldier, Major Stringer Lawrence.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21He's 50 years old, he's fought in the lowlands in Spain
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and also in the Jacobite Rebellion.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27And he is a man with great knowledge of military affairs
0:20:27 > 0:20:32and his job is really to reform the company troops out in India.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37He begins by forming them into companies, each commanded by an officer,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and those companies are equipped, trained and disciplined exactly like British troops would be.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44And, of course, the end result of all of this
0:20:44 > 0:20:47is it becomes a much more effective fighting force.
0:20:47 > 0:20:48BAGPIPES PLAY
0:20:50 > 0:20:53His new army was led by European officers,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56but most of the troops were Indians known as "sepoys"
0:20:56 > 0:20:58from the Persian word for soldier.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Stringer Lawrence is seen as the grandfather of the modern Indian Army.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Many units are the direct descendants of those he founded 250 years ago.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15One young soldier in Lawrence's new army
0:21:15 > 0:21:18was the future national hero Clive of India.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Robert Clive was from a family of provincial gentry.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26As a young boy, he was a bit of a tearaway and loved getting into fights.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29And he was expelled three times from school.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31So his father thought nothing much would come of him
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and he might as well gamble and send him out here to India
0:21:34 > 0:21:38to join the East India Company, which made men or broke them.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41He was known as a man who had a relatively short temper.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44He was, as we discover in his later career,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47a man with tremendous energy, vigour and resolution,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52and this must have seemed a pretty crushing way to begin his career.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Clive would be the driving force in transforming the company
0:21:56 > 0:22:00from commercial giant to THE dominant political power in India.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07In 1756, his great adversary was the Mughal ruler or Nawab of Bengal.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Siraj ud Daulah, an ally of the French, loathed the British
0:22:11 > 0:22:15and bitterly resented the company's hold on Calcutta.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17In June...he attacked the city.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Calcutta fell within hours.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28And on the evening of June 20th, 146 British prisoners were taken to Fort William...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32..now the site of the Government Post Office.
0:22:32 > 0:22:38100 yards from this spot stands a grim reminder of what happened next.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43The most vivid account we have was left by a man called John Zephaniah Holwell.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47He'd been the Chief Magistrate of Calcutta, he'd been left in charge.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52And he and his men were marched into a cell just 18 foot wide at gunpoint.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55It became known simply as the Black Hole.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59And what happened in there became one of the most infamous stories
0:22:59 > 0:23:01in the whole of British imperial history.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05ORGAN MUSIC
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It's said the prisoners, crushed together, suffocating
0:23:10 > 0:23:14and fighting to stay upright were gripped by claustrophobic terror.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The heat was almost unbearable.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26To try to slake his thirst, Holwell took off his sweat-soaked shirt
0:23:26 > 0:23:28and wrang it out into his mouth.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Other people trampled on the weakened bodies of their comrades,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36desperately trying to reach the two small windows at the top of the wall
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and gulp down some fresh air.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43It was a night of unspeakable suffering and cruelty.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49When the doors were flung open at dawn the next day,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51the cell was filled with corpses.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55To Holwell's horror just 23 had survived.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03The news of what had happened to their fellow countrymen at the hands of a barbarous Indian despot
0:24:03 > 0:24:06electrified congregations right across Britain.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09This after all was a generation that was starting to believe that...
0:24:09 > 0:24:12"Britons never, never, never shall be slaves."
0:24:14 > 0:24:16The story of the Black Hole
0:24:16 > 0:24:19had an immense impact on generations of Britons.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26To Victorian schoolchildren the events of 1756 were as familiar as the Battle of Hastings.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33What we don't know for sure is how many actually perished that night.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36The numbers range from three to over 100,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38I suspect it's somewhere in-between.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42What is not in question is that this was an atrocity. Was it deliberate? Almost certainly not.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46It was unfortunate that this small airless room...
