The Anarchy Hardcover – Illustrated, September 10, 2019

William Dalrymple tells how a single business operation replaced the Mughal empire to rule the Indian subcontinent. The East India Company was a first major multi-national corporation, and an early example of a joint stock enterprise. Most events occur between 1756-1803, around the time of the American and French revolutions. The story begins in 1599 with the charter of the Company, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the lifetime of Shakespeare.The Company was preceded by Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake and included veteran Carribean privateers, state sponsored pirates who attacked the Spanish armada for gold and silver. The first Company voyage brought back spice from Indonesia by robbing a Portuguese ship. Outdone by the Dutch in the spice trade, the Company began trade in India with the benefits of a British monopoly, license to raise an army and seize territory, all endorsed by the Crown.At the time of the Company's expansion of power the Mughal Empire had been weakened by a series of invasions and internal conflicts. Increasing intolerance had pushed Maratha rebels under Shivaji to strike north from the Deccan plateau in the late 17th century. Sikhs struck south from the Punjab. Prince fought against prince. In 1739 the Persian warlord Nader Shah sacked Delhi, and made off with the spoils of an empire. The period is known as the Anarchy.Construction of fortifications at a British port in Bengal provoked the local Nawab and Mughal army to destroy the trading post in 1756. Captured British were thrown into the so-called 'Black Hole of Calcutta' where a significant number died from trampling and suffocation. Robert Clive, a violent and ruthless soldier of fortune hired by the Company, would defeat and plunder the Mughals and oust the French from Bengal, returning home the richest man in Europe.In 1764 the Company put down a Mughal rebellion, and replaced the empire as tax collectors of the wealthiest lands on the subcontinent. The Company amassed a private army twice the size of Britain's. Draught, famine and Company hoarding caused a massive bailout in 1773 by the Crown. Tea shipped west triggered the American revolution, and opium shipped east resulted in war with China. At it's height the Company accounted for half of the world's trade.Much is covered during forty years. Warren Hastings, Clive’s successor as governor of Bengal, attempted to reform the worst excesses of Company rule, and was put on trial by his rival countrymen. His successor would be Cornwallis, the general who surrendered the American colonies to Washington. Tipu Sultan, ‘Tiger of Mysore’, was sought as an ally by Napoleon, until he was foiled by Nelson at the Nile. Tipu was defeated by Wellington of future Waterloo fame.Dalrymple doesn’t mince words about events that occured, nor do eyewitnesses of the period. On British incursions before the battle of Plassey: ‘What honor is left us when we take orders from a handful of traders?’. On the handover of the Mughal empire after the battle of Buxar: ‘The entire transaction took less time than the sale of a jackass’. All was realized under withering fire of artillery, executed by Indians armed and trained by the Company.Dalrymple's unifying narrative source is the Mughal court historian Ghulam Hussain Khan's epic 'Review of Modern Times'. He also scoured the India Office collection in London and National Archives in Delhi. As noted in the introduction 'English and Mughal records of the period are extensive'. Primarily a military account, his contribution is gathering and presenting it all in an entertaining and edifying manner. His talent for storytelling is clearly shown.For a look at what corporate capitalism can be, this is a fascinating case. The Company thrived more than 200 years ago. Some things have changed, others have not. Territorial takeover is frowned upon, but economic conquest is far from over. Corporations, lobbyists and politicians can effectively do the same work. The will to profit, avoid regulation and taxes, is intrinsic. Dalrymple does not state this explicitly in the text, but the parallels are evident.

I have been reading William Dalrymple’s books for the last few years - White Mughals, Return of a King, The Last Mughal, and now this book - The Anarchy.It was a fantastic read, gripping, though sometimes comes across biased, especially when narrating stories of war strategies, exploits, and plundering by British East India Company’s Generals and Governor Generals. Speaking of war, this book has a large dosage of it - to be clear, the war strategies and wins by the EIC.Sometimes History becomes irrelevant for what is not being told, speaking of which, the loot and plunder of EIC become monotonous in this book, halfway through, as it was not balanced with wins of native rulers. Though I was not looking for a feel-good book, I was looking for a balanced narrative.I skipped some of the gory details about how the psychotic Ghulam Qadir tortured Shah Alam.The author did write about how Burke and Charles James Fox and other parliamentarians who tried to bring some sense of accountability to the anarchist EIC. This was revealing. However, the fact that Indian revenues propped up the entire British society for decades, came in the way of the Crown taking any manful action to control the suffering of the natives.The details about the Bengal famine will make anybody’s heart sink. In today’s age, Clive would be prosecuted and hanged in the town square for all his misdeeds and greed. As fate would have it, he shot himself to death.The chapter on Tipu will make you wonder that the propaganda started by the British about Tipu’s fanaticism is still finding followers. Tipu consulting Brahmin astrologers for conducting wars, his generous donations to temples, and the general love of his people towards their ruler Tipu were all in a new light. Tipu however was not as sagacious as his illustrious dad, Haider, who foresaw what EIC would do to native kingdoms and forged alliances to defeat EIC. Perhaps some of the negative narratives we hear about Tipu were real to some extent but they seem very exaggerated. He had enmity with Marathas, who peddled the same propaganda that EIC did.In the end, history is history, whether we like it not, but the final words by the author making it appear as a result of greed by a corporation has totally missed the point. This was and will remain forever as, misdeeds and greed of European imperialist powers. EIC is just a symptom of such greed and unbridled supremacy and arrogance. Someday all of those criminals must be prosecuted.One other interesting fact about EIC was that their expansionist and degutting policies were foreseen by American patriots in 1773.From the book:Patriot John Dickinson described EIC tea as ‘accursed Trash’, and compared the potential future regime of the East India Company in America to being ‘devoured by Rats’. This ‘almost bankrupt Company’, he said, having been occupied in wreaking ‘the most unparalleled Barbarities, Extortions and Monopolies’ in Bengal, had now ‘cast their Eyes on America, as a new Theatre, whereon to exercise their Talents of Rapine, Oppression and Cruelty’.- Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy (pp. 27-28). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.EIC dumped the tea that they could not sell elsewhere in the American colonies, with jacked up taxes. This event triggered the American Revolution when the tea was dumped in the Boston harbor. It is striking that what American patriots foresaw about EIC was missed by native Indian rulers of that time. As Karma would have it, this lack of vision in the 18th century had contributed in coalescing Indian peoples as one, united under tyranny, leading to the Indian Union of today.

A magnificent read! Detailed and entertaining. Timeless reminder not to allow corporations greed to go unchecked and grow so big that they have an outsized influence to run and ultimately own countries