British Conquest of Bengal

British EIC - Bengal

1. The first English factory was set up on the banks of the river Hugli in 1651.

2. The Company secured the zamindari rights over three villages, Sutanuti, Kalikata
and Gobindpur in return for a payment of 1200 rupees a year.

3. The East India Company abused the trade permits (dastaks) granted by the Mughal
Emperor by not paying taxes to the Nawab of Bengal, and by involving itself in
internal trade.

4. This they refused to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.

5. The battle of Plassey (1757) changed the position of the British from being a
commercial power to that of a territorial power

British Conquest of Bengal 1

 British Conquest of Bengal
Bengal Province

British Conquest of Bengal 2

 Bengal was the most fertile and the richest provinces. Its industries and commerce
were well developed. The East India Company and its servants had highly profitable
trading interests in the province.

The Company had secured valuable privileges in 1717 under a royal farman by the
Mughal Emperor, which had granted the Company the freedom to export and
import their goods in Bengal without paying taxes and the right to issue passes or
dastaks for the movement of such goods.

All the Nawabs of Bengal, from Murshid Quli Khan to Alivardi Khan, had objected to
the English interpretation of the farman of 1717. They had compelled the Company
to pay lump sums to their treasury, and firmly suppressed the misuse of dastaks.

The black hole incident and Battle of Plassey 1757

Black Hole of Calcutta, scene of an incident on June 20, 1756, in which a number of
Europeans were imprisoned in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and many died.

The Europeans were the remaining defenders of Calcutta following the capture of
the city by the nawab (ruler) Siraj ud daula of Bengal, and the surrender of the East
India Company’s garrison under the self-proclaimed governor of Bengal, John Z.
Holwell. The incident became a cause celebre in the idealization of British
imperialism in India and a subject of controversy.

The Nawab attacked Calcutta because of the company’s failure to stop fortifying the
city as a defense against its rivals in anticipation of war (the Seven Years’ War,
1756–63). Following the surrender, Holwell and the other Europeans were placed
for the night in the company’s local lockup for petty offenders, popularly known as
the Black Hole.

According to Holwell, 146 people were locked up, and 23 survived. The incident
was held up as evidence of British heroism and the nawab’s callousness. However,
several historians doubt about the occurrence of the event

English victory in the battle of Plassey (23 June, 1757) was pre-decided. It was not
the superiority of the military power but the conspiracy that helped the English in
winning the battle.

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 The black hole incident and Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey had political significance for it laid the foundation of the
British empire in India; it has been rightly regarded as the starting point of British
rule in India.

The Battle of Plassey was of immense historical importance, it paved the way
for the British mastery of Bengal and eventually of the 'whole of India.

It gave the British the access to the rich resources of Bengal.

These were used to win the wars in Deccan including defeating the French in the
Third Carnatic war, and also to extend influence over Northern India.

The battle established the supremacy of the English in Bengal. Their main rivals,
the French, were ousted. They obtained a grant of territories for the maintenance of
a properly equipped military force, and their prestige increased manifold.

Events before Battle of Buxar

Mir Jafar’s growing dependence on the company for military support was used by
the company to demand more finances and other privileges from the Nawab. But
the Nawab was not in position to meet the growing financial demands of the
company. Thus, the company's relentless drive for more revenues in Bengal led to
direct confrontation with Mir Jaffar. Mir Jaffar was ultimately forced to abdicate.

Mir Kasim who got the Nawabship through a secret deal with the English again
faced the same fate like Mir Jaffar.

The first years of Mir Kasim's reign saw a concerted and conscious attempt to
rebuild the independent state in Bengal.

Shifting the capital from Murshidabad to Monghyr in Bihar-an area away from the
English sphere of influence, his objective was to establish a thoroughly
centralized power structure.

The Battle of Buxar 1764

The combined armies of Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Awadh and Shah Alam II were
defeated by the English forces under Major Hector Munro at Buxar on October 22,
1764 in a closely contested battle.

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 The English campaign against Mir Kasim was short but decisive. A surprise attack
on Patna by the English let to a full-scale war between the English and Mir Kasim.

Mir Kasim was backed by the provincial nobility of Bihar, Orissa and the Nawab of
Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam. The combined forces however failed to
restrain the English advance and the independent rule of the Nawabs in Bengal
came to an end.

Significance of the battle of Buxar

This decisive battle confirmed British power over Bengal and Bihar after their initial
success at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and marked the end of the attempt to rule
Bengal through a puppet nawab. Thenceforth the company took control.

This was one of the most decisive battles of Indian history for it demonstrated
the superiority of English arms over the combined army of two of the major
Indian powers. It firmly established the British as masters of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa and placed Awadh at their mercy.

The British victory at Buxar resulted in a large area of the Indian subcontinent
coming under British control.

What followed the English victory at Buxar is however more important.

The Company treated the defeated Mughal emperor with respect, because of his
continuing symbolic significance in eighteenth-century Indian politics. Indeed, not
before 1857 the British ever formally repudiated the sovereignty of the Mughal
emperor. In return, by the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765, Shah Alam granted the
Company the diwani (revenue collecting rights) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa-in other
words, absolute control over the lucrative resources of the prosperous Bengal
subah.

The battle resulted in the 1765 Treaty of Allahabad, in which the Mughal Emperor
surrendered sovereignty of Bengal to the British. Lord Robert Clive, the victor at the
Plassey, became the first governor of Bengal.

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