Battle of Plassey | War of Plasi | Modern Indian History Notes for SSC, UPSC

Battle of Plassey on 23rd June 1757 AD . was born between the British and the then Nawab of Bengal, Siraj -ud-daula, at a place called Plassey. The British army was led by Robert Clive and the Nawab's army was led by Mir Jafar. As a result of the Battle of Plassey, British power became stronger in India, which changed the nature of India itself and a British rule emerged, which ruled India for almost 200 years.

In the words of  famous Bengali poet ' Navnichandra Sen '

After the Battle of Plassey, an eternal dark night began in India.

In the 17th-18th century, European companies arrived in India whose purpose was to do business in India, but due to their growth ambitions, they started ruling different regions of India. After the death of Aurangzeb, the foundation of the Mughal Empire weakened. Taking advantage of this, a person named Alivardi Khan declared himself the Nawab of Bengal in  1740 AD by declaring it free from the Mughal Empire. Seeing the weakening of the power of the Mughals, the British also took advantage of this and tried to establish their supremacy by capturing forts from place to place in India.

April 09, 1756 AD. After the death of Alivardi Khan, Siraj -ud-daula, the son of his youngest daughter,  became the Nawab. Then the atmosphere in Bengal was quite turbulent due to the conflict between the British and the French. The British and the French also started building forts at places. Due to this, Siraj-ud-daula was very worried, so Siraj-ud-Daula ordered the British and the French to stop the fortification immediately. While continuing to hold his fort.

Seeing this, Siraj-ud -daula attacked and captured the British's Kothi located in Qasim Bazar in 1756 AD, then on June 20, 1756, he also took control of Fort William Fort located near the  Hooghly River in Calcutta, making the British escape from there. But forced and the British Governor Drake had to go to Fulta Island and take refuge. During the capture of Fort William, 146 British prisoners, including women and children, were locked up in a small dark room by the officers of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula . of which the next morning only 23 people could survive, one of the survivors, an Englishman named Halliwell, took this incident to the British officers. Due to this incident, the bitterness between the British and Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula increased further. This event was known in history as the event of the darkroom or the incident of the darkroom.

Knowing about the incident of this black cell, the British became very angry and Robert Clive and Admiral Watson moved toward Bengal with an army from Madras. Who again took control of Calcutta and forced Siraj-ud-Daulah to make a treaty, which came to be known as the ' Treaty of Ali Nagar '. As a result of this treaty, the British got permission to build forts in Bengal. After this treaty, the British became more aggressive and they attacked Chandranagar under the jurisdiction of the French and took it under their control.

Seeing such activities of the British, Siraj-ud-Daula started preparing to attack the British again. On the other hand, the British lured Mir Jafar, the general of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, to make him the Nawab of Bengal, and Mir Jafar agreed to betray Siraj-ud-Daulah.

On June 23, 1757 AD, there was a war between the East India Company and the army of Nawab Siraj -ud-Daula at Plassey, in which the British army was commanded by Robert Clive and the Nawab army was commanded by Mir Jafar. In this war, due to the betrayal of Mir Jafar, the Nawab's army was defeated and  Siraj -ud- Daula was taken prisoner and shot as a death penalty.

As a result of the victory of the British in the Battle of Plassey and according to the promise made by the British to Mir Jafar, Mir Jafar was made the next Nawab of Bengal. As soon as he became the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Jafar handed over the zamindari of 24 Parganas to the British and allowed the British East India Company to do free trade in Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar. Mir Jafar was just a puppet in the hands of the British, the British used to get them done whatever they wanted. When Mir Jafar could not fulfill the arbitrariness and demands of the British, Mir Qasim was made the Nawab of Bengal by removing him from the throne of Nawab of Bengal.

Shortly after the Battle of Plassey, the Battle of Buxar took place, as a result of which the British established complete control over Bengal and the British changed from commercial power to political power. As a result of this war, the process of establishing their power in India started and the British tried to establish their power over India. The policy of ' divide and rule ' was also used by the British, using which the then kings and political powers were weakened by fighting among themselves. As a result, a British monopoly was established in India. which was 15th August, 1947It ended after India became independent from the British.

Thank you