From Trading Company to Crown Rule: The East India Company and the Road to 1857

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Robert Clive's EIC forces defeated Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal after bribing his commander Mir Jafar to betray him. It gave the EIC control of Bengal, turning it from a trading company into a territorial ruler.

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Commander of the Nawab of Bengal's army who was bribed by Robert Clive to withhold his troops at Plassey (1757); installed as puppet Nawab afterwards.

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Rulers of Mysore who resisted British expansion in the Anglo-Mysore Wars (1767–1799); Tipu Sultan modernised his army with French help and died defending Seringapatam in 1799.

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The Third Anglo-Maratha War ended Maratha independence, removing the last major Indian military power and leaving the EIC dominant across most of the subcontinent.

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Policy fixing land tax rates in Bengal forever and making zamindars permanent landowners; guaranteed British revenue but often harmed peasants in poor harvest years.

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Policy (used heavily by Dalhousie) allowing the British to annex any princely state whose ruler died without a natural heir, refusing to recognise adopted heirs.

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Bentinck (1828–35): banned sati, promoted English education, cut costs. Dalhousie (1848–56): expanded territory via the Doctrine of Lapse (including Awadh in 1856), built railways and telegraphs. Both are praised as reformers but their policies created resentment that fed into 1857.

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The greased cartridges controversy at Meerut (immediate spark), military grievances over pay/promotion/overseas service, political resentment over the Doctrine of Lapse and Awadh's annexation, economic hardship from taxes, and religious/cultural fears about British intentions.

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A leader of the Great Revolt of 1857 who fought to protect her adopted son's succession rights after Dalhousie annexed Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse; became one of the revolt's most famous figures.

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The East India Company was abolished and India came under direct Crown rule via the Government of India Act 1858; Bahadur Shah II was exiled, ending the Mughal dynasty.

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It marks the transition from Company-run territorial control (built through wars, taxation, and annexation since 1757) to formal direct rule by the British Crown, fundamentally changing how India was governed.

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The process by which Indian industries (especially textiles) declined after 1813 as cheap British manufactured goods flooded the market, shifting India toward exporting raw materials instead.