On March 29, 1857, a single Indian soldier fired a shot at a British officer on a parade ground near Calcutta  and set in motion the end of the largest corporation in human history. The story of Mangal Pandey and the Indian Rebellion of 1857 is a case study in how corporate power, unchecked and unaccountable, eventually destroys itself and in how a rumor, in the right conditions, can change the course of civilization.