Clive of India (1935)
Director: Richard Boleslawski.
Cast: Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Colin Clive, Francis Lister, C. Aubrey Smith, Cesar Romero, Montagu Love, Leo G. Carroll, Dona Ameche.
Loosely based on the life of Robert Clive who secured British rule in India.
Historical Background:
1725 -- Robert Clive born near Market Drayton, England.
1743 -- he becomes a clerical employee in the East India Company.
1744 -- he begins his duties in Madras (now Chennai), India. War breaks out between France and Great Britain. The French capture Madras. Clive escapes.
1747 -- he accepts a commission in the British army.
1751 -- Captain Clive, with a small force of about 500 British and Indian soldiers, captures Arcot, a French stronghold 65 miles west of Madras. The French lay siege to Arcot. Clive wins the day, contributing to the collapse of French power in India.
1753 -- England welcomes back Clive as a hero.
1756 -- Clive now serves as governor of Fort Saint David. Siraj-ud-Dawlah, the nawab, or viceroy of Bengal, seized the British Fort William at Calcutta (now Kolkata), where subsequently some British prisoners died in a dungeon known as the Black Hole of Calcutta.
1757, January -- Robert Clive, British governor of Fort Saint David (now Cuddalore), recaptured the fort. Clive allied himself with Hindu leaders in Bengal who were dissatisfied with the Muslim Siraj-ud-Dawlah. Arranges for the defection of Mir Jafar, one of the nawab's generals. Clive captures Chandernagore, the principal French settlement in India, ending the French threat.
1757, June 23 -- Battle of Plassey. Clive defeats Siraj-ud-Dawlah and his army of 50,000 at Plassey, a village near Krishnanager (Krishnagar), Bangal. The victory led to British control of Bengal and marked the first stage in the British conquest of India.
1760 -- Clive returns to England and buys a seat in Parliament.
1764 -- Clive is knighted.
1764 -- British victory of Buxar cements British rule over the region.
1765 -- Clive returns to India as governor and commander in chief of Bengal. He restores discipline and order in the area; gets the Mughal emperor of India to give the English East India Company control over Bengal and other regions, thereby beginning the British Indian empire.
1767 -- because of ill health he resigns and returns to England.
1774 -- despondent over having been charged by his enemies in India of having used his offices in India for personal gain (even though he was acquitted), he commits suicide.
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