0:24:46 > 0:24:50It happened on an incredibly hot and humid night,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53some of the people inside were already wounded from the battle that had taken place.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56And there were bound to be some fatalities,
0:24:56 > 0:25:02but that there were so many was a point taken very seriously by the British,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04the remaining British in India and also the British back home,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and there was very much a sense that they wanted revenge.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Determined to re-assert supremacy,
0:25:12 > 0:25:17Clive recaptured Calcutta and confronted Siraj at a village called Plassey,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21120 miles north of the city, in what would become a decisive moment
0:25:21 > 0:25:24in the history of the East India Company.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31At Plassey, Clive was terribly outnumbered by more than ten to one,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35but Clive had a plan that didn't just rely on military might alone.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39He'd been in secret correspondence with one of the Nawab's key lieutenants,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43the commander of his cavalry, a man called Mir Jafar.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48The deal is done between Clive and Mir Jafar that at a certain key part of the fight,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Mir Jafar will come onto his side, in other words he'll leave his chief.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54And in return for putting him on the throne,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57the company will not only be paid vast sums of money,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and we are talking about fantastical sums,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02but also it will be given a free rein in terms of its trade.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04NOISES OF BATTLE
0:26:07 > 0:26:09It was all over in a matter of hours,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12but it had little to do with military might.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Mir Jafar, the traitor, had been paid off and he ensured
0:26:15 > 0:26:19that the majority of the Nawab's troops took no part in the battle.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22He was then installed as Britain's puppet.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26This opened up the richest province of India to the company.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32Robert Clive regarded this Machiavellian manoeuvring as the pinnacle of his career.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Clive and the company were now rich.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Better still, in exchange for a single payment of £270,000,
0:26:40 > 0:26:47the company was granted the right to manage the "diwani" or the revenue and civil administration of Bengal.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51This allowed them to collect
0:26:51 > 0:26:55land tax from the entire population of Bengal, ten million people.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59It effectively turned them into the de facto government.
0:26:59 > 0:27:06Robert Clive estimated that it would be worth £1.7 million every year.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09With control over the revenues of India's richest province,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12the company's role had profoundly changed.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16It's the point at which the East India Company
0:27:16 > 0:27:21really moves from being a trading enterprise to an actual ruler of territory.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26The company now had impressive armies, a robust trading network
0:27:26 > 0:27:29and authority over a huge swathe of territory.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33The British were in a position of unrivalled supremacy in India
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and overall Britain emerged from the Seven Years' War
0:27:36 > 0:27:39as the world's leading colonial power.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55In the mid-18th century, the East India Company took control of India's richest province.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Led by Robert Clive, the company defeated the ruler of Bengal
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and installed a replacement of their choosing.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04They were given the right to manage the revenue
0:28:04 > 0:28:08and civil administration of Bengal called the "diwani".
0:28:09 > 0:28:12The diwani was a licence to print money.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15After the costs of administering Bengal had been met
0:28:15 > 0:28:18the company's profit margin was 49%.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22The commercial floodgates had opened.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26In 1766, news of the diwani reached London.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30The prospect of massive financial gains in Bengal
0:28:30 > 0:28:34pushed the company's share price through the roof.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Now, this is partly fuelled by Clive, who wrote to his friends from India
0:28:38 > 0:28:42advising them to buy stock, and he wrote to his own attorneys as well
0:28:42 > 0:28:45telling them to make huge purchases on his behalf.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Not surprisingly other British and foreign investors followed suit.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Robert Clive returned home a national hero
0:28:59 > 0:29:04with a personal fortune equivalent to £38 million today
0:29:04 > 0:29:07and a generous income from land holdings in Bengal.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10He went on a spending spree.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14He bought a raft of properties including his childhood home, Styche Hall,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18which he renovated for his father, and then he bought this place, Walcot Hall,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21for the princely sum of £90,000.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24BIRDSONG
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Not bad for 6,000 acres.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33Clive began transforming his new home into a lavish palazzo
0:29:33 > 0:29:36with one of the finest gardens in England.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40After ruling a state four times bigger than Britain,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Clive was determined to forge a political career back in the old country.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48His new Shropshire pile came with an added bonus.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Walcot Hall had traditionally been owned by the powerful Walcot family
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and they'd been able to nominate the area's MPs.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00When they fell badly into debt, Clive saw his chance.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05He bought the estate and with it came control of the local parliamentary borough.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09That allowed him to basically appoint his cousin as the MP.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14For the next 50 years, Clive's money ensured that his family continued to live in style
0:30:14 > 0:30:18and they continued to control the politics of the local area.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Clive added half a dozen seats in Shropshire
0:30:23 > 0:30:28and further estates in Devon, Monmouth and Surrey to a bulging property empire.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34He was just one of a number of company men who had grown fabulously wealthy in Bengal
0:30:34 > 0:30:38and then had returned home to improve their status in life.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40They bought their way into the aristocracy.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42They bought influence and power.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46They became known as "nabobs",
0:30:46 > 0:30:50a term synonymous with vanity and absurd pretention.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54They're perceived to be too rich for their own good,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57to wear their diamonds too ostentatiously,
0:30:57 > 0:31:03to wear textiles from India, concerns about so-called Oriental despotism
0:31:03 > 0:31:07that they may have brought back from the Mogul Empire in India with them.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10All of those are great concerns for people.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15The nabobs represented the East India Company at its most venal and corrupt,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18a direct threat to the social and political order.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24By the 1780s, they had become a powerful minority,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27with one tenth of the seats in Parliament.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33But their good fortune would soon end.
