The real-life story of Robert Clive would be judged as wildly implausible if it came from the pen of a novelist. Clive of India was one of the most extraordinary and colorful figures Britain ever produced. The founder of Britain's Indian empire, he was also Britain's first great guerrilla fighter by the age of twenty-seven, conqueror of Bengal at thirty-one, and avenging angel of righteousness against the greed of his own fellow-countrymen at forty-one. In his later life Parliament brought him under painful scrutiny and he ended up one of the most hated men in Britain. He died violently under still-mysterious circumstances just before his fiftieth birthday. The story of Clive can be viewed on several levels: as a spirited military adventure by a man who defied death many times, who withstood the greatest siege in British military history, and conspired to force one of the most absolute and cruellest monarchs on earth off his throne; as the morality tale of a penniless young man who became the sole ruler of a huge empire, ended up as one of the richest men in Britain and was then brought to account and driven to despair; or as the story of a plundering early poacher-turned-gamekeeper who sought to establish a moral and legal order amidst slaughter and greed. Clive today lies buried in an unknown grave in an obscure corner of rural Shropshire, a reflection of the controversy he aroused in his lifetime and that still surrounds his legacy and the manner of his death. In this lively and revealing study Robert Harvey illuminates Clive's life's journey from the green fields surrounding Market Drayton through his adventures in India, his drive to success and self-destruction, to his vicious and premature death, by suicide or murder.

'Rulers of India: Lord Clive' is a biography by author and historian G.B. Malleson about Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, also known as "Clive of India." Clive was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency and has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British East India Company rule in Bengal. The book traces his journey for his early years as a schoolboy, to his subsequent arrival in India in 1744 as a writer for the East India Company and his various undertakings there until his death.

Robert Clive (1725–1774), later Baron Clive of Plassey, is widely considered the founder of British India. He arrived in Madras as a clerk for the East India Company in 1744. Through timely promotion and a clear affinity for military leadership, he proceeded to consolidate the company's commercial and territorial position in South India before doing the same in the northeast in Bengal. In 1757 company troops under his command defeated the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey. This victory set in motion the East India Company's ascendancy over much of India and eventual development into the world's largest transnational trading company at the time. This paved the way for the 1857 creation of the British Raj, which would last for another ninety years. Clive is a fascinating and important historical figure: a lowly company employee who rose to great heights; an informally trained military commander who led company and local Indian troops to a series of stirring victories over local rivals who were supported by the French; a grasping politician who used his great wealth to secure a prominent social position; and, finally, a hounded society notable who, plagued by illness, allegedly took his own life. No one in the early days of the British ventures in India was as well known or as controversial as Clive. Today, when empire and globalism are witnessed and talked about with ease, Clive's position as both a servant of the East India Company and an agent of imperialism makes him a surprisingly resonant figure.

Color edition. Illustrated by Stewart Orr. More than anyone else, the English-born Lord Clive of India was responsible for the colonization, ordering, and remaking of the British Empire in India-and for laying the foundation of much of present-day India's internal political organization. Appointed as a lowly writer in service of the English East India Company, his chance involvement in a battle during the 1746 First Carnatic War between France and Britain saw him enlist with the army. His daring exploits and bravery were soon rewarded with promotions and advancement through the ranks at breakneck speed, and his defense at the siege of Arcot-where his small force of just 200 men repelled an attack by thousands of Indians-made him famous and a hero in England. Although elected to the British parliament, Clive could not resist renewed calls back to India, and within a short time he was once again back in that country, suppressing rebellions and witnessing dramatic events such as the Black Hole of Calcutta. Clive's career culminated in the 1757 Battle of Plassey which was a decisive victory for the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies. This established British rule in Bengal which expanded over much of India for the next hundred years. This immensely readable book provides a full insight and account of Lord Clive's life, from his earliest childhood to his untimely death.

THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2020 LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2019 A FINANCIAL TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, WALL STREET JOURNAL AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Dalrymple is a superb historian with a visceral understanding of India ... A book of beauty' – Gerard DeGroot, The Times In August 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and forced him to establish a new administration in his richest provinces. Run by English merchants who collected taxes using a ruthless private army, this new regime saw the East India Company transform itself from an international trading corporation into something much more unusual: an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business. William Dalrymple tells the remarkable story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.