1947: Brexit India

A historical examination of the British presence in India, from their arrival in 1609 to their departure in 1947. It explores three important but lesser-known aspects of British rule in India: How did a small country like Britain, contributing only 2% of the world's GDP in 1609, travel 11,000 miles by sea to reach India — a nation ten times its size and contributing 25% of the world's GDP — and ultimately conquer it despite its population never exceeding 0.05% of India's at any given time? Without diminishing the contributions of Indian nationalist leaders and freedom fighters, what role did the United States play in pressuring Britain to begin decolonizing after World War II, with India among the first to gain independence? What forced Lord Mountbatten, who arrived in India with an 18-month mandate to transfer power by June 30, 1948, to advance the timeline to August 15, 1947, dividing the country into two dominions and triggering one of the deadliest bloodbaths in history? Approaching these questions from an economic perspective, the film concludes that the British arrived as traders, evolved into a system of mafia-style control over Indian rulers, and ultimately left when their colonial enterprise was no longer profitable.