conquest of a different kind

....Within a century of Clive's victory at Plassey(1757), practically the whole of India had come under the control of the East India Company. It would however be wrong to imagen that the British on their own conquered India.

Man to man, a British soldier was no match to an Indian soldier.....Whenever the British won a battle, it was always a battle in which the section of the Indian army went over to the side of the British and fought against their own countrymen.

Those who directed the conquest were mere merchants of a trading corporation who had no experience of wars and warlike operations. Many of their commanders were men from the clerical establishment who either volunteered or were pitchforked into soldering.

The conquest was peculiar in yet another sense. It was achieved wholly at the expense of the conquered, for the company did not contribute a penny towards the expense of the war and conquest. It was peculiar also because the instruments of the conquest were provided by the conquered.....