The Black Hole

Busy, busy at present at work so my reading and gaming schedule is slipping somewhat. However, I have just finished The Black Hole by Jan Dalley.

In 1756 the Nawab of Bengal captured the East India Company's base at Calcutta. Generations of British schoolchildren have been taught that 143 people were then looked in a cell 18ft by 14ft and by the following morning only 23 survived. So the legend of the Black Hole of Calcutta was born and served as the bedrock story of British rule in India.

Thankfully it is almost certainly largely a myth. There is little doubt that some prisoners died, but no where near the numbers quoted in the unreliable and contradictory eye witness accounts. Not least because the room simply could not have held the numbers claimed.

The author does not simply debunk the myth. He explains the basis of the hugely profitable trade between Britain and India that was controlled by the East India Company. The events leading up to the siege and the battle itself. Calcutta was quickly recaptured by Clive who went on to win the Battle of Plassey. It was at this time that the British changed from an aggressive trading partner in India to a colonial master.

This is a well written tale of commercial exploitation and incompetence that none the less led to the creation of a key part of the British Empire. Another excuse to get the sepoys and Mughals on the tabletop.