| Bengal War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Seven Years' War and Anglo-Mughal Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|  British East India Company | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Shah Alam II [1] Najaf Khan  Shuja-ud-Daula  Siraj ud-Daulah Mir Qasim | Hector Munro of Novar John Caillaud John Knox | ||||||
The Bengal War, [2] also called the second Anglo-Mughal war, [3] was waged by the Mughal Empire in order to expel the British East India Company (EIC) from Bengal Subah. Hostilities began in 1763 and ended in 1765. [4]
In 1717, Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar granted the EIC the right to trade within Bengal coupled with some exemptions for taxation. In the eyes of the Company, this decree granted it sovereignty, a right to trade undisturbed by the imperial powers. The EIC's opinion was that the emperor thus devolved its power and became a mere "official". [5]
While the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah was concerned with the British claims of absolute sovereignty, EIC was only one part of his problems. Siraj, while trying to have an alliance with France, was also keeping the line of negotiation with Britain open. On the other hand, when Mir Qasim (1760-1764) rose to power, he saw the advance of EIC as an existential threat and attempted to rebuild a smaller state in West Bengal where the private merchants would be excluded. This defiance eventually led to the war. [3]
EIC agent William Ellis with a small detachment captured Patna by surprise. In the 1st battle of Patna on 25 June 1763, Bengali troops led by Armenian mercenary Maskarian drove the British out of Patna, captured and held in captivity most of them. [6]
After the destruction of British forces in the 1st battle at Patna, Mir Qasim's forces faced the British column headed by Major Thomas Adams intent on restoring Mir Jafar as a Nawab of Bengal. In a heavily-contested battle near Katwa fortress on 19 July 1763, Adams' forces were victorious and Qasim's general, Mohammed Taki Shah, was killed.
Mir Qasim set up his defenses near Jangipur[ which? ] on Sooty on the plain of Giria. British forces under Major Thomas Adams attacked on 2 August 1763 and, after a bloody battle, forced Mir Quasim to retreat to Udaynala.[ which? ] [7]
Mir Qasim was defeated again at Udaynala, [6] where the British headed by Major Thomas Adams successfully stormed a well-defended Ganges gorge downstream of Rajmahal on 5 September 1763. After inflicting heavy losses at the gorge, Adams captured Monghyr. [8]
After Udaynala, Mir Qasim killed the British soldiers captured in the 1st battle of Patna. Major Thomas Adams besieged Patna and captured the town in the 2nd battle of Patna on 6 November 1763 that saw heavy losses in the Bengali army. [6]
Mir Qasim forged an alliance against the East India Company with Shah Alam and Shuja-ud-Daula. [9]
On 3 May 1764 British EIC forces under the command of Colonel John Carnac were victorious in a 3rd battle at Patna [9] against the Nawab of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula. The British occupied defensive positions outside of Patna and caused heavy losses for the attacking Shuja's forces. After repulsing the attack, Carnac decided against a pursuit, but heavy rains caused Nawab's retreat a month later. [6]
On 23 October 1764, following the 3rd Patna battle, British forces under the command of Major Hector Munro, despite their numeric inferiority, carried a decisive victory over Indian allies at Buxar, west of Patna. [9]
After the battle of Buxar, Mir Qasim's and Shujah-ud-Daula's forces retreated into Doab with Major John Carnac in pursuit. They managed to join forces with a Marathi army headed by Malhar Rao Holkar. On May 1765 the British successfully defeated them. After the rout that followed, Mulhar Rao fled to Kalpi, and Mir Qasim sued for peace. [10]
As a result of the war, the EIC became an indispensable military and fiscal instrument for the Mughal Emperor who was relying on the Company's military protection and financial means. [11] While becoming effectively a sovereign in Bengal and Northern India by controlling the Bengal diwani in exchange for a fixed payment, the company was saddled with a large cost that EIC was forced to continue carrying due to commercial and political reasons. [12] The document granting the revenues to the EIC was treated as a proto-constitution, a "Magna Carta". [13]
The EIC waged a campaign to overthrow Shuja-ud-Daula.[ citation needed ]
The end of this war signified the beginning of direct British rule in Bengal. [3]
Awadh, known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a historical region in northern India, now constituting the northeastern portion of Uttar Pradesh. It is roughly synonymous with the ancient Kosala region of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain scriptures.
