9. Robert Clive secured most of the Indian subcontinent for the East Indies Company
Robert Clive’s career began with him serving as a factor (a company agent) for the EIC in the factory at Fort Saint George, Madras, in 1744. By that time the French East India Company had been nationalized by the French government. When the French seized Madras during the War of the Austrian Succession, beginning in 1744, Clive and some others with him escaped to the EIC post at Fort St. David (Duddalore) where Clive joined the company army. He distinguished himself as a soldier during the war, and when it ended with the Treaty of Aix-le-Chapelle he elected to retain his commission in the company army rather than return to his position as a factor, which was in reality little more than a clerkship.
The end of the war between the British and French governments did not end the conflict between the East Indies companies, nor the fighting between various factions in India over sectional rule. The conflicts known as the Carnatic Wars led to fighting between Indian entities and French and British company troops. Clive further distinguished himself at the siege of Arcot, when Indian entities and French troops attempted to capture the post and secure Madras for the French. The EIC and the Sepoy troops withstood a siege of six weeks, earning Clive recognition for his services as a soldier (he had no military training) in Parliament. Clive returned to England to recover.