Battle of Plassey

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.
The young Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-addaula, had taken Calcutta from the
East India Company with a huge army
in June 1756, when the notorious
Black Hole episode occurred. It was
not until August that the news reached
the Company in Madras and not until
October that Clive, now thirty-two
years-old, left for Calcutta at the head
of a mixed European-Indian force of
some 2,500 men. He drove Sirajs
army out early in January 1757.
Clive decided that the best way to
secure the Companys interests in
Bengal was to replace Siraj with a new
and more pliant nawab. He found a
candidate in a discontented elderly
general named Mir Jafar. After
complicated conspiratorial discussions
and the promise of enormous bribes to
all concerned, a secret agreement was
smuggled into the womens quarters of
Mir Jafars house, which was being
watched by Sirajs spies, and Mir Jafar
signed it.
Siraj knew or suspected there was a
conspiracy against him, despite Clives
earnest protestations to the contrary,
and moved south to Plassey . On June
13th, Clive moved north with some
2,000 Indian sepoys and 600 British
infantry of the Thirty-Ninth of Foot
plus close to 200 artillerymen with ten
field pieces and two small howitzers.
Ambiguous messages were coming in
from Mir Jafar and Clive was moving

into a dangerous situation against

heavy odds. He seems to have had a
crisis of confidence and summoned his
officers to a council of war on June
21st. The majority, including Clive,
voted against action. At that point,
according to his friend Robert Orme,
Clive retired into a grove of trees
where he stayed for an hour in
meditation. On his return he gave
orders for the army to move on to
Plassey.
The confrontation came on a cloudy
morning north of the village of Plassey
on the bank of the Hughli river. Clives
army was drawn up in three divisions,
as was the Nawabs army of perhaps
40,000 men with its war-elephants
and more than 50 cannon. One
division was commanded by Mir Jafar.
After an opening cannonade, a crash of
thunder at noon heralded a torrential
downpour of rain that lasted half an
hour. The British artillerymen quickly
covered their cannon and ammunition
with tarpaulins, but the enemy failed
to do the same and their artillery was
put out of action, so that when the
Nawabs
army
moved
forward,
assuming that Clives cannon were also
out of action, it was met with a
withering storm of fire. The enemy
withdrew and Siraj, who distrusted his
generals and had already been warned
of impending defeat by his astrologer
(who had possibly been bribed), lost
his nerve when Mir Jafar advised
retreat. When Clives army attacked
again, Siraj fled on a fast camel. His
demoralized army followed suit and
when the British entered the enemy
camp at about 5pm, they found it
abandoned.

According to Clive, he lost eighteen

men killed, while he estimated the
nawabs dead as around 500. Siraj-addaula was killed by his own people and
Mir Jafar replaced him. Clive, who was
now effectively master of Bengal,
skilfully bolstered Mir Jafars apparent
authority while keeping him on leading
strings. The skirmish at Plassey was
critical to the East India Companys
triumph over its French rivals and, in
the longer term, to the establishment
of British rule in India.
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The Battle
of
Plassey (Plshr
Juddha) was a battle that took place
on June 23, 1757, on the banks of the
Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north
of Calcutta. It is near Murshidabad,
then the capital of the Nawab of
Bengal in India. Plshir, an
extravagant red flowering tree known
as "Flame of the forest," gives its
name to a small village near the
battlefield. A phonetically accurate
romanizing of the Bengali name would
be Battle of Palashi, but the spelling
"Plassey" is now conventional.
The battle was between Siraj Ud
Daulah, the last independent Nawab of
Bengal, and the forces of the British
East India Company. Siraj-ud-Daulah's
army commander had defected to the
British, causing his army to collapse.
After this defeat, the entire province of
Bengal passed to the Company, and

this battle is today seen as one of the

pivotal battles leading to the British
Empire in India.
The enormous wealth gained from the
Bengal treasury after its victory in the
battle allowed the Company to
significantly strengthen its military
might.
The battle was waged during the
period when the British and French
governments were fighting the Seven
Years' War in Europe (17561763).
The French East India Company (La
Compagnie des Indes Orientales) sent
a small contingent to fight against
the British East India Company. The
British victory both eliminated French
competition in India and resulted in a
treaty arrangement with the Moghul
Empire that left the East India
Company de facto ruler of the province
of Bengal. From this base, the
Company set about extending effective
rule over the whole of the Indian SubContinent.
The Battle of Plassey was one of the
major steps that brought England to
dominate and conquer India. It was not
only a battle with local authorities but
part of the rivalry with France over
available markets. However, European
colonial expansion was a part of an
even bigger phenomenon that would
bind the peoples and cultures of the
world together through dissemination
of technology and sharing among
cultures. In years to come it would
bring the Western colonialists to some
awareness
of
their
spiritual
responsibility for other nationsfor
example, no matter how wide was the
gap between the rich and poor in the

