How the East India Company Took Over India… and Lost It All

How did the East India Company, a group of London merchants, take over India? And what happened to the East India Company in the end? This documentary follows the rise and fall of the British East India Company, from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to its quiet end in 1874. In 1757, about 3,000 soldiers faced roughly 50,000 at Plassey, and won. But they were not fighting for a nation. They worked for a company. This is the rise and fall of the East India Company. It began in 1600 as a group of London merchants chasing spices. It went on to take over the tax system of Bengal, build an army bigger than Britain's own and need a government bailout in the 1770s. In 1858 it lost everything to the Crown. We follow Robert Clive, the Treaty of Allahabad, the Bengal famine of 1769-70, the Tea Act that led to the Boston Tea Party, the rebellion of 1857 and the company's quiet end in 1874. Then comes the twist: who owns the name today. Where historians disagree on numbers, such as famine deaths or the size of the army, we say so and name the source. The visuals in this video are AI-generated illustrations, not real photographs or footage. #EastIndiaCompany #History #Documentary Chapters: 0:00 The Ambush 1:11 Merchants of London 3:01 The Taxman of Bengal 4:42 Famine 7:06 An Army for Hire 8:00 The Fall 9:53 The Strangest Twist Sources: Britannica (Students): East India Company: https://kids.britannica.com/students/... EBSCO Research Starters: East India Company: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starte... Layers of London: East India Company: https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/re... Brick Lane Circle: East India Company Time Line: https://bricklanecircle.org/east-indi... UK Parliament: Parliament and the East India Company: https://www.parliament.uk/about/livin... Wikipedia: Battle of Plassey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_... British Battles: Battle of Plassey: https://www.britishbattles.com/anglo-... History of War: Battle of Plassey: https://www.historyofwar.org/articles... The Past: A victory of significance, the Battle of Plassey: https://the-past.com/feature/a-victor... Britannica: Robert Clive: https://www.britannica.com/biography/... National Library of Wales: Robert Clive Papers: https://archives.library.wales/index.... National Army Museum: Robert Clive, the nabob general: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/robert-... Wikipedia: Robert Clive (gives a higher jagir figure than Britannica): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_... World History Encyclopedia: Robert Clive: https://www.worldhistory.org/Robert_C... Oxford Reference: Lord Clive quotation: https://www.oxfordreference.com/displ... Wikiquote: Robert Clive: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_... Wikipedia: Treaty of Allahabad (sources give 12 or 16 August 1765): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_... Wikipedia: Great Bengal famine of 1770: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_B... Wikipedia: Regulating Act 1773: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulat... Brewminate: East India Company and the Regulating Act of 1773 (£1.4 million loan authorised; £1.5 million requested): https://brewminate.com/east-india-com... Wikipedia: Nabob (1772 collapse blamed on bad administration, citing UK Parliament): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabob Colonial Williamsburg: The Tea Crisis: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/... Down To Earth: Interview with William Dalrymple: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/interv... ArtReview: William Dalrymple on the Forgotten Painters of the East India Company (army twice the British Army by 1799): https://artreview.com/william-dalrymp... The Conversation: Books that shook the business world, The Anarchy: https://theconversation.com/books-tha... World History Encyclopedia: The Armies of the East India Company: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/... Wikipedia: East India Company (army of about 260,000 at its peak): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_In... (+10 more sources)