Question

Write a short note on the battle of plassey

Answer 1

THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY WAS A BATTLE FOUGHT BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE NAWAB SIRAJ- UD- DAULAH IN 1757. THE COMPANY WON THE BATTLE UNDER THE COMMANDERSHIP OF ROBERT CLIVE. ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS THE NAWABS BEGIN DEFEATED WAS THAT HE WAS BETRAYED BY HIS COMMANDERS ESPECIALLY MIR JAFAR . ROBERT CLIVE SECURED HIS SUPPORT BY PROMISING MIR JAFAR IN MAKING THE NAWAB OF BENGAL AFTER DEFEATING SIRAJ - UD - DAULAH.

British rule in India is conventionally described as having begun in 1757. On June 23rd of that year, at the Battle of Plassey, a small village and mango grove between Calcutta and Murshidabad, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive defeated the army of Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The "battle" lasted no more than a few hours, and indeed the outcome of the battle had been decided long before the soldiers came to the battlefield. The aspirant to the Nawab's throne, Mir Jafar, was induced to throw in his lot with Clive, and by far the greater number of the Nawab's soldiers were bribed to throw away their weapons, surrender prematurely, and even turn their arms against their own army. Jawaharlal Nehru, in The Discovery of India (1946), justly describes Clive as having won the battle "by promoting treason and forgery", and pointedly notes that British rule in India had "an unsavoury beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since."
Clive thought of the battle as the climax to his career, a striking testimony to the extraordinary shallowness of his character, while his enemies, whose judgment modernizing Indians are still inclined to accept, attributed Clive's success to the "faint- heartedness" of "the effeminate and luxurious Asiatics". In one fundamental respect, the battle of Plassey signified the state of things to come: few British victories were achieved without the use of bribes, and few promises made by the British were ever kept. No doubt it was these traits of "honor" and "fair play" to which Thomas Macaulay was alluding when he wrote with his usual pomposity, "No oath which superstition can devise, no hostage however precious, inspires a hundredth part of the confidence which is produced by the "yea, yea" and "nay, nay," of a British envoy."
Back to British India

The Battle of Plassey ) 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years. The battle took place at
Palashi , Bengal (Plassey is the anglicised version of Palashi), on the river banks of the
Bhagirathi River , about 150 km north of
Calcutta , near Murshidabad , then capital of undivided Bengal. The belligerents were Siraj-ud-daulah , the last independent Nawab of
Bengal, and the British East India Company .
The battle was preceded by the attack on British controlled Calcutta by Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole incident. 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 (1756–63) 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 numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. 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 Seth s (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Omichund 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 was defeated by roughly 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators.
This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of South Asia by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab and consequently acquired large amounts of concession 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 in Asia.

Answer 2

Answer:

The Battle of Plassey was fought between the forces of the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daulah and the English East India Company, led by Robert Clive. It was fought on 23 June 1757 at Plassey near Murshidabad. ... Later, the Nawab himself was caught and killed, and Mir Jafar was instituted as the new Nawab of Bengal.