Battle of Plassey

By the mid-18th century, the Mughal Empire's authority was weakening and European trading companies competed for influence in South Asia. The British East India Company had become involved in regional politics and its rivalry with France was part of the wider Seven Years' War. Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, opposed Company fortifications in Calcutta and other actions he regarded as challenges to his authority. In 1756, he captured the Company's Fort William in Calcutta. The Company retook Calcutta early in 1757 and captured the French settlement of Chandernagore in March.

Company officials sought to replace Siraj with a ruler more amenable to their interests. They reached a secret arrangement with Mir Jafar, a senior commander in Siraj's army, who was promised the nawabship if Siraj were defeated. Other influential interests, including the Jagat Seth banking family, also participated in the political manoeuvring. At the battle, Siraj's force was substantially larger than Clive's Company-led force, but the numbers did not translate into a unified fighting effort: Mir Jafar and other units did not support the nawab during the decisive phase.

The armies met near the village of Plassey (Palashi) on 23 June 1757. A heavy rainstorm interrupted the fighting. Company gunners protected their ammunition from the rain, while the opposing artillery was affected; when some of Siraj's troops advanced, Company fire drove them back. Mir Jafar's inactivity and the fractures within the nawab's camp contributed to the outcome. Siraj's forces withdrew, and the Company secured the field. Robert Clive commanded the Company side. Accounts vary on army sizes and casualties, so exact figures should be treated cautiously.

After the defeat, Siraj-ud-Daulah fled and was later captured and killed. Mir Jafar was installed as nawab, but the Company exerted increasing influence over Bengal's government and finances. Clive became governor of Bengal. The battle helped the Company strengthen its position against French rivals in the region, though it did not by itself establish British control over all of India.

Plassey is often treated as a turning point in the expansion of Company power in Bengal. The victory gave the Company political leverage and access to wealth, enabling its subsequent military and administrative expansion. In 1765, the Company obtained the diwani—the right to collect revenue—in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. Historians distinguish the battle's immediate consequences from the longer process of British imperial rule, which developed over subsequent decades.