0:31:35 > 0:31:41A natural calamity was about to throw the Honourable Company into the biggest crisis in its history.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Famine had long been a part of life in Bengal,
0:31:49 > 0:31:56but one that began in the late 1760s was turned into a full-blown humanitarian disaster
0:31:56 > 0:31:59by the East India Company.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02It's hard to come to terms with even after all these years,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05but while the nabobs were back in Britain buying stately homes,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09throwing parties, filling them with silver wine and art,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12the people of Bengal who were paying for all that
0:32:12 > 0:32:15were experiencing some of the most appalling conditions imaginable.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25A prolonged drought and a poor harvest caused a famine
0:32:25 > 0:32:29that continued for three long years, the worst in living memory.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42The East India Company watched and recorded everything.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Did the East India Company help or did they make things worse?
0:32:47 > 0:32:51They made things worse. They raised the taxes on agricultural produce,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54they banned the hoarding of rice and grain,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58which was traditionally used to tide over the population
0:32:58 > 0:32:59through periods of scarcity.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04They ripped up some of the food crops to plant much more profitable indigo
0:33:04 > 0:33:07and even more profitable opium.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11And, finally, some of their junior servants
0:33:11 > 0:33:19started to speculate and profiteer from the sale of rice and grain,
0:33:19 > 0:33:24selling it out of the province at grossly inflated prices.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27The company was more interested in protecting its profits
0:33:27 > 0:33:31than in relieving the suffering of the Bengali people.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36It's estimated that between two million and ten million people died.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40A valuable lesson on the dangers of unchecked corporate power.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Nobody was ultimately brought to account for it,
0:33:44 > 0:33:50but there was certainly a sense that the nature of East India Company government at the time
0:33:50 > 0:33:52had exacerbated the famine,
0:33:52 > 0:33:56that it had made things worse, if it hadn't actually caused it.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06The famine was a human tragedy and a financial disaster.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The Bengal economy collapsed,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11the company's income plummeted.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Its share price crashed and all dividend payments were suspended.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20The bubble was burst. People wanted to know why, how could this have happened?
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Parliament set up its own inquiry and a scapegoat was lined up...
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Robert Clive, Britain's richest man.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34He became seen as the sort of leader of the nabobs
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and was nicknamed Lord Vulture.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Denounced for enriching himself with Indian loot,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Clive was hauled before Parliament.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47He asked his accusers to remember the situation that he'd been in,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50an opulent city had lain at his mercy.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54He'd been shown through vaults full of treasure, gold and precious stones on every side.
0:34:54 > 0:35:01He finished by saying "By God, Mr Chairman, I stand astonished at my own moderation".
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Well, if Clive was greedy or corrupt,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06he certainly wasn't the only one in the House of Commons.
