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SM5 John Drydens
SM5 John Drydens
On
“BATTLE OF PLASSEY”
1
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I, hereby, declare that the work reported in the BBA .L.L.B(Hons) Project Report titled
“BATTLE OF PLASSEY” submitted at CHANAKYANATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,
PATNA is an authentic record of my work carried under the supervision of Dr.Priyadarshini.
I have not submitted this work elsewhere for any other degree or diploma. I am fully responsible
for the contents of my Project Report.
Satyanand
SEMESTER-2nd
CNLU, PATNA
Dated:
2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to show my gratitude towards my guide Professor. Priya Darshini, Faculty of Legal
History, under whose guidance, I structured my project.
I owe the present accomplishment of my project to our CNLU librarians, who helped me
immensely with the materials throughout the project and without whom I couldn’t have
completed it in the present way.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to my friends and all those unseen hands that helped me
out at every stage of my project.
THANK YOU,
SATYANAND
SEMESTER 2nd
CNLU,Patna
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1.INTRODUCTION
The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab
of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The battle
consolidated the Company's presence in Bengal, which later expanded to cover much
1
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Plassey
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The battle took place at Palashi (Anglicised version: Plassey) on the banks of the Hooghly River,
about 150 kilometres (93 mi) north of Calcutta and south of Murshidabad,
Then capital of Bengal (now in Murshidabad district in West Bengal). The belligerents were the
Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India
Company.
Siraj-ud-Daulah had become the Nawab of Bengal the year before, and he ordered the English to
stop the extension of their fortification. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander-in-chief
of the Nawab's army, and also promised him to make him Nawab of Bengal. Clive defeated
and the Black Hole massacre. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and
Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the
initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-
daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during
the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East
India Company sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a
2
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/battle-plassey
3
https://www.britishbattles.com/anglo-french-wars-in-india/battle-of-plassey/
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The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's
demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab
Chand and Swarup Chand), Umichand and Rai Durlabh. 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.4
4
https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/armenians-clive-and-the-battle-of-
plassey/article24230759.ece
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2.COMBATANTS
The British East India Company against Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa, and a small French force. The British were assisted by traitors in the Nawab's
highcommand.5
5
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Plassey
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Robert Clive of the British East India Company was actually the one who was declared victor of
the Battle of Plassey, which took place 70 miles north of Calcutta in 1757. Clive, headed 1,000
English and 2,000 Indian (sepoy) soldiers. 6He, with eight pieces of artillery, routed 50,000
soldiers and 50 French-manned cannons of his opponent Siraj-ud-Daula, the Governor, or Nawab
of Bengal.
Clive thought that the best way to make safe the Company's interests in Bengal was to replace
Siraj with a new and more docile nawab. He found a candidate in an unhappy elderly general
named Mir Jafar and after complicated conspiratorial talks and the promise of huge bribes to all
concerned, a secret agreement was smuggled into the women's quarters of Mir Jafar's house,
which was being watched by Siraj's spies, and Mir Jafar signed it.
6
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/battle-of-plassey-248505-2015-04-14
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3.BACKGROUND AND SERIES OF
EVENTS
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
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.
7
Harrington, Peter. Plassey 1757, Clive of India's Finest Hour. London: Osprey Publishing, 1994.
9
One of the nawab’s discontented followers, Mir Jafar, was bribed secretly with a promise of the
throne if he would back the British. Other Bengali generals were also suborned.8
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
The French artillery opened fire first, followed by the Bengali guns. The British guns returned
fire. Due to the close proximity of the Bengali cavalry to the French guns, Clive’s bombardment
missed the artillery but caused damage to the cavalry, forcing the nawab to pull them back for
protection.
When the nawab’s infantry advanced, Clive’s field guns opened fire with grapeshot along with
volleys of infantry musket fire, and the Bengali troops were held back. Mir Jafar, with around
one-third of the Bengali army, failed to join in the fighting, despite pleas from the nawab, and
8
Landes, David S. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. New York: Norton and Company, 1999.
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The battle appeared to be heading for a stalemate when it started to rain. Clive had brought
tarpaulins to keep his powder dry, but the Bengalis had no such protection. Thinking that the
British guns were rendered as ineffective as his own by damp powder, the nawab ordered his
cavalry to charge. However, the British guns opened fire and slaughtered many of the cavalry,
killing their commander Mir Madan Khan. The nawab panicked at the loss of this valued general
and ordered his forces to fall back, exposing the French artillery contingent. This was rushed by
the British and captured. With the French cannon taken, the British bombarded the nawab’s
positions without reply and the tide of the battle turned. The nawab fled the battlefield on a
camel, and Mir Jafar was duly installed in power as a British puppet.9
9
Spear, Percival. Master of Bengal. Clive and His India. London: Thames & Hudson, 1975.
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4.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
3. The French factories and effects to be delivered up, and they never permitted to resettle in
4. 100 lacs of rupees to be paid to the Company, in consideration of their losses at Calcutta
7. 7 lacs to the Armenian sufferers. These three last donations to be distributed at the
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
10. Whenever the assistance of the British troops shall be wanted, their extraordinary charges
11. No forts to be erected by the Nawab's government on the river side, from Hooghley
downwards.
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5.QUOTES
He (Robert Clive) won it by promoting treason and forgery"—First Indian Prime
"British rule in India had an unsavory beginning and something of that bitter taste has
clung to it ever since."—First Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of
India
"A great prince was dependent on my pleasure, an opulent city lay at my mercy; its richest
bankers bid against each other for my smiles; I walked through vaults which were thrown
open to me alone, piled on either hand with gold and jewels! Mr. Chairman, at this
accusations of looting the Bengal treasury after Plassey, at his impeachment trial in 1773
"It is possible to mention men who have owed great worldly prosperity to breaches of
private faith; but we doubt whether it is possible to mention a state which has on the whole
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6.CONCLUSION
Though it was more of a skirmish than a battle, the British victory under Robert Clive at Plassey
According to Clive, he lost 18 men, while he estimated the nawab’s dead as around 500. Siraj-
ad-daula was killed by his own people and Mir Jafar replaced him. Clive, who was now
effectively master of Bengal, skilfully bolstered Mir Jafar’s apparent authority while keeping
him on leading strings. The skirmish at Plassey was critical to the East India Company’s triumph
over its French rivals and, in the longer term, to the establishment of British rule in India. 10
The British government made Clive the Baron of Plassey. Events that developed after Clive's
victory at the Battle of Plassey would change the British East India Company from a trading
company to a governing power and draw Britain to conquer the whole of India. The skirmish at
Plassey was critical to the East India Company’s triumph over its French rivals and, in the longer
term, to the establishment of British rule in India Thus, the Battle of Plassey was a historic
turning point, and its principal participant Robert Clive, an empire builder.
10
https://www.gktoday.in/gk/battle-of-plassey/
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BIBILIOGRAPHY
Books referred:
1)The Battle of Plassey 1757: The Victory That Won an Empire – by Stuart REID
Websites:
1)https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Plassey
2)https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/battle-plassey
3)https://www.britishbattles.com/anglo-french-wars-in-india/battle-of-plassey/
4)https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/armenians-clive-and-th
e-battle-of-plassey/article24230759.ece
5)http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Plassey
6)https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/battle-of-
plassey-248505-2015-04-14
7)Harrington, Peter. Plassey 1757, Clive of India's Finest Hour. London: Osprey
Publishing, 1994.
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8)Landes, David S. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. New York: Norton and
Company, 1999.
9)Spear, Percival. Master of Bengal. Clive and His India. London: Thames &
Hudson, 1975.
10)https://www.gktoday.in/gk/battle-of-plassey/
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