Expansion and

consolidation of
British power
Conquest of Bengal
 Conquest of Bengal
Political history of Bengal
➢ Murshid Quli Khan established independent state of Bengal in
1717 and rule till 1727
➢ Shujauddin 1727-1739
➢ Alvardi Khan 1739-1756
➢ After Alvardi Khan power struggle begans between Siraj-ud-Daula
and Ghasati Begum
❑ Resulted into court fractionalization
❑ Siraj became the successor in 1756
 Conquest of Bengal
Problems in front of Siraj
➢ Political instability due to court fractionalization
➢ Pressure to grant monopoly of trade either to British or
French
➢ Siraj did not want to grant monopoly either of the party, he
wanted to maintain his sovereignty
➢ Important persons like Jagath Seth wanted British
monopoly as he had large trade relation with British
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
Reasons
❑ EIC rampant misuse of trade privilages
▪ Private trade of company officials
▪ Piracy by using Dustaks
▪ Which resulted heavy loss to the Nawab’s finances
❑ English fortified Calcutta without Nawab’s permission
❑ EIC give asylum to political fugitive Krishna Das
❑ EIC suspected that Siraj tilted to give trade privilages to
France
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
Siraj attacked and seized English fort at Calcutta and it began
the war between English and Siraj

Black Hole Tragedy

Siraj-ud-Daulah is believed to have imprisoned 146 English
persons, who were lodged in a very tiny room due to which
123 of them died of suffocation. However, historians either
do not believe this story, or say that the number of victims
must have been much smaller
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
The Battle
❑ Robert Clive arrive at Calcutta from Madras with a strong
force
❑ Clive forged a secret alliance with the traitors of the
nawab—Mir Jafar (Commander – in- chief) , Rai Durlabh,
Jagat Seth (an influential banker of Bengal)
❑ Under the deal, Mir Jafar was to be made the nawab, who,
in turn, would reward the Company for its services
❑ 50,000-strong force of Siraj was defeated by a handful
of Clive’s forces. Siraj was captured and murdered
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
Significance of Battle of Plassey
❑ Economic
❖ Mir Jafar became the Nawab of Bengal. He gave large
sums of money plus the zamindari of 24 parganas to the
English
❖ Exposed vast resources of Bengal in front of British
❖ English virtually monopolized the trade and commerce
of Bengal.
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
Significance of Battle of Plassey
❑ Strategic
❖ It laid the foundation of the British empire in India
❖ Some historians also regarded this event as starting
point of British rule in India
❖The battle established the military supremacy of the
English in Bengal
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Plassey (1757)
Significance of Battle of Plassey
❑ Administrative
❖ There was no apparent change in the form of government
❖ Supreme control of affairs passed to Clive
❖ Mie Jafar was entirely dependent for maintaining his newly
acquired position
❖ The sovereignty of the English over Calcutta was
recognized, and the English posted a resident at the
nawab’s court
 Conquest of Bengal
Problems faced by Mir Jafar
❑ Mir Jafar was increasingly irritated by the interference of Clive
❑ He entered into a conspiracy with the Dutch
❑ Dutch were defeated and humbled by the English forces at
Bedara in 1759
❑ The treachery of Mir Jafar and his failure to make the payments
due to the Company, annoyed the English
 Conquest of Bengal
Mir Kasim and the Treaty of 1760
❑ British put Mir Kasim on the throne and signed a treaty with him in 1760
❑ Mir Kasim agreed to pay off the outstanding dues to the Company.
❑ Mir Kasim promised to pay a sum of five lakh rupees towards financing
the Company’s war efforts in southern India.
❑ It was agreed that Mir Kasim’s enemies were the Company’s enemies, and
his friends, the Company’s friends.
❑ It was agreed that tenants of the nawab’s territory would not be allowed to
settle in the lands of the Company, and vice-versa
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Buxar 1764
❑ Company thought Mir Kasim would be puppet but he was the ablest Nawab
among all
❑ Same problems face by Siraj
❑ To solve the issue Kasim decided to abolish the duties altogether, but the
British protested against this and insisted upon having preferential treatment
as against other traders.
❑ Mir Kasim fled to Awadh (or Oudh) and formed a confederacy with the
Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, and the Mughal Emperor
Shah Alam II, with a view to recover Bengal from the English.
 Conquest of Bengal
The Battle of Buxar 1764
The Battle.
❑ 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
 Conquest of Bengal
Treaty of Allahabad
❑Robert Clive concluded two important treaties at Allahabad in
August 1765—one with the Nawab of Awadh and the other with
the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.
Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula agreed to:
(i) surrender Allahabad and Kara to Emperor Shah Alam II;
(ii) pay Rs 50 lakh to the Company as war indemnity;
 Conquest of Bengal
Treaty of Allahabad
Shah Alam II agreed to:
(i) reside at Allahabad, to be ceded to him by the Nawab of Awadh,
under the Company’s protection;
(ii) Issue a farman granting the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to
the East India Company in lieu of an annual payment of Rs 26 lakh;
(iii) a provision of Rs 53 lakh to the Company in return for nizamat
functions (military defence, police and administration of justice) of
the said provinces
 Conquest of Bengal

Clive did not want to annex Awadh

because it would have placed the
Company under an obligation to
protect an extensive land frontier
from the Afghan and the Maratha
Invasions. The treaty made the
Nawab a firm friend of the
Company, and turned Awadh into a
buffer state.
 Conquest of Bengal
Dual Government in Bengal (1765–72)
After the battle of Buxar, the East India Company became the real
masters of Bengal. Robert Clive introduced the dual system of
government, i.e., the rule of the two—the Company and the Nawab—in
Bengal in which both the diwani, i.e., collecting revenues, and nizamat,
i.e., police and judicial functions, came under the control of the
Company. The Company exercised diwani rights as the diwan and the
nizamat rights through its right to nominate the deputy subahdar. The
Company acquired the diwani functions from the emperor and nizamat
functions from the subahdar of Bengal
 Conquest of Bengal
Dual Government in Bengal (1765–72)
➢ The system held a great advantage for the Company.
➢ It left the appearance of authority to the puppet Indian ruler while
keeping the sovereign power in the hands of them Company.
➢ The nawab was responsible for maintaining peace and order, but he
depended both for funds and forces upon the Company because the
latter controlled the army and revenues.
 Conquest of Bengal
Dual Government in Bengal (1765–72)
➢ The dual system led to an administrative breakdown and proved
disastrous for the people of Bengal.
➢ The great Bangal famine of 1770 was the result, which affected some
30 million people of that region
➢ Neither the Company nor the Nawab cared for administration and
public welfare.
➢ Warren Hastings did away with the dual system in 1772.