0:35:06 > 0:35:12He was acquitted. In fact, he was even thanked for services to his country.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15But his life ended in tragedy.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20In November 1774, Clive was found dead at his London home.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23He'd suffered depression for much of his life
0:35:23 > 0:35:25and he'd become an opium addict.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28It's very likely that he'd committed suicide.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Dr Samuel Johnson wrote that his crimes
0:35:30 > 0:35:33had driven him to slit his own throat.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36It was a scandalous and pitiful end
0:35:36 > 0:35:40to a life of extraordinary if controversial achievement.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Robert Clive's victory in Bengal
0:35:44 > 0:35:47proved to be a major turning for the East India Company,
0:35:47 > 0:35:50but not in the way he had hoped for.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Their mismanagement of the province, the devastating famine
0:35:54 > 0:35:59and the company's plummeting fortunes led to a crisis point
0:35:59 > 0:36:02which could only be solved by government intervention.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16By the 1760s, the East India Company had grown
0:36:16 > 0:36:22from a tiny band of merchants with a small foothold in India into a colossal trading empire,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26pouring wealth into the pockets of its shareholders back in Britain.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32But then they conquered the wealthy region of Bengal and bled it dry,
0:36:32 > 0:36:37amplifying the effects of a deadly famine, leading to the deaths of millions of people
0:36:37 > 0:36:40in a human tragedy of unprecedented scale.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45The British were horrified and the Government was forced to step in.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48From that point on the state's grip grew ever tighter
0:36:48 > 0:36:52as it attempted to control this voracious monster.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Accused of corruption, incompetence and greed
0:36:55 > 0:36:58the company's reputation was in tatters
0:36:58 > 0:37:01and there was worse to come.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04The crisis that was affecting the company really came to
0:37:04 > 0:37:08a head in 1772, where there was a failure of a major Scottish
0:37:08 > 0:37:09bank, the Ayr Bank.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11About 30 other banks in fact failed
0:37:11 > 0:37:15and that led to a major shortage of money in the economy. The company
0:37:15 > 0:37:19had to go repeatedly to the Bank of England for loans to tie them over.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21They were very indebted.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Now, starved of funds,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27the world's greatest company had run out of cash.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32There was only one possible way out. Massive government bailout.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34For reasons that are spookily familiar,
0:37:34 > 0:37:35it was decided that the
0:37:35 > 0:37:39East India Company was too big to fail.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42The British government rescued the company with public money
0:37:42 > 0:37:44today equivalent to £176 million.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50But its powers were progressively curtailed.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55The India Act of 1784 transferred its executive management to
0:37:55 > 0:37:59an independent Board of Control, answerable to Parliament.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04A new chapter in its history began.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06From now on, its affairs in India would be
0:38:06 > 0:38:10run by a Board of Control, appointed by the British government.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13And Parliament would gradually transform the way that the
0:38:13 > 0:38:15company functioned in India.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20The British state was now pulling the strings.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Instead of entrepreneurs like Robert Clive, the British government
0:38:26 > 0:38:30would now send out its own, more reliable people to run India.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34The Governor General here in Calcutta would rule supreme,
0:38:34 > 0:38:39given sweeping new powers in revenue, diplomacy and war.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41It was nothing less than the birth of empire.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46In 1798 Lord Richard Wellesley was given the top
0:38:46 > 0:38:49job in India by the British government.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53In the 19th century the biggest risk to the company would be
0:38:53 > 0:38:56the emerging struggle between trade and empire,
0:38:56 > 0:39:01between the objectives of the company and those of the Government.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04This conflict was intensified by Wellesley.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14'Wellesley was from a grand aristocratic family back home
0:39:14 > 0:39:17'and he took one look at Government House in Calcutta'
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and decided something a little more ostentatious was required to
0:39:20 > 0:39:22reflect the power of the British in India.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Not to mention his own exalted status.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28So he built this, the new Government House.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31It's not much, but it's home.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39The cost of the project rang alarm bells back at company
0:39:39 > 0:39:42headquarters in Leadenhall St.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45But of more concern were Wellesley's outright imperial ambitions,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49which clashed with the company's stated objectives to minimise
0:39:49 > 0:39:50military expenditure.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56In London the directors were keen to avoid war.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Their costs were certain, their outcomes less so.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02But Wellesley dismissed the concerns of the people he described as
0:40:02 > 0:40:07the cheesemongers of Leadenhall St. He was here with a personal agenda,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09one supported by the British government.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11And it had little to do with the rag trade.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15He wanted to smash the vestiges of French power in India,
0:40:15 > 0:40:16wipe out local opposition
0:40:16 > 0:40:20and extend British rule across the subcontinent.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22And from 14,000 miles away, there was
0:40:22 > 0:40:24little the directors could do to stop him.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31Wellesley had set his sights on a formidable Muslim adversary,
0:40:31 > 0:40:32Tipu Sultan.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33The Tiger of Mysore.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40The rich, battle-hardened Muslim leader of Mysore was
0:40:40 > 0:40:44the East India Company's most intractable enemy.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49Three times in three decades his family had fought the company.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52They were known as the Terrors of Leadenhall St.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54And now Wellesley discovered that on top of it all,
0:40:54 > 0:40:56they were in league with the French.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04I think he identified quite early on that if he could play the French
0:41:04 > 0:41:09and British off against each other, he could expand at their expense.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13The French were at the time Britain's main global rival
0:41:13 > 0:41:17for the status of global superpower.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21And that was being played out in India as it was in North America
0:41:21 > 0:41:22and other arenas.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27A striking force of around 4,000 East India Company troops,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30many of them native soldiers or sepoys,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33attacked Tipu's fort in Seringapatam.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36Inside with his men, the Tiger was ready to do battle.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43A ruler who prided himself on military prowess had
0:41:43 > 0:41:46to have an extensive, extravagant,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49ornate collection of weapons in his personal arsenal.
