On Alivardi Khan’s death in 1756, Siraj-ud-daula, his grandson became the Nawab of Bengal at 24. Soon after his accession to the throne, the Nawab came into conflicts with the English in Bengal.
Siraj prevented the English from fortifying Fort William. However the English refused to stop the new fortification which prompted the Nawab to attack their factory at Cassim Bazar.
The Nawab captured Fort William, taking 146 Englishmen prisoners. Holed up in a very small room 123 died on 20th June, 1756 out of suffocation and only 23 survived. English historians describe this incident as the Black Hole Tragedy.
This incident instigated the English at Chennai to send a relieving force under Robert Clive alongwith Admiral Watson to And Clive entered into a conspiracy with Mir jafar, the Commander-in- Chief of Siraj-ud-daulah.
Course/Events
Clive marched towards Plassey on 23rd June, 1757; which was near the Nawab’s capital of Murshidabad.
As agreed earlier, Mir Jafar, the Commander-inchief of Siraj-ud-daula did not take up arms against the English army and on the other hand the Nawab’s soldiers fled from the battlefield.
Later the Nawab was killed by Miran, Mir Jafar’s son and the latter was made the Nawab of Bengal as promised by Clive.
The conspirators against Siraj, besides Mir Jafar included Manick Chand, the office-in-charge of Calcutta, Amichand, a rich merchant, Jagat Seth, the biggest banker of Bengal and Khadim Khan, who commanded a large number of the Nawab’s troops.
Mir Madan and Mohan Lal, loyal to the Nawab fought bravely but were killed due to treachery of Mir Jafar and Rai Durlabh.
Results
The battle of Plassey was merely a skirmish but in its results was one of the most decisive battles in Indian history as it paved the way for the foundation of the English rule in India.
The English acquired a large sum of money from the new Nawab – the first installment of wealth paid to the Company being a sum of £ 8,00,000, all paid in coined selve. Jafar granted the English, zamindari of 24 Parganas and a personal gift of 2,34,000 pound to Clive
Mir Jafar became a puppet in the hands of Clive and could not satisfy the demands of the English. He was forced to resign in 1760.
His son-in-law, Mir Kasim succeeded him but in due course of time he too failed to satisfy the growing demands of the English.
