The growth of the East India Company as a private army | History

Starter quiz

Nizam al-Mulk governed in Hyderabad without interference from the ______ Emperors.
- 'Mughal' ✓
After 1724, which group of people in the Deccan had to swear loyalty to Nizam al-Mulk?
- priests
- soldiers
- officials ✓
- nawabs
Bengal was the ______ region of the Mughal Empire.
- 'richest' ✓
The rulers of Bengal used the title...
- Emperor
- King
- Sultan
- Nawab ✓
When Persian forces invaded the Mughal Empire in the late 1730s, the Nawab of Bengal ______ to send troops to support the Mughal army.
- 'refused' ✓
______ was sacked by invading Persian forces in the year 1739.
- 'Delhi' ✓

During the early eighteenth century, the East India Company competed with the ______ Compagnie des Indes to secure alliances with various Indian rulers.
- 'French' ✓
Why were rival networks of alliances able to develop across India in the early eighteenth century?
- Britain and France had grown in power and wealth.
- The Mughal Empire had collapsed.
- Mughal authority in India had decreased. ✓
Which important British trading post was captured by the French in 1746?
- Delhi
- Madras ✓
- Bengal
- Calcutta
Following the First Carnatic War the East India Company and the Compagnie des Indes...
- withdrew from the Indian subcontinent.
- built up the size of their armies in the Indian subcontinent. ✓
- reduced the size of their armies in the Indian subcontinent.
- agreed never to attack one another again.
Indian soldiers serving in European armies became known as...
- 'sepoys' ✓
The East India Company and Compagnie des Indes supported different sides in a conflict over who should be the Nawab of...
- 'Arcot' ✓

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Trade was considered important for a country's power in the 18th century.
The British East India Company and French Compagnie des Indes competed over trade in India.
The British and French made alliances with Indian successor states.
The EIC and Compagnie des Indes recruited private armies, mostly made up of sepoys.
The EIC and Comapgnie des Indes used their armies to fight against one another, and to support their Indian allies.

The East India Company relied entirely on European soldiers.

The EIC increasingly recruited sepoy soldiers to serve in its army from the late-1740s onwards.

Successor states - a successor state is a smaller country which is formed after a larger country begins to breakdown
Alliance - an alliance is an agreement between two or more countries to work together
Nawab - a nawab was an Indian ruler who declared their loyalty to the Mughal emperor but ruled a local area as they wished
Sepoy - a sepoy was an Indian soldier serving in a European army
Recruited - someone is recruited if they agree to join an organisation, especially an army