0:41:49 > 0:41:50And here are some of them.
0:41:50 > 0:41:56The sword was the emblem of manhood, the emblem of a great ruler.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59And judging by these swords Tipu Sultan was a deeply religious
0:41:59 > 0:42:02man and a deeply aggressive one.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04Look at this fabulous sword here.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08The hilt is entirely covered in gold.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13Gold tiger clasping a steel blade in its mouth.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17This man was obsessed with the tiger motif. He lived his life as a tiger.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19In fact, his favourite expression was,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23"It's better to live one day as a tiger than 1,000 days as a sheep."
0:42:23 > 0:42:27What I love about this particular one is on the hilt is written
0:42:27 > 0:42:29an expression in Persian.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31"This blade is the lightning that flashes through
0:42:31 > 0:42:33"the lives of infidels."
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Probably quite near the end of their lives, I expect.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39And on here is the name of Tipu Sultan himself,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41and Allah and Muhammad his prophet.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47This was a man who believed he was engaged in holy war.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49He was God's instrument on earth.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And the task was to destroy infidels, driving them
0:42:52 > 0:42:54out from the Indian subcontinent.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00But this time it wasn't to be.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04After a month-long siege Tipu's stronghold fell
0:43:04 > 0:43:05and the Tiger was slaughtered.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12When news of the Tiger's death reached Britain there was jubilation.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14It turns out the British people didn't share Tipu Sultan's
0:43:14 > 0:43:18opinion of himself as a noble servant of God.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20They thought he was an extremist tyrant.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23There were parties and balls across the country, decorations
0:43:23 > 0:43:25and medals were struck. Artists got in on the act
0:43:25 > 0:43:29and painted depictions of the final battle.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31This wasn't being celebrated as a private,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33commercial triumph for the East India Company
0:43:33 > 0:43:37but as a moment of national, public achievement.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41There was now nothing else standing in the way of total British
0:43:41 > 0:43:43domination in the subcontinent.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49With the vast, rich kingdom of Mysore now under their dominion,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52the company's power in India was growing.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54But territorial growth meant bigger
0:43:54 > 0:43:57and more expensive armies to hold it.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00The cost of this could ruin the company, but from their
0:44:00 > 0:44:04offices in London the directors were powerless to contain Lord Wellesley.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09Wellesley saw himself as a ruler, not a merchant.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11And like countless other empire builders
0:44:11 > 0:44:15he developed an insatiable desire for ever wider expansion.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17He spent a vast amount of money that should have
0:44:17 > 0:44:20been for commercial purposes on conquest.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Against the company's wishes, Wellesley annexed more
0:44:25 > 0:44:27and more Indian territory.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Vast swathes of southern, western
0:44:29 > 0:44:31and northern India fell to the British.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35One quote at the time is he's increased
0:44:35 > 0:44:39the population of British India by 40 million.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41So this is a massive expansion and it's really the time
0:44:41 > 0:44:45when the East India Company moves from paramountcy, from being
0:44:45 > 0:44:49the major influential power to being the major territorial power.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52It's the start, in effect, of the British Empire.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Wellesley had completely transformed the company's
0:44:56 > 0:44:59position in India even whilst the directors back in Britain
