Battle of Plassey was fought between the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daula and the English East India Company in 1757. The English were adding to their fortifications without Nawab`s permission on the pretext of French attack. Siraj-ud-daula suspicious of their designs, ordered the English to dismantle their recent fortifications. As the English did not dismantle the fortification, Siraj-ud-daula seized the English factory at Kasim Bazar. It is said that 145 english prisoners were confined to a small room for the night and in the morning, it was found that only 23 had survived. This incident was known as Black Hole Tragedy.
Consequently,
war started on 23 June 1757 on the field of Plassey.
Robert Clive
led the company`s army against Siraj-ud-daula at palssey. One of the main
reasons for the defeat at nawab was that his commander-in-chief, Mir Jafar and
a large portion of nawab`s army under him did not assist nawab in this battle.
Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after
crushing Siraj-ud-daula. The battle of Plasssey become famous it was the first
major victory of the company in India. Siraj-ud-daula was captured and killed.
Clive became
the Governer of Bengal in 1758. Though he exercised effective control over Mir
Jafar, the British were unhappy with him and replaced him with Mir Qasim. The
new nawab rewarded the company with three more districts and presents worth 29
lakh rupees. Soon Mir Qasim emerged as a threat to company. He shifted his
capital to Monghyr, improved the finances and the states of the army. What
irked the British most was his bold step of abolishing taxes on internal trade
for all. Now, Indian merchants were also able to enjoy concessions which only
the British enjoyed so far.
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