The Battle of Plassey (1757) – A Turning Point in Bengal’s History

The Larger Context: Third Carnatic War and the Shift to Bengal

The Battle of Plassey did not occur in isolation. It was deeply connected with global rivalries and the broader Third Carnatic War (1756–1763), itself part of the Seven Years’ War in Europe. The struggle between the English and the French for supremacy in southern India, especially around Madras (St. Thomé) and Pondicherry, eventually spilled over into Bengal. The French maintained their post at Chandannagore, while the English were entrenched at Fort William in Calcutta. This geographical shift in conflict laid the foundation for the confrontation that would soon unfold at Plassey.

However, before the event of the Battle of Plassey, there were certain key events that led to the battle, one such is the Black Hole Tragedy.

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The cause of the Battle of Plassey

The Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta (1756)

Tensions had been steadily mounting between the East India Company (EIC) and the young Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah. The Nawab objected strongly to the unauthorized fortification of Fort William by the British and a similar attempt by the French at Chandannagore. When the French complied with his order to cease fortifying, the British refused. Seeing this as a challenge to his authority, Siraj marched on Calcutta.

On 20 June 1756, his forces stormed the old Fort William (constructed between 1698 and 1703 in present-day Hastings, Kolkata). During the attack, many English officials, soldiers, and civilians were captured. What followed entered British historical memory as the “Black Hole Tragedy .”

According to British officer John Zephaniah Holwell’s account, about 146 prisoners, including both Europeans and Indian sepoys, were crammed overnight into a small guardroom of merely 14 by 18 feet, without adequate ventilation. By morning, only 23 survived, the rest having perished from suffocation. Holwell himself survived and later publicized the story in London, where it was used to fuel outrage against the Nawab.

Yet, the veracity of this account has long been questioned. The Indian historian Ghulam Husain Tabatabai, in his contemporary chronicle Siyar-ul-Mutakhkherin, makes no mention of such an event, raising doubts about whether the incident was exaggerated or even fabricated by the British for political propaganda. Regardless, it became one of the rallying cries for vengeance and retribution against Siraj-ud-Daulah.

Siraj-ud-Daulah: The Last Independent Nawab of Bengal Subah

Siraj-ud-Daulah (reigned 1756–1757) was the grandson of Alivardi Khan, the previous Nawab of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (and Nawab of Bengal and Bihar after the surrendering Orissa to Marathas in 1751), which combinedly called Bengal Subah. His accession to power was not smooth. He had to contend with rivals such as Shaukat Jang of Purnia and his influential aunt, Ghasiti Begum, both of whom contested his legitimacy.

Though young and relatively inexperienced, Siraj possessed personal courage and showed early promise. Even the chronicler Ghulam Husain Tabatabai, who wrote with an Indian perspective, praised his valor in Siyar-ul-Mutakhkherin. However, Siraj’s temperamental nature, combined with his political inexperience, soon created enemies among Bengal’s powerful nobility and merchants.

Aftermath of the Black Hole Incident

The Black Hole episode became the immediate justification for British retaliation. The East India Company soon began constructing a new and stronger Fort William at the Maidan in Calcutta, which later became the nucleus of British power in eastern India. For the Company, the incident reinforced the perception that Siraj was a tyrant who needed to be replaced. For Robert Clive and the Company’s directors, it provided a moral cover for what was essentially a political and financial coup.

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The flashpoint of the Battle of Plassey

The Road to Conspiracy

Robert Clive, stationed at Fort St. George in Madras, seized the opportunity to return to Bengal with military reinforcements. He tasked Eyre Coote with leading forces to recapture Fort William, which was accomplished in early 1757. While outwardly negotiating peace, Clive simultaneously opened secret channels with disaffected factions and subjects within Siraj’s court.