0:44:59 > 0:45:02were complaining that his actions were taking them into debt.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05By the time he was finished, Britain controlled an area that
0:45:05 > 0:45:08was ten times the size of the British Isles
0:45:08 > 0:45:12with a population of 180 million people.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16That's one sixth of the entire global population at the time.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21British India flourished under Wellesley.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And in turn, Britain was boosted.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26The stage was set for the creation of an empire.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28And despite their objections,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31the East India Company was at the heart of it.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44By the early 19th century, Britain,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48through the East India Company, was the dominant authority in India.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50But the next few years would see a significant
0:45:50 > 0:45:52change in the company's role.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55The end of their trading monopoly saw them
0:45:55 > 0:45:58become colonial administrators rather than merchants.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05This new role as ruler of India would herald a new attitude
0:46:05 > 0:46:07towards its subjects.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Over time, the British would grow more distant and aloof.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Neglecting its relationship with the people of India,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22carefully cultivated over the previous centuries, would prove
0:46:22 > 0:46:26a terrible mistake and threaten the company's very existence.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31They increasingly see a need to separate
0:46:31 > 0:46:33themselves from the people that they're ruling
0:46:33 > 0:46:37and to create a sense of British prestige around themselves
0:46:37 > 0:46:40as the ruling race and the people who are in charge.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46Where earlier companymen had embraced local
0:46:46 > 0:46:50and religious customs, now people were becoming alarmed by them,
0:46:50 > 0:46:54especially Britain's growing number of Christian missionaries,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56who had been arriving in India in small numbers
0:46:56 > 0:46:58against the company's wishes.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04The company believed that the people of India should be left to
0:47:04 > 0:47:06practise their own religions.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Otherwise, they could grow hostile.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12And that would jeopardise Britain's position on the subcontinent.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16But, it wasn't up to the company any more.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19'With ultimate control over its activities in India,
0:47:19 > 0:47:23'the British government found itself lobbied by some powerful
0:47:23 > 0:47:24'Christian representatives.'
0:47:26 > 0:47:29In 1813 the British government gave way
0:47:29 > 0:47:33and forced the company to give missionaries full access to India,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36sending a dangerous message to its people that the British
0:47:36 > 0:47:38planned to convert them to Christianity.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47'Missionaries were just one of the parliamentary impositions'
0:47:47 > 0:47:51the company was forced to accept in order to stay in India.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55'Just 20 years since Parliament extended its royal charter,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57'it was up for renewal again.'
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Every time the East India Company's royal charter had come
0:48:02 > 0:48:05up for renewal, there were calls to end its commercial
0:48:05 > 0:48:08monopoly on trade with India.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11But it survived intact for more than 200 years.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13But this was the era of free trade
0:48:13 > 0:48:17and Parliament decided to end that privileged position.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19That meant that the East India Company servants were no
0:48:19 > 0:48:23longer here to trade, to make money through buying and selling
0:48:23 > 0:48:25but as colonial administrators,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29running its vast territories on behalf of the British Crown.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36'The 1813 Charter Act marked a complete
0:48:36 > 0:48:38'shift in the company's role.'
