In the 17th century, the British arrived in India and set in motion a huge plan to conquer India. The British established a company in India, The Honourable East India Company in 1600. Queen Elizabeth 1 granted a royal charter to a group of English traders to set up this company and the company executive powers.
The first land the company bought in India was Calcutta. There were a lot of resources around Calcutta, such as agriculture and material for industry. The company established their headquarters in Calcutta. Soon they controlled the resources, such as food and metal, and sent them back to Britain. As time went on, the company grew rapidly. Soon they established trading centers in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay.
In1707, the Indian Emperor Aurangzeb, the ruler of Mughal Dynasty, which ruled for 200 years, died. The empire fell into succession crisis.
After all the resources in eastern India were monopolized by the British, the East India Company took advantage of the crisis and the government used the company to establish a British empire in India. As the British monopolized the east, the French`s South India Company took over most of south India, and in Europe, France was at war with the Britain.
In 1757, the first instance of aggression took place, The Battle of Plassey. The French supported Lord Siraj ud-Daulah to resist the British. His army was massive and powerful, and the French company supported him by providing 40 cannons, but in the end, Siraj ud-daulah still lost the war. There were few reasons that caused the failure of the war: the British company bribed the General Mir Jafar who betrayed Siraj, and rain arrived, that caused the French cannons to be useless. In this situation. the British won the war. They made their first step to conquer India.
After the war, the British send a lot of armies to India. They used the name of protecting the kings. But, in reality, they forced the kings to serve them. On the other side of India, British swiped out the French. In 1759, The British defeated a large French garrison at Masulipatam. In 1858, British turned India into a British colony.
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