Write an event that lead the brithish to made the free traders in Bengal Bihar orrisa
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Answer:
Bengal in the 17th-18th Century
In Mughal Period: Bengal was the most fertile and the richest province of the Mughal Empire and included present day Bangladesh and states of Bihar and Odisha.
The authoritative powers of the province lay in the hands of the Nawab of Bengal.
Economic Importance: Bengal held economic importance for its famous textiles, silk and saltpetre.
Exports from Bengal to Europe consisted of saltpetre, rice, indigo, pepper, sugar, silk, cotton textiles, handicrafts, etc.
Importance for the British: Bengal became the first kingdom to be occupied by the British in India. The East India Company carried on profitable trade with this province.
The enormous resources of Bengal came in handy for financing the British expansion.
Nearly 60% of the British imports from Asia consisted of goods from Bengal.
The British East India company laid the foundation of Calcutta and established British commercial settlement in the 1690s.
The Company paid a sum of Rs 3,000 (£ 350) per annum to the Mughal emperor who allowed them to trade freely in Bengal.
In contrast, the Company’s exports from Bengal were worth more than £ 50,000 per annum.
Conflicts among Nawabs and the British: The special privileges enjoyed by the British Company was strongly opposed by the Nawabs of Bengal as it meant a huge loss to the provincial exchequer.
Consequently, the friction between the British commercial interests and the Bengal government became the chief cause for conflict between the two.
As a result, the British felt a need for a “puppet” as the Nawab on the throne of Bengal to willingly give them trade concessions and other privileges and establish their indirect but ultimate power in the province.
Battle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey was fought in 1757 in the Plassey (or Palashi) region of West Bengal, on the east of Bhagirathi river.
Troops of the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, came up against the forces of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and his French allies.
Background
Siraj-ud-Daulah: The then Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah succeeded his grandfather Alavardi Khan after his death.
Alavardi Khan was the Deputy Governor of Bihar who assumed the throne after killing Sarfaraz Khan, an incapable son of Murshiq Quli Khan, Dewan of Bengal.
Siraj-ud-Daulah was surrounded by a number of rivals in his own court who helped the British in winning the Battle of Plassey.
Events Preceding the Battle: The British victory in the Carnatic had already made Siraj apprehensive of the growing power of the East India Company.
Moreover, the officials of the Company made rampant misuse of its trade privileges that adversely affected the nawab’s finances.
The British also fortified Calcutta without the nawab’s permission which the nawab took as an ignorance to his sovereign power.
The infuriated Nawab marched to Calcutta and occupied Fort William in June 1756.
Shortly after Fort William's surrender, on June 20, 175, Siraj confined 146 British prisoners in a small dungeon in Calcutta, out of which 123 prisoners died of suffocation. It is infamously known as the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’.
This event brought the hostility of the British in the open.
The Battle
Arrival of Robert Clive: Following this tragic defeat of British by the Nawab of Bengal, a strong force under Robert Clive was sent from Madras to overthrow nawab and strengthen the British position in Bengal.
The discontented followers of the Nawab, such as Mir Jafar and other Bengali generals, were bribed to forge an alliance with the British.
Mir Jafar, a kin of Siraj was promised the throne in return for supporting the British.
Course of War: Clive’s army was confronted by the nawab’s army at Plassey (Palashi) along with the French soldiers on their side.
The nawab’s army of 50,000 soldiers outnumbered Clive’s force of just 3000.
However, the secret alliance of the British with the conspirators strengthened the British foothold in the battle.
Moreover, Mir Jafar, with around one-third of the Bengali army, did not join the battle and contributed to Nawab's defeat.
Under compelling circumstances, the Nawab tried to escape with his army but was killed by Miran, the son of Mir Jafar.
Significance: The Battle is regarding a historic turning point for British in India; it established political and military supremacy of the British in Bengal.