0:48:38 > 0:48:40After some 200 years in India,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44they were no longer here as merchants but as rulers.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46And this new position would have a tangible
0:48:46 > 0:48:48effect on the behaviour of the British in India.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Britain was going through a massive Industrial Revolution.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54It was becoming one of the richest
0:48:54 > 0:48:56and perhaps THE richest country in the world.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59And the British in India reflected that change.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01They no longer saw themselves as people who had chosen to
0:49:01 > 0:49:04live in India and had to muddle along and get on with the locals.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07They now saw themselves as part of a superior,
0:49:07 > 0:49:08advanced, progressive civilisation.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11And they saw themselves increasingly as detached from India.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18The respect for Indian culture that had characterised previous
0:49:18 > 0:49:19generations had completely vanished.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23It was no longer acceptable for an East India Company servant to
0:49:23 > 0:49:25speak like or dress like an Indian.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29They had to now wear European dress and the army soon followed suit.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33European customs and manners were emphasised.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36A huge gulf was opening between the British governing elite
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and the Indian subjects.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41As the British entered the new, self-assured Victorian age,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44their attitude towards the Indians hardened.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47They were convinced of their own cultural superiority
0:49:47 > 0:49:49and they believed India needed all the help it could get.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53India was a barbaric place and its civilisation was stagnant.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58From now on, company servants and officers who came to India
0:49:58 > 0:50:02were influenced by this conviction of moral and racial superiority.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07To our ears their views seem shockingly racist.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12The refusal to learn local languages, dismissing
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Indians as savage barbarians incapable of elevated thought.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20These were ignorant views and ones which ironically confined
0:50:20 > 0:50:24the British into a narrow life that many of them found so boring.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27But perhaps even more than being stupid and racist,
0:50:27 > 0:50:29these views were dangerous,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32because if that chasm opened up between the rulers
0:50:32 > 0:50:36and the ruled, then there's fertile ground for conflict.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Few of these Brits had the urge or the need to look outside
0:50:42 > 0:50:45the confines of this artificial little bubble.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48Often the only natives they did meet were their own servants.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50They tried to recreate their old British lives,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54eating British food three times a day, planting British
0:50:54 > 0:50:58seeds in their garden and wearing ridiculous British clothing
0:50:58 > 0:51:01as they went out in the hot Indian sun.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03It was an obstinate, desperate attempt to keep a little
0:51:03 > 0:51:07piece of Britishness alive here in the heart of India.
0:51:11 > 0:51:12As administrator of India,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15the East India Company was allocated a pot of money by the British
0:51:15 > 0:51:18government for the intellectual improvement of the people.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21But no-one could best decide how to use it.
0:51:21 > 0:51:27No-one, that is, until the arrival of one man, Thomas Babington Macaulay,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31law maker on the newly created Supreme Council of India.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35And his legacy has left a profound mark on the subcontinent.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46These poor young men have exam week on at the moment.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48It's bringing back all sorts of horrible memories of my own
0:51:48 > 0:51:50time at school.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Macaulay, like many other prominent Victorians, assumed that
0:51:54 > 0:51:57British culture was the highest form of human civilisation.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59And he was desperate to try
0:51:59 > 0:52:02and bestow some of that on the Indian subjects.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04He envisaged an education system that would create
0:52:04 > 0:52:11"Indians in blood and colour but English in tastes, opinions, morals
0:52:11 > 0:52:15"and intellect." And the first thing to do was teach them all English.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Macaulay's act, the Minute on Education,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26was passed in February 1835.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30And almost immediately the children of India's elite began
0:52:30 > 0:52:32learning English as their main language.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38The changing attitudes of the British towards the Indians
0:52:38 > 0:52:41affected military life as well as the civilian world.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49The Indian army had grown to become a bit of a source of worry
0:52:49 > 0:52:50for many in the East India Company.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54What had begun as a few security teams guarding the company's
0:52:54 > 0:52:58forts around India had grown into one of the largest standing
0:52:58 > 0:53:00armies in the world -
0:53:00 > 0:53:02more than 250,000 troops,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05larger than most European armies at the time.
0:53:05 > 0:53:11And that was 96% composed of native, Indian troops
0:53:11 > 0:53:12known as sepoys.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Keeping these sepoy troops loyal was critical to the company's survival.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23So what would happen if this huge native army turned on them?
0:53:26 > 0:53:29The problem with the Indian army at that time is that it's set up
0:53:29 > 0:53:33if you have any ambition, any get-up-and-go, any drive,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36you will leave your regiment early on for probably civil employ or staff
0:53:36 > 0:53:39employ and the reason you did that was because they were better paid.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41And so the residue left in the regiments,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44the people who had close daily contact with the Indian
0:53:44 > 0:53:48soldiers, were the refuse, the worst of the lot. And they didn't tend...
0:53:48 > 0:53:51These men were disgruntled, they were bored.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54And they didn't tend to treat their Indian soldiers very well.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59Just as throughout the rest of British India, in the company's
0:53:59 > 0:54:03three armies a racial gulf had opened up between the officers
0:54:03 > 0:54:04and their Indian troops.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10Any team, but particularly the army, needs that trust and respect between
0:54:10 > 0:54:13those who are giving the orders and those who are carrying them out.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18If you were an East India Company sepoy, why would you follow
0:54:18 > 0:54:21an officer into battle who is openly disdainful of you?
