Bengal
Battle of Plassey & Battle of Buxar
Chronology -
- 1717 - Establishment of semi-independent autonomous state of Bengal by Murshid Quli Khan
- 1717-27 - Murshid Quli Khan
- 1739-56 - Alivardi Khan
- 1756 - War of succession in Bengal
- 1756 - Siraj-ud-daulah became the Nawab of Bengal
- 1757 - Battle of Plassey
- 1757-60 - Mir Jafar
- 1760-63 - Mir Kasim
- 1764 - Battle of Buxar
- 1765 - Treaty of Allahabad
The province of Bengal gradually became independent of Mughal control after Murshid Quli Khan became the governor in 1717.
The important aspect related to Bengal are as follows -
- Revenue surplus area - Bengal was the richest province of Mughals. Even in the days of political chaos Bengal was revenue surplus area due to very effective revenue collection system initiated by Murshid Quli Khan. He encouraged the development of few powerful Zamindars at the cost of smaller ones. By the time of his death 15 larger Zamindars were responsible for almost half of the revenue of Bengal.
- Growing influence of Merchant bankers - There was a constant pressure on the Zamindars to pay revenue on time which brought powerful bankers in great demand. They provided security at every stage of transaction and enjoyed unprecedent patronage of Nawab of Bengal and they were main supportive pillar of Bengal government. (Hundi - Bill of exchange)
- Nobility - Bengal was unique in the sense that its most important nobility not only came from Zamindari but also from the merchant bankers. Going by one estimate Jagath Seth family was the richest people in the contemporary World.
- Trade - Bengal always has a lucrative trade and political stability. Moreover, increase in agricultural productivity during Murshid Quli regime provided further richness to Bengal.
- Oceanic trade - During the political turmoil of 18th century, traffic from land route partially decline but oceanic trade thrived with the increased investment from European companies in Bengal.
- Favourable Balance of trade - Bengal always enjoyed a favourable balance of trade with surplus bullion brought in by European traders to buy Bengali goods. On the Indian side the trade was dominated by the merchant bankers. This trade was mutually beneficial to Indian producers, Indian merchant bankers, European traders as well as Indian rulers. Indian rulers charged the trading activities of Europeans at every transaction. Moreover, for getting permission to trade in Bengal, Europeans needed to made a peshkash (gift) to the native ruler.
Alivardi Khan (1739-56) -
- In 1739, Alivardi Khan became the Nawab of Bengal with the support of Jagat Seth.
- Soon, Marathas invaded Bengal and looted many mansions of Jagat Seth. As such in 1751, Alivardi Khan agreed to pay ₹1.2 Lakh annually to the Marathas and also handed over Odisha to Maratha.
- After the death of Alivardi Khan in 1756, a bitter war of succession started among his grandson Siraj-ud-daulah and daughter Ghaseti Begum. It resulted into intense court factionalism, whereby many of the nobles and Jagat Seth were divided on the question of succession. Though Siraj became victorious but still he had to deal with some challenges.
Siraj-ud-daulah (1756-57) -
- Siraj had to take a major decision regarding the grant of monopoly of trade to either British or French (Jagat Seth wanted the trade monopoly to be given to the Britishers)
- Young Siraj did not want to pay heed to the dictates of Jagat Seth. He wanted to establish his own sovereign authority without any interference. So, he did not give trade monopoly right to any of the company. It created apprehensions in the minds of British East India Company and Jagat Seth.
- The intense factionalism de-established the administration of Bengal and advantage was taken by British East India Company which acquired strong foothold in Bengal politics through Plassey conspiracy.
- When Siraj came to power Britishers did not made any peshkash (gift) or Nazrana to Siraj. They also gave refugee to a fugitive Krishna Das.
- On the pretext of confrontation with French, British installed guns on the walls of Fort William. Seeing his authority flouted Siraj ordered to remove the guns from the walls but Britisher did not obey. As such, Siraj decided to teach a lesson to the British and attacked on Fort William.
Black Hole Tragedy -
- On 28th June 1756, 146 Britishers were stuck inside a very small room. Next day only 26 Britishers survived and the other died because of suffocation.
- The authenticity of this event is questionable.
Some British officers of Fort William sought support from Madras. As such, Robert Clive arrived with a strong army.
At time, majority of the nobles in Bengal court including Jagat Seth favoured the cause of the English which led to the 'Treaty of Alinagar'. As per the treaty, Nawab accepted peace with the English by restoring their privilege and he paid compensation for their loss.
Meanwhile, Robert Clive created a web of intrigue whereby he planned a coup with commander-in-chief of Bengal Mir Jafar and Jagat Seth. As such, on June 23, 1757 in Battle of Plassey which was a small skirmish, Siraj was captured and executed by Miran (son of Mir Jafar).
Bengali poet and writer Nabin Chandra Sen described the Battle of Plassey and the arrival of British rule in India as "A Night of Eternal Gloom".
Consequences of Battle of Plassey -
- The battle paved the way for British rule in Bengal and then after in the entire India.
- The war boosted the prestige of British in a single stroke.
- 2.7 Lakh pound was immediately paid to the Britishers as war indemnity.
- In between 1757 to 1760, British received 22.5 Million rupees as payment from Mir Jafar.
- Revenue from Bengal enabled Britishers to build a very strong army.
- The company received Zamindari right of 24 Pargana district.
- Prior to Plassey, trade with Bengal was financed from bullion imported from Europe but after Plassey, it was exported from Bengal to China and other part of the World for trading purpose.
Mir Jafar (1757-60) - Jafar's growing dependence on the company for military support was used by company officials to demand more finances and more privileges from Nawab. So, Nawab decided to take help of Dutch for military services. As such his attempts were thwarted by the British when British defeated the Dutch in the Battle of Bedara (1759) and they deposed Mir Jafar from the position of Nawab and appointed Mir Qasim as the next Nawab.\
Mir Kasim (1760-63) - Mir Qasim granted the Zamindari rights of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong to the British. He also paid bribe of ₹29 Lakh to British officers. But soon, his relation with British deteriorated.
In this affect, he shifted the capital from Murshidabad to Munger. He also abolished all the inland duties to bring Indian merchants on equal footing as the British.
It led to successive fight between Mir Qasim and the Britishers. Qasim fled to Awadh where he made an alliance with Shuja-ud-daulah of Awadh and Mughal emperor Shah Alam II.
Battle of Buxar (1764) -
- In the grand alliance army near about 70,000 soldiers were there on the other hand British army was just one-tenth of grand alliance army.
- The alliance army was not under a unified command and it had many segmentary divisions. On the other hand, British army was under a unified command of Major Munro and it did not have any segmentary division.
- Moreover, British army was technologically far superior to the grand alliance army.
- As such grand alliance was defeated thoroughly.
- The war ended with 'Treaty of Allahabad'.
Treaty of Allahabad (1765) -
- Mughal emperor Shah Alam II was treated with respect after the defeat and the nominal rule of Mughals continued.
- Shah Alam was also given ₹26 Lakh pension by British.
- He was also allowed to retain the area of Kora and Allahabad.
- In return, Britishers were granted diwani rights (revenue collection right) of Bihar, Bengal and Odisha.
- A British resident was posted at Murshidabad who became the real locus of power in Bengal.
- Moreover, dual system of administration began in Bengal whereby Fiscal administration (Diwani function) was managed by the British and the Territorial jurisdiction (Nizamat function) was managed by the puppet ruler of Bengal.
- In Awadh, Shuja-ud-daulah had to pay ₹5 Million as immediate war indemnity and a British resident was posted in his court.
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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
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