West, in the East it was even wider. In

this respect, the Battle of Plassey can
be seen as one step in a sad but
necessary process. However, the
method of colonial conquest cannot be
accepted in this age, when the peoples
of
the
world
recognize
their
interdependence and the need to
establish a world of mutual prosperity
and shared values, by peaceful
means.
Background
The ostensible reason for the battle
was Siraj-ud-Daulah's earlier attack
and
capture
of
Fort
William, Calcutta (which he renamed
to Alinagar) during June 1756, but the
battle is today seen as part of the
geopolitical ambition of the East India
Company and the larger dynamics of
colonial conquest.
This conflict was precipitated by a
number of disputes:[1]:

The illegal use of Mughal Imperial

export
trade
permits (dastaks) granted to the
British in 1717, for engaging in
internal trade within India. The
British cited this permit as their
excuse for not paying taxes to the
Bengal Nawab.
British interference in the Nawab's
court, and particularly their support
for one of his aunts, Ghaseti
Begum. The son of Ghaseti's
treasurer had sought refuge in Fort
William and Siraj demanded his
return.
Additional
fortifications
with
mounted guns had been placed on

Fort William without the consent of

the Nawab
Their
policy
of
favoring Hindu Marwari merchants
such as Jagat Sheth

During this capture of Fort William, of

June 1756, an event occurred that
came to be known as the Black Hole of
Calcutta. A narrative by one John
Zephaniah Holwell, plus the testimony
of another survivor, Cooke, to a select
committee of the House of Commons,
coupled with subsequent verification
by Robert Orme, placed 146 British
prisoners into a room measuring 18 by
15 feet with only 23 surviving the night.
The story was amplified in colonial
literature, but the facts are widely
disputed.[2] In any event, the Black
Hole incident, which is often cited as a
reason for the Battle at Plassey, was
not
widely
known
until James
Mill's History of India (1858), after
which it became the grist of student
texts on India.
As the forces for the battle were
building up, the British settlement at
Fort William sought assistance from
Presidency of Fort St. George
at Madras, which sent Colonel Robert
Clive and Admiral Charles Watson.
They recaptured Calcutta on January
2, 1757, but the Nawab marched again
on Calcutta on February 5, 1757, and
were surprised by a dawn attack by
the British, resulting in the Treaty of
Alinagar.[3]
Growing French influence
Growing on the sidelines was
the French influence, at the urging of
the enterprising French GovernorGeneral Joseph Franois Dupleix, at

the court of the Nawab. This was

resulting in increasing French trade in
Bengal. They lent the Nawab some
French soldiers to operate heavy
artillery pieces.

Ahmad Shah Abdali

At the same time, Siraj Ud Daulah was

facing conflicts on two fronts. On his
Western border was the advancing
army of the Afghan, Ahmad Shah
Abdali who had captured and
looted Delhi in 1756.
So although he was humiliated by the
Treaty, Siraj Ud Daulah sent the better
part of his troops west under the
command of his general, Raja Ram
Narain.

Court intrigue

In the midst of all of this, there was an

ongoing court intrigue at Siraj Ud
Daulah's court at Murshidabad. Siraj
was not a particularly well-loved ruler.
Young (he succeeded his father in
April, 1756 at age 27) and impetuous,
he was prone to quickly make
enemies. The most dangerous of
these was his wealthy and influential
aunt, Ghaseti Begum (Meherun-Nisa),
who wanted another nephew, Shawkat
Jang, installed as Nawab.
Mir Jafar, commander-in-chief of the
army, was also uneasy with Siraj, and
was courted assiduously by Ghaseti.
Eventually, through the connivance of

