How did the British Empire conquer India?

1outnumbered

Picture a British army sweeping across India. It did not start that way. At Plassey in 1757, a trading company had about 3,100 men against an estimated 50,000.

2the bribe

So how did it win? The Nawab's own commander, Mir Jafar, had been bribed by Clive, and on the day he kept his troops out of the fight.

3tax pays army

Next came the prize. In 1765 the Mughal emperor named the Company tax collector for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Taxes helped pay for soldiers, and soldiers won more land.

4mostly Indian

And who were those soldiers? Mostly Indians. In 1857, of 159,000 men in the Bengal Army, 135,000 were Indian sepoys and 24,000 were European.

5forced alliance

Then the subsidiary alliance, first with Hyderabad in 1798. A ruler paid for Company troops in his land and handed over his foreign policy.

6powers fall

The big independent powers fell one by one: Mysore's Tipu Sultan in 1799, the Maratha Peshwa in 1818, the Sikh kingdom in 1849.

7the whole idea

So: a bribe, Indian taxes, Indian soldiers and forced alliances built a company's rule. After the 1857 revolt, the Crown took over in 1858.