The discontented nobles included Mir Jafar, the commander of Siraj’s army; the immensely wealthy bankers Jagat Seths; influential merchants like Omichand and Manickchand; and even Siraj’s own relatives, Ghasiti Begum and Shaukat Jang. Together, they conspired to betray the Nawab in return for British support with lavish bribe amounting to roughly £1 million (equivalent to around ₹33 million at that time) to Clive. In exchange, Clive promised to install Mir Jafar as the new Nawab and reward his allies.

The Treaty of Alinagar (1757)

After the Black Hole event, Robert Clive was dispatched from Madras (present-day Chennai) to recover Calcutta. By February 1757, the British successfully regained the city, and in March, Clive captured the French stronghold at Chandernagore. Following this, tensions with Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah escalated, leading to a series of smaller engagements between the Nawab’s army and British forces. These clashes gradually set the stage for the decisive confrontation in the Battle of Plassey later that year.

However, despite Nawab’s success in capturing and reclaiming Calcutta in June 1756, yet his main concern was safeguarding his rear, which was the Mughal Sultanate, as Afghan forces of Ahamad Shah Abdali “Durrani” had recently invaded and plundered Delhi unopposed in 1756 (which later concluded in the Battle of Delhi, 1757 between Durranis and Marathas) . This looming threat pushed him to consolidate his position before confronting the British challenge.

Before open hostilities resumed, the Treaty of Alinagar was signed on 9 February 1757. The treaty temporarily patched relations between Siraj and the Company. It restored Calcutta- renamed “Alinagar” by Siraj after his earlier conquest- to the English and reinstated the trading privileges they had enjoyed under Mughal firmans. But this peace was a façade. Mutual distrust lingered, and Clive continued plotting behind the scenes. Siraj, for his part, suspected treachery but failed to prevent the conspiracy from deepening. The Fort William was made to reclaim and fortify by the English.

Here are the main terms of the treaty: 

• Recognition of Farrukhsiyar’s Farman of 1717 : The Nawab accepted the terms of the imperial decree granted by the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar to the East India Company in 1717, that granted free trade access (duty-free) for the English marchants and traders to the Bengal market.
• Duty-Free Trade: All British goods passing through Bengal were exempted from customs duties.
• Fortification of Calcutta: The Company was permitted to fortify its settlement in Calcutta.
• Mintage of Coins: The Company was allowed to mint its own coins in Calcutta.

Significance of the Treaty

• Strengthened Company Position: The treaty significantly strengthened the East India Company‘s position in Bengal.
• Rise of British Power: The treaty marked a transition for the Company from a trading enterprise to a rising imperial power in India, with a clear interest in territorial control and not just trade.

However, this did not go well with the Nawab and prepared to claim back the position of Calcutta. Meanwhile, Clive already conspired turning nawab’s subjects against him, before they met in the battle of Plassey.

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The Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757)

Composition of Forces in the battle of Plassey

On the eve of battle, the two sides presented an enormous disparity in numbers:

• The East India Company fielded about 3,100 troops. This included a mix of 2,100 Indian sepoys and around 900 European soldiers, supported by artillery. Their real strength, however, lay in their secret alliances with Bengal’s internal factions.
  Supported by:
  • Mir Jafar – Commander of Nawab’s army, secretly allied with Clive.
  • Jagat Seth – Powerful banker, promised Clive financial support of £1 million.
  • Omichand – Wealthy merchant involved in negotiations.
  • Ghasiti Begum (Siraj’s aunt) and Shaukat Jang (Nawab of Purnia), both opposed Siraj.
  • Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia also supported the English.
  • Manik Chand, an officer of Siraj, defected to the British.
    
• The Nawab’s army was far larger, estimated at nearly 50,000 troops, supported by artillery and a small but trained French contingent under Monsieur St. Frais. The French, loyal to their alliance with Bengal, were the only foreigners directly fighting on Siraj’s side.
  • Loyal commanders were Mir Madan and Mohan Lal, who fought bravely alongside Siraj.

