this video was made possible by Squarespace whether you need a domain online store or website make it with Squarespace hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian today's episode how the British Empire was able to assert control over India [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the indian subcontinent was subjugated by an island more than 20 times smaller in size this unimaginable conquest of what would become the jewel in the British crown greatly empowered the British Empire by the middle of the 19th century British rule led to a new wave of South Asian nationalist movements the effects to which
are still felt to this day but we're not going to be delving into too much detail about the consequences of British rule rather our goal is to evaluate what actions taken by the British and Indians alike paved the way for British rule in the first place in order to understand how the British were able to take control of India we need to go back to New Year's Eve on 1600 well into the reign of Elizabeth the first it was her signature on a Royal Charter granted to a group of adventure merchants later known as the
East India Company that would change the destinies of two nations forever however at the time the company's leaders were not yet interested in trading directly with the reigning Indian power of the time instead they focused on competing with the Dutch French and Portuguese in the East Indies but over time the East India Company after being driven out of the East Indies shifted its focus onto the Indian subcontinent in 1640 a company representative succeeded in securing a grant of land in southern India a pivotal moment as it marks the first time that Indian land was owned
directly by the English it was on this land that they constructed fort st. George the settlement that grew around this region became the thriving city of Madras now known as Chennai and home to over seven million people as more and more company owned forts and settlements sprang up all over the Indian subcontinent the English became a leading exporter of spices which in the words of Brien Gardner author of the East India Company had a considerable place in life men were prepared to die in search of them and many did no gift was more acceptable and
to be well supplied was a mark of status wealth could be measured in spices the French Danish and Dutch all became similarly active in Indian Affairs from the 17th century onwards with the Portuguese already established in the region joining me now is our good friend history with Hilbert who will be providing us with some background information on the Mughal Empire as the 18th century commenced the Europeans became increasingly involved in Indian Affairs they could afford to because the Mughal Empire which once ruled over not just the majority of India but also parts of modern-day Pakistan
Afghanistan and Bangladesh was on the decline in the wake of very costly wars of conquest the Mughals suffered from repeated invasions by Persians Afghans and other Indians in 1739 the Mughal capital Delhi was sacked by the Persian ruler Nader Shah following the decisive battle of Colonel and in 1748 nada Shahs Protege the Afghan Ahmed Shah Durrani also led his armies into Mughal territory beginning his own invasion due to these factors by the middle of the 18th century the Mughal emperor took the role of a figurehead to many new empowered local rulers if you'd like to
check out my video that goes into more detail about the Mughals then follow the link in the description below thanks for joining us again however as the Mughals weakened the Maratha Kingdom in the central west of India was carving out an empire of its own despite never eclipsing the Mughal Empire at its height the Maratha Empire remained as a dominant power in India for another 80 years or so as all this was happening the East India Company began to overshadow its European competitors devoting substantial profits to raising a private army in an effort to contend
with the Maratha Empire and Bengal by now the East India Company benefited greatly from the country's imposing Navy which enabled it to ferry more and more men to India than its European competitors as much as the company's military aided in its growth it was the laissez-faire policy that won over many local rulers to their side many of whom benefited financially from their dealings with the company and did not perceive their sovereignty to be at risk of all the Europeans who have established themselves in India the British and French based in the South were now preeminent
but under the daring Robert Clive the British East India Company's army was able to defeat both the Bengal E's and their French allies at the Battle of Plassey during the Seven Years War which by the 1760s allowed them to assert control over much of the Indian subcontinent unchecked through direct territorial possession or indirect tributary arrangements to quote Gardner once more by the Treaty of Paris 1763 the French forts taken by the company were returned to them some of them having been razed to the ground but the French never recovered and only six years later the
French East India Company collapsed although the stations remained in the possession of France during the British advance into the indian heartland it encountered staunch resistance from the Sikh Empire and other Indian states not interested in doing business with the English the Duke of Wellington who would later go on to defeat Napoleon won several victories against these states while eating his brother Richard WA Leslie who acted as governor-general of India consequently by the turn of the 19th century the Wesley brothers had succeeded in leaving behind them the foundations of an empire greater even that of Akbar
himself as the middle of the 19th century drew closer and Indian national consciousness began to take form as company rule resulted in a wider array of social and economic reforms being demanded from increasingly alienated local rulers these sentiments culminated in the Indian rebellion of 1857 also known as the sepoys mutiny which was brutally suppressed and concluded with the formal dissolution of the Mughal Empire and the transfer of power from the British East India Company to Britain itself power now rested in the hands of the British crown directly and as the 19th century continued India's resources
and the livelihoods of its people were exploited to fuel the industrial revolution in Britain leading to a series of famines which shook the Indian economy to the core and left millions of Indians dead one thing was certain the British Empire now had millions of new subjects under its rule in India an imperial expansion wouldn't stop there to conclude the political vacuum left by the Mughal Empire in the wake of repeated invasions the failure of other Indian states particularly the Maratha Empire to fill that vacuum and unify India the failure of other European powers to stop
the British Britain's military and industrial superiority and the governing policy of the East India Company allowed Britain to take over the Indian subcontinent now back to our sponsor recently Squarespace has made my life a lot easier this website building platform offers a wide array of customizable design templates to get started with eight new ones have been released in this year alone from that point it's intuitive interface and diverse toolkit allow virtually anyone to build a website you really don't need to be computer savvy or an artist to do this stuff but should you have any
questions the reliable customer support team is always there to provide answers with all of this in mind we highly recommend you use Squarespace for any website project imaginable be it for school work or just for fun check out Squarespace and register for a free trial using squarespace.com slash armchair historian it's as easy as clicking the link in the description below and getting started when you're ready to launch use the offer code arm-chair for a 10% discount on your first website or domain purchase thanks for watching I'd like to thank the armchair historian team and my
general staff on patreon if you're interested in British history be sure to check out our videos on the American Revolution and the Anglo Zulu War also be sure to check out history with Hilbert's video on google history which can be found in the description below and finally a special thanks to our patron Brandon wu1 for nominating this video topic his message bangle ease is difficult to learn thanks again and I'll see you next time with our video on why Napoleon's invasion of Russia didn't go so well