traders such as Amichand (who had

suffered as a result of the siege of
Calcutta), and William Watts, Mir Jafar
was brought into the British fold.
Company policy
The Company had long decided that a
change of regime would be conducive
to their interests in Bengal. In 1752,
Robert Orme, in a letter to Clive, noted
that the company would have to
remove Siraj's grandfather, Alivardi
Khan, in order to prosper.[4]
After the premature death of Alivardi
Khan in April 1756, his nominated
successor was Siraj-ud-Daulah, a
grandson whom Alivardi had adopted.
The circumstances of this transition
gave rise to considerable controversy
and the British began supporting the
intrigues of Alivardi's eldest daughter,
Ghaseti Begum against that of his
grandson, Siraj.
Instructions dated October 13, 1756,
from Fort St. George instructed Robert
Clive, "to effect a junction with any
powers in the province of Bengal that
might be dissatisfied with the violence
of the Nawab's government or that
might have pretensions to the
Nawabship." Accordingly, Robert was
negotiating
with
two
potential
contenders, one of Siraj's generals,
Yar Latif Khan, and Siraj's grand-uncle
and army chief, Mir Jafar Ali Khan,
through William Watts, chief of the
Kasimbazar factory of the Company,
who was proficient in Bengali, and
Persian languages.
On April 23, 1757, the Select
Committee of the Board of Directors of
the British East India Company

approved Coup d'tat as its policy in

Bengal.
Mir Jafar, negotiating through an
Armenian merchant, Khwaja Petruse,
was the Company's final choice.
Finally, on June 5, 1757, a written
agreement was signed between the
Company, represented by Clive, and
Mir Jafar, ensuring that Mir Jafar would
be appointed Nawab of Bengal, once
Siraj Ud Daulah was deposed.
Troops
The British army
was
vastly
outnumbered, consisting of 2,200
Europeans and 800 native Indians and
a small number of guns. The Nawab
had an army of about 50,000 with
some heavy artillery operated by about
40 French soldiers sent by the French
East India Company.

Principal officersBritish

Major Killpatrick
Major Grant
Then Major Eyre Coote, later
Lieutenant-General, and then Sir
Eyre Coote
Captain Gaupp
Captain Richard Knox, 1st CO of
the 1st Bengal Native Infantry

Principal officersNawab

Mir
Jafar
Ali
Khan
commanding 16,000 cavalry
Mir Madan
Manik Chand
Rai Durlabh
Monsieur
SinfrayFrench
artillery officer

British
East
Regiments

India

Company

39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of

Foot]], 1st Battalion
1st Bombay European Fusiliers,
also known as 103rd Regiment
of Foot
Royal Madras Fusiliers, also
known as 102nd Regiment of
Foot
Royal Bengal Fusiliers, also
known as 101st Regiment of
Foot
1st. Bengal Native Infantry
(BNI), also known as the Lal
Paltan (Hindi for Red Platoon)
9th Battery, 12th Regiment,
Royal Artillery
50
naval
ratings
from
HMS Tyger
Battle details
The battle opened on a very hot and
humid morning at 7:00 a.m. on June
23, 1757, where the Nawab's army
came out of its fortified camp and
launched a massive cannonade
against the British camp. The
eighteenth century historian, Ghulam
Husain
Salim,
describes
what
followed:
Mr Muhammad Jafar Khn, with his
detachment, stood at a distance
towards the left from the main army;
and
although
Sirju-d-daulah
summoned him to his side, Mr Jafar
did not move from his position. In the
thick of the fighting, and in the heat of
the work of carnage, whilst victory and
triumph were visible on the side of the
army of Sirju-d-daulah, all of a

sudden Mr Madan, commander of the

Artillery, fell on being hit with a
cannon-ball. At the sight of this, the
aspect of Sirju-d-daulahs army
changed, and the artillerymen with the
corpse of Mr Madan moved into tents.
It was now midday, when the people of
the tents fled. As yet Nawb Sirju-ddaulah was busy fighting and
slaughtering, when the camp-followers
decamping from Ddpr went the
other side, and gradually the soldiers
also took to their heels. Two hours
before sun-set, flight occurred in
Sirju-d-daulahs army, and Sirju-ddaulah also being unable to stand his
ground any longer fled.[5]

revealing his treachery, the Nawab

was forced to order a retreat.