Course of the Battle of Plassey

The battle took place on the mango groves of Plassey (Palashi), near the Bhagirathi River. Despite the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Nawab’s forces, the outcome was decided by intrigue rather than combat.

At the start, Siraj relied on loyal commanders Mir Madan and Mohan Lal, who bravely led attacks against the British. In contrast, Mir Jafar and several other senior officers deliberately withheld their troops, awaiting the outcome of their secret pact with Clive.

A turning point came when Mir Madan was killed in battle by artillery fire. His death demoralized the Nawab’s troops. Mir Jafar, pretending indecision, continued to hold his forces back. The French detachment under St. Frais resisted strongly but was too small to alter the battle’s course.

With key sections of his army refusing to fight and conspirators sabotaging his cause, Siraj-ud-Daulah realized he had been betrayed. The battle collapsed into a rout. What unfolded at Plassey is often described by historians not as a military contest but as a “conspiracy in the guise of a battle.”
This was how the Battle of Plassey concluded in favour of the Company resulted from the shrewdness of English conspirators and internal treachery.

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Immediate Consequences of the Battle of Plassey

Siraj fled from the battlefield but was soon captured while attempting to escape towards Murshidabad. He was executed by order of Mir Jafar’s supporters. With his fall, Bengal, the richest province of the Mughal Empire, effectively came under British control.

The victory at Plassey brought immense financial windfalls to the East India Company. Bengal’s treasury was plundered, and vast sums were distributed among Company officials. Robert Clive personally amassed wealth that made him one of the richest men in England. This event post the battle of Plassey has been aptly called the “Plassey Plunder,” symbolizing the beginning of the systematic economic drain of Bengal.

The aftermath of the Battle of Plassey intensified Anglo-French rivalry in India, ultimately leading to the decisive Battle of Wandiwash in 1760, Tamil Nadu. The clash pitted the French forces under Governor General Comte de Lally against the English army led by Sir Eyre Coote. The English East India Company emerged victorious, marking the decline of French influence and establishing the English East India Company as the sole dominant European power in the Indian subcontinent.

Installation of Mir Jafar

As promised, Mir Jafar was installed as Nawab. Though nominally in power from 1757 to 1760, he functioned largely as a puppet of the Company. To secure his position, he granted the British enormous sums of money, estates, and commercial privileges. Among his gifts was the revenue of the 24 Parganas, which strengthened the Company’s territorial and financial base around Calcutta.

However, Mir Jafar soon realized that the British were insatiable in their demands. He found himself trapped between fulfilling the Company’s expectations and retaining legitimacy among his subjects.

Rising Tensions between Puppet Nawab and the English

Alarmed by British ascendancy and exorbitant demands, Mir Jafar turned towards other European powers for support. He courted the Dutch East India Company, which had its base at Chinsurah (near present-day Hooghly, West Bengal). Hoping to balance British influence, he invited Dutch reinforcements.

This culminated in the Battle of Chinsurah (1759), where Dutch forces clashed with the East India Company. However, the British decisively defeated the Dutch, thereby eliminating them as a serious contender in Bengal. The victory further consolidated British dominance, leaving them unchallenged among European rivals in eastern India.

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Historical Significance of Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey marked a watershed moment in Indian history. What had begun as a trading corporation’s effort to safeguard commercial interests transformed into outright political domination. By toppling Siraj-ud-Daulah and installing Mir Jafar, the Company crossed the threshold from merchants to rulers, while seizing the power from Bengal subah virtually into English hands.

The battle of Plassey, itself, opened the door to the gradual subjugation of Bengal’s vast resources. It set in motion the infamous “Drain of Wealth,” where Bengal’s riches were siphoned off to finance Britain’s industrial and imperial ambitions, which further consolidated after the Battle of Buxar in 1764, against nawab Mir Qazim, in the Treaty of Allahbad, 1765. Moreover, Plassey became the stepping stone for the Company’s expansion across India, leading eventually to the establishment of British paramountcy over the subcontinent.

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