Robert Clive

Born in 1725, Clive began his career with the British East India Company and rose to prominence after his victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which secured Bengal for Britain. Through both diplomacy and force, he laid the foundations for British political and economic dominance in India, amassing immense personal wealth and controversy in the process. As a leader, he was ambitious and strategic but also ruthless, embodying the early phase of British imperial expansion and its moral complexities.