Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

🎥 Watch 250+ exclusive videos on Youtube ► youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join and Patreon ► patreon.com/kingsandgenerals

Kings and Generals historical animated documentary series on the history of the early modern world, India and colonialism continues with a video on how the British India Company started the conquest of India. Previously we have covered the Rise of the British East India Company (youtu.be/_SHhiEISRrE). In the early 1700s, the East India Company—once a globe-trotting merchant venture known as “John Company”—began its transformation into a conquest machine. As the Mughal Empire weakened after Aurangzeb’s death and regional powers like the Marathas surged, India became a fragmented battleground ripe for intervention. The Company exploited this chaos by building a professional, corporate army: a small European core reinforced by vast numbers of sepoys, trained and equipped in European style. Next, the story shifts to the Carnatic Wars, where British and French trading companies fought proxy conflicts tied to wider European wars, and where Robert Clive emerged as a decisive figure. From the audacious seizure of Arcot to the crisis in Bengal, the Company’s path to dominance accelerates. The episode culminates in Plassey—depicted less as a battle and more as a political-financial transaction—followed by victories that secured revenue rights and real control over Bengal. Finally, the video examines the grim consequences of Company rule: corruption, extraction, scandal at home, and catastrophe in Bengal, setting the stage for the next conquests across India.

Why Was Germany so Fragmented in the Middle Ages: youtu.be/EiB8sMHxGqM
Eastern Roman Empire: Why So Many Civil Wars?: youtu.be/SK_yHooLu1s
What Did the Europeans Think About the Eastern Romans?: youtu.be/Qu6NnWj1EZ8
Were the Eastern Romans and Arabs Always at War?: youtu.be/nBMP6yRAOZg
Great Schism Between Greek and Latin Christianity: youtu.be/a6rWf0k8d78
How Islam Split into the Sunni and Shia Branches: youtu.be/-85dXjgMiSU
Rise of the Cossacks: youtu.be/UQ_ocyTRRIE
Crusades From the Muslim Perspective: youtu.be/t8RZtYvW02g
Early Muslim Expansion - Yarmouk, Al-Qadisiyyah: youtu.be/r2cEIDZwG5M
Early Muslim Expansion - Egypt and Iran: youtu.be/baHT2nR5Wr4
Muslim Schism: youtu.be/-85dXjgMiSU
Third Crusade: youtu.be/jCyCSgsFXKQ
Fourth Crusade: youtube.com/watch?v=3Vp_IENiSnA&list=PLaBYW76inbX4ZjR4rodOOSc-zL1orP4hW
First Crusade: youtube.com/watch?v=JkyYjpYLORI&list=PLaBYW76inbX6RqjG027zLO_svn3Fdv7Qa
Sultanate of Women in the Ottoman Empire: youtu.be/OEzS8D4IidA
How the German Empire Provoked Ottoman Jihad in WWI: youtu.be/8LCpbgVx9kY
Ottoman Battles: youtube.com/watch?v=txyqS5yuw30&list=PLaBYW76inbX5BKGRPzlqdztQySZmJLjJt
Why the Ottomans Never Colonized America: youtu.be/lM_Wzt_Z228
Why the Ottoman Sultans Killed their Brothers: youtu.be/vN7LgUIOAVw
Cem Sultan: Ottoman Prince in the Heart of Europe: youtu.be/3w9POQMt5jk
Ottoman Pirates: youtu.be/5jguevSDIuY
Turkification of Anatolia: youtu.be/JBgq1taoUsY
Hashashins: youtu.be/vG8qmlKdRjs
Christian Schism: youtu.be/a6rWf0k8d78
Mos Maiorum: What led to the fall of the Roman Republic?: youtu.be/BNWfDWk6ohM
How Rome Conquered Greece: youtu.be/v5q1rerf-qw
Caesar in Gaul: youtu.be/LRV185XaMIM

Video: Yağız Bozan and Murat Can Yağbasan
Script: Leo Stone
Narration: Liam Taylor

✔ Merch store ► teespring.com/stores/kingsandgenerals
✔ Patreon ► patreon.com/KingsandGenerals
✔ Podcast ► kingsandgenerals.libsyn.com iTunes: apple.co/2QTuMNG
✔ PayPal ► paypal.me/kingsandgenerals
✔ Twitter ► twitter.com/KingsGenerals
✔ Facebook ► facebook.com/KingsGenerals
✔ Instagram ►instagram.com/Kings_Generals Production

Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1OXI9gR17Iqau4BNfkdrhi1DXuNKqPUcyV0_SC2m0PJ8/edit?usp=sharing

Music courtesy of EpidemicSound

00:00:00 - John Company Turns From Traders to Conquerors
00:02:19 - The Mughal Empire Fractures (1707 Onward)
00:03:34 - Building a Massive Private Company Army
00:07:11 - The Carnatic Wars: Britain vs France in India
00:08:39 - Robert Clive and the Arcot Gamble
00:09:44 - Bengal Ignites: Calcutta, Siraj, and Revenge
00:13:49 - Plassey to Buxar: Buying an Empire
00:16:40 - Company Rule in Bengal: Loot, Famine, Backlash

#Documentary #EastIndiacompany #India