Tell about Battle of Plassey ?

Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army with 50,000 soldiers, 40 cannons and 10 war elephants was defeated by 3,000 soldiers of Col

Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-Daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators. The battle ended in 11 hours.

This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of Indian subcontinent by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab and consequently acquired significant concessions for previous losses and revenue from trade.

The British further used this revenue to increase their military might and push the other European colonial powers such as the Dutch and the French out of South Asia, thus expanding the British Empire.

The British East India Company had a strong presence in India with the three main stations of Fort St. George in Madras, Fort William in Calcutta and Bombay Castle in western India.

These stations were independent presidencies governed by a president and a council, appointed by the Court of Directors in England.

The British adopted a policy of allying themselves with various princes and Nawabs, promising security against usurpers and rebels. The Nawabs often gave them concessions in return for the security. By the 18th century all rivalry had ceased between the British East India Company and the Dutch or Portuguese counterparts.

The French had also established an East India Company under Louis XIV and had two important stations in India – Chandernagar in Bengal and Pondicherry on the Carnatic coast, both governed by the presidency of Pondicherry.

The French were a late comer in India trade, but they quickly established themselves in India and were poised to overtake Britain for control.

Battle of Plassey, (23 June 1757). Victory for the British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey was the start of nearly two centuries of British rule in India.

For an event with such momentous consequences, it was a surprisingly unimpressive military encounter, the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal owing much to betrayal.

In India, Britain was represented by the British East India Company, a venture that had been given a royal charter in 1600 to pursue trade in the East Indies that included the right to form its own army.

The French East India Company had a similar remit. From 1746, the rival companies fought the Carnatic Wars for advantage in India, where they maintained trading posts, and sought influence over local rulers.

In 1755, Siraj ud-Daulah became Nawab of Bengal and adopted a pro-French policy. He overran British trading posts, including Calcutta, where British prisoners were allegedly left to die in the infamous "black hole of Calcutta."

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive was sent from Madras to retake Calcutta and from there began plotting the overthrow of the nawab. One of the nawab’s discontented followers, Mir Jafar, was bribed secretly with a promise of the throne if he would back the British.

Clive advanced on the Bengali capital, Murshidabad, and was confronted by the nawab’s army at Plassey (Palashi) by the Bhaghirathi River.

The balance of forces seemed to make a British victory impossible. The nawab’s army numbered 50,000, two-thirds infantry armed at best with matchlock muskets.

The French had sent artillerymen to bolster the Bengali cannon to more than fifty guns. Facing this host, Clive arranged his force of 3,000, composed of European and Sepoy troops and a much smaller force of artillery.

The French artillery opened fire first, followed by the Bengali guns. The British guns returned fire.

The Battle of Plassey [2] was a major battle that took place on 23 June 1757 at Palashi, Bengal.

It was an important British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies.

It let the British East India Company take control of this part of the Indian subcontinent.

Their area of control grew over a large part of the Indies in the next hundred years.

The battle took place at Palashi, Bengal on the river banks of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River, a distributary of the Ganges.

Though it was more of a skirmish than a battle, the British victory under Robert Clive at Plassey in Bengal was a crucial event in the history of India