At around 11:00 a.m., Mir Madan, one

of the Nawab's most loyal officers,
launched an attack against the fortified
grove where the East Indian Company
was located, and was mortally
wounded by a British cannonball. This
cannonade was essentially futile in any
case; the British guns had greater
range than those of the French.

Mir Jafar's fate

At noon, a heavy rainstorm fell on the

battlefield, wherein the tables were
turned. The British covered their
cannons and muskets for protection
from the rain, whereas the French did
not.
As a result, the cannonade ceased by
2:00 p.m. and the battle resumed
where Clive's chief officer, Kilpatrick,
launched an attack against the water
ponds in between the armies. With
their cannons and muskets completely
useless, and with Mir Jafar's cavalry
who were closest to the English,
refusing to attack Clive's camp,

By 5:00 p.m., the Nawab's army was in

full retreat and the British had
command of the field.
The battle cost the British East India
Company just 22 killed and 50
wounded (most of these were native
sepoys), while the Nawab's army lost
at least 500 men killed and wounded.[6]
Aftermath
The Battle of Plassey is considered as
a starting point to the events that
established the era of British dominion
and conquest in India.

Mir Jafar, for his betrayal of the Nawab

Siraj Ud Daulah and alliance with the
British, was installed as the new
Nawab, while Siraj Ud Daulah was
captured on July 2, in Murshidabad as
he attempted to escape further north.
He was later executed on the order of
Mir Jafar's son. Ghaseti Begum and
other
powerful
women
were
transferred to a prison in distant
Dhaka, where they eventually drowned
in a boat accident, widely thought to
have been ordered by Mir Jafar.
Mir Jafar as Nawab chafed under the
British supervision, and so requested
the Dutch East India Company to
intervene. They sent seven ships and
about 700 sailors up the Hoogley to
their settlement, but the British led by
Colonel Forde managed to defeat
them at Chinsura on November 25,
1759. Thereafter Mir Jafar was
deposed as Nawab (1760) and they
appointed Mir Kasim Ali Khan, (Mir
Jafar's son-in-law) as Nawab. Mir

Kasim showed signs of independence

and was defeated in the Battle of
Buxar (1764), after which full political
control shifted to the Company.
Mir Jafar was reappointed and
remained the titular Nawab until his
death in 1765, while all actual power
was exercised by the Company.
Rewards
As per their agreement, Clive collected
2.5 million for the company, and
234,000 for himself from the Nawab's
treasury. In addition, Watts collected
114,000 for his efforts. The annual
rent of 30,000 payable by the
Company for use of the land around
Fort William was also transferred to
Clive for life. To put this wealth in
context, an average British nobleman
could live a life of luxury on an annual
income of 800.
Robert Clive was appointed Governor
of Bengal in 1765, for his efforts.
William Watts was appointed Governor
of Fort William on June 22, 1758. But
he later resigned in favour of Robert
Clive, who was also later appointed
Baron of Plassey in 1762. Clive later
committed suicide in 1774, after being
addicted to opium.
Terms of agreement
These were the terms agreed between
the new Nawab and the Company:
1. Confirmation of the mint, and all
other grants and privileges in
the Alinagar treaty with the late
Nawab.
2. An alliance, offensive and
defensive, against all enemies
whatever.

3. The French factories and

effects to be delivered up, and
they never permitted to resettle
in any of the three provinces.
4. 100 lacs of rupees to be paid to
the Company, in consideration
of their losses at Calcutta and
the expenses of the campaign.
5. 50 lacs to be given to the British
sufferers at the loss of Calcutta
6. 20 lacs to Gentoos, Moors, &
black sufferers at the loss of
Calcutta.
7. 7 lacs to the Armenian
sufferers. These three last
donations to be distributed at
the pleasure of the Admiral and
gentlemen of Council.
8. The entire property of all lands
within the Mahratta ditch, which
runs round Calcutta, to be
vested in the Company: Also,
six hundred yards, all round,
without, the said ditch.
9. The Company to have the
zemindary of the country to the
south
of
Calcutta,
lying
between the lake and river, and
reaching as far as Culpee, they
paying the customary rents
paid by the former zemindars to
the government.
10. Whenever the assistance of the
British troops shall be wanted,
their extraordinary charges to
be paid by the Nawab.
11. No forts to be erected by the
Nawab's government on the
river side, from Hooghley
downwards.