Battle of Buxar

The East India Company had become an important political force in Bengal after its victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Company officers also used trade privileges for private commerce, while disputes over duties and authority strained relations with the nawab's government. Mir Qasim, who became nawab of Bengal in 1760, resisted the Company's demands and its use of tax-free trade privileges. The Company replaced him with Mir Jafar; Mir Qasim then sought support from Awadh and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, creating the alliance that confronted the Company at Buxar.

The battle took place at Buxar, in what is now the Indian state of Bihar, on 22 October 1764. The Company's force was commanded by Major Hector Munro. It faced the combined armies of Bengal, Awadh, and the Mughal Empire: Mir Qasim was the former nawab of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Daula ruled Awadh, and Shah Alam II was the Mughal emperor. The Company won a decisive victory. Afterward, Mir Qasim fled west and Shuja-ud-Daula acknowledged the Company's supremacy; Shah Alam II later reached a settlement with the Company. The defeat left the Company in a stronger position in the region.

The battle was followed by negotiations with Shah Alam II. In 1765, the emperor granted the Company diwani rights—the authority to collect revenue—in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (now Odisha). This gave the Company access to a major source of income. The revenue could help pay for its purchases, troops, and administration, reducing its dependence on money sent from Britain. Mir Jafar was restored as nawab after Mir Qasim's defeat, but the Company's influence over the region had increased sharply.

Buxar is often considered a decisive stage in the East India Company's transformation from a trading corporation into a territorial power. Plassey had helped the Company influence who governed Bengal; Buxar's outcome and the subsequent diwani grant strengthened its fiscal and political authority in Bengal and neighbouring regions. This distinction matters: the battle did not instantly establish British rule over the whole Indian subcontinent. Company expansion continued through later wars, alliances, revenue arrangements, and administrative changes, while Indian rulers and states remained politically significant.