Impact of the highly improbable – Part 5

Child’s War was one of the oldest wars fought by the British in the Indian Soil. As mentioned in my earlier post it was not a very popular one. But it was indeed a significant Black Swan ignored by the Mughals

Child’s war started in 1686 and lasted till 1690.

The war has been named after the person who triggered it – Sir Josiah Child, Governor East India Trading Company

Mr. William Hedges was sent to Shaista Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal to obtain a directive that would grant England regular trading privileges throughout the Mughal Empire. The company's governor in London, Sir Josiah Child, interfered with Hedges's mission, causing Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to break off the negotiations.

The Mughals indeed won the war foolishly started by Sir Josiah Child who underestimated the might of the Mughals

The Child’s War thus started, ended up as a disaster for the English. So how can a war which Mughal’s won can become a Black swan which led to their eventual downfall?

After the war the company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behavior in the future. The emperor withdrew his troops and the company subsequently reestablished itself in Bombay and set up a new base in Calcutta.

French illustration of English men requesting pardon from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb:

  

There were two major mistakes which we can identify now when we look at the aftermath events of the war. First, is in the way war victims and the ones who lost the war were humiliated and were made to prostrate. This created a sense of hatred and a need for revenge in them. Second was allowing them to continue their so called trade in the soils after they have exhibited a tendency to usurp the kingdom.

The Mughals might have thought that they have won and suppressed them. But they never realized that the company stopped only to wait for the next good opportunity.

Sir Josiah Child's war with the Mughal Empire began when he captured Mughal ships and ended when the English were obliged to conclude peace with the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The effects of this conflict continued to be observed until the year 1703

English did exhibit their sense of hidden hatred which erupted at certain points even though the child’s war had ended. For instance the Ganj-i-Sawai

The Ganj-i-Sawai or Gang-i-Sawai (meaning "Exceeding Treasure", and often Anglicized as Gunsway) was a heavily armed trading ship belonging to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb which, along with its escort the Fateh Muhammed, was captured on 7 September 1695 by the English pirate Henry Every en route from present day Mocha, Yemen to Surat, India. (Source: Wikipedia).

The victorious pirates then subjected their captives to several days of horror, raping and murdering prisoners at will, and using torture to force them to reveal the location of the ships' treasure. The pirates raped women on the ship, and some of the women committed suicide by jumping into the sea. The other survivors were left aboard their ships, which the pirates set free.

British pirates that fought during the Child's War engaging the Ganj-i-Sawai and A contemporary depiction of Every, with the Fancy engaging the Ganj-i-Sawai in the background. (Source: Wikipedia)

 

 The plunder of Emperor Aurangzeb's treasure ship had serious consequences for the English, coming at a time of crisis for the East India Company, whose profits were still recovering from the disastrous Child's War. The Company had seen its total annual imports drop from a peak of £800,000 in 1684, to just £30,000 in 1695, and this attack now threatened the very existence of English trade in India.

When the damaged Ganj-i-sawai finally limped its way back to harbor in Surat, news of the pirates' attack on the pilgrims spread quickly. The local Indian governor, Itimad Khan, immediately arrested the English subjects in Surat and kept them under close watch, partly as a punishment for their countrymen's depredations and partly for their own protection from the rioting locals. A livid Aurangzeb quickly closed four of the company's factories in India and imprisoned the officers, nearly ordering an armed attack against the English city of Bombay with the goal of forever expelling the English from India.

To appease Aurangzeb, the East India Company promised to pay all financial reparations, while Parliament declared the pirates hostis humani generis ("enemies of the human race"). In mid-1696 the government issued a £500 bounty on Every's head and offered a free pardon to any informer who disclosed his whereabouts. (Source: Wikipedia)

Later, the East India Company doubled that reward, an immense sum by the standard of the time. It was the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history.

Thus the Child’s War ended up doing two things. One the Mughals thought it would be easy to suppress the company in case they fight in future and they thought that they would be afraid despite seeing incidents like the Ganj-i-Sawai. Second the English developed a sense of hatred and revenge and they now understood the might of the Mughals and settled to strike when they become vulnerable. They started understanding the weak points of Mughals and enhanced their own might by making their troops and base strong. These Black swans started consuming the Mughal Empire slowly.

The Company continued to experience resistance from local rulers during its expansion.

Robert Clive led the company forces to victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 resulting in conquest of Bengal. This victory estranged the British and the Mughals. But the Mughal Empire was already on the wane after the demise of Aurangzeb, and was breaking up into pieces and enclaves.

Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, the rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore, offered much resistance to the British forces. Having sided with the French during the war, the rulers of Mysore continued their struggle against the Company with the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. Mysore finally fell to the Company forces in 1799, with the death of Tipu Sultan. Thus eventually the Mughal Dynasty fell.

The company became increasingly bold and ambitious and did not learn from what happened to the Mughals. Even they ignored the black swans.

Let us now look at the black swans ignored by the Company and the series of events which led to the First war of Indian Independence… J

To be continued…