0:54:21 > 0:54:23In fact, why would you do anything he said at all?
0:54:31 > 0:54:34The sepoys no longer trusted their East India Company officers.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36They were appalled at their degrading treatment
0:54:36 > 0:54:39and were very suspicious about the future intentions of the company.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41What was needed to turn this very tense
0:54:41 > 0:54:45situation into a full-blown crisis was a spark.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55Appropriately enough that spark was provided by the sepoy's rifles.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57In the mid-19th century a sepoy would have
0:54:57 > 0:54:59lots of cartridges in his cartridge pouch.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01He had to bite off the end...
0:55:03 > 0:55:05..pour it down the barrel of the rifle...
0:55:05 > 0:55:09then put the cartridge itself and the bullet into the barrel,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13ram it down with a ramrod and then it would fire at the enemy.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16The big problem came when a rumour spread like wildfire
0:55:16 > 0:55:18throughout the sepoy forces
0:55:18 > 0:55:22that the British were greasing these cartridges with pig or beef fat.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25For them it was completely intolerable to insert anything
0:55:25 > 0:55:29that had ever been near a pig or cow into their mouth.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31At a stroke the culturally ignorant,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35distant British decision makers had managed to alienate not just
0:55:35 > 0:55:40the Hindus but also the Muslims of their vast Indian army.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44In fact, realising their error,
0:55:44 > 0:55:48the East India Company never issued these cartridges to the sepoys.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50But it was too late.
0:55:53 > 0:55:54The scene was set for the
0:55:54 > 0:55:57East India Company's greatest challenge yet,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01an episode that has become known to the British as the Indian Mutiny
0:56:01 > 0:56:05but to the Indians, it was the First War of Independence.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11After several isolated incidents the uprising began for real when the troops at Meerut
0:56:11 > 0:56:13rose up and headed for Delhi.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19On the 11th of May 1857, the city fell.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22The rebellion is a mixture of dissatisfied
0:56:22 > 0:56:24groups in India. The biggest dissatisfied
0:56:24 > 0:56:26group are the soldiers and since they're professionals
0:56:26 > 0:56:28and they're armed, they are the most dangerous.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31You will see in any revolution that you've got a problem
0:56:31 > 0:56:32if your army turns on you.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35But also they were joined by a lot of disgruntled civilians,
0:56:35 > 0:56:36people who for
0:56:36 > 0:56:39various reasons weren't happy with East India Company rule,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43and that included a lot of people whose principalities had been
0:56:43 > 0:56:45taken from them, a lot of people who felt
0:56:45 > 0:56:48they had something to gain by seeing the back of the British.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51The East India Company was about to pay a heavy
0:56:51 > 0:56:54price for allowing its relationship with India to break down.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59Right across northern India native troops rebelled against their
0:56:59 > 0:57:03British officers, often killing them and their families.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05There were serious disturbances at the strategically placed
0:57:05 > 0:57:06towns of...
0:57:09 > 0:57:11These were situated between Delhi
0:57:11 > 0:57:14and the administrative capital, Calcutta.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17If they fell it would seriously imperil the entire British
0:57:17 > 0:57:19position in northern India.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Even the supposedly reliable garrison at Cawnpore was in revolt.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28The East India Company was unable to restore order or prevent
0:57:28 > 0:57:31acts of savage retribution by its troops.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34The situation spiralled out of control.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41The company had fatally bungled its response to the uprising.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Having been forced, bit by bit, to give up its privileges
0:57:44 > 0:57:48throughout the previous century, it was finally on its knees.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51The mutiny is the beginning of the end for the East India Company,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54because it shows quite clearly to the British government that the
0:57:54 > 0:57:57East India Company is no longer capable of governing India.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00It's clearly made mistakes, probably in the way it runs its army
0:58:00 > 0:58:06but also in its civil administration, and the amount of lives lost,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09the treasure expended, can only mean one thing
0:58:09 > 0:58:14and that is that India has to become a part of the British Empire.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18The Government and the British people had had
0:58:18 > 0:58:22enough of the rapacious, profiteering East India Company.
0:58:22 > 0:58:27On the 1st of November 1858 British India was finally
0:58:27 > 0:58:31and inevitably handed over to the government of Queen Victoria.