Mir Syed Jafar Ali Khan Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah, commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Bengal and later almost all of the Indian subcontinent.
Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad, better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah.
Shuja-ud-Daula was the third Nawab of Oudh and the Vizier of Delhi from 5 October 1754 to 26 January 1775.
Rajmahal is a subdivisional town and a notified area in Rajmahal subdivision of the Sahebganj district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated at the banks of Ganges and was former capital of Bengal Subah under Mughal governor, Man Singh I.
Shah Alam II, also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power was so depleted during his reign that it led to a saying in the Persian language, Sultanat-e-Shah Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam, meaning, 'The empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam', Palam being a suburb of Delhi.
The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces of the British East India Company, under the command of Major Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Balwant Singh, Maharaja of the Banaras State; Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, Emperor of the Mughal Empire.
The Nawab of Bengal was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the de facto independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the modern-day sovereign country of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. The Bengal Subah reached its peak during the reign of Nawab Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan. They are often referred to as the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The Nawabs were based in Murshidabad which was centrally located within Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha. Their chief, a former prime minister, became the first Nawab. The Nawabs continued to issue coins in the name of the Mughal Emperor, but for all practical purposes, the Nawabs governed as independent monarchs. Bengal continued to contribute the largest share of funds to the imperial treasury in Delhi. The Nawabs, backed by bankers such as the Jagat Seth, became the financial backbone of the Mughal court.
Mir Syed Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur, more commonly known as just Mir Jafar, was a commander-in-chief or military general who reigned as the first dependent Nawab of Bengal of the British East India Company. His reign has been considered by many historians as the start of the expansion of British control of the Indian subcontinent in Indian history and a key step in the eventual British domination of vast areas of pre-partition India. He is best known for his betrayal to Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah in the Battle of Plassey.
Mir Qasim was the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1763. He was installed as Nawab with the support of the British East India Company, replacing Mir Jafar, his father-in-law, who had himself been supported earlier by the East India Company after his role in winning the Battle of Plassey for the British. However, Mir Jafar eventually ran into disputes with the East India Company and attempted to form an alliance with the Dutch East India Company instead. The British eventually defeated the Dutch at Chinsura and overthrew Mir Jafar, replacing him with Mir Qasim. Qasim too later fell out with the British and fought against them at Buxar. His defeat has been suggested as a key reason in the British becoming the dominant power in large parts of North and East India.
The Treaty of Allahabad was signed on 16 August 1765, between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, son of the late Emperor Alamgir II, and Robert Clive, of the East India Company, in the aftermath of the Battle of Buxar of 22 October 1764. The treaty was handwritten by I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim scribe and diplomat to the Mughal Empire.
Alivardi Khan was the fourth Nawab of Bengal from 1740 to 1756. He toppled the Nasiri dynasty of Nawabs by defeating Sarfaraz Khan in 1740 and assumed power himself.
The Nawab of Awadh or Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers of Kingdom of Awadh in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to an Iranian dynasty of Sayyid origin from Nishapur, Iran. In 1724, Nawab Sa'adat Khan established the Kingdom of Awadh with their capital in Faizabad and Lucknow.
The Munger Fort, located at Munger, in the state of Bihar, India, is built on a rocky hillock on the south bank of the Ganges River. Its history is not completely dated but it is believed that it was built during the early rule of Slave dynasty of India. The Munger town where the fort is situated was under the control of Muhammad bin Tughluq of Delhi. The fort has two prominent hills called the Karnachaura or Karanchaura, and the other a built up rectangular mound deduced to be the location of a citadel of the fort with historical links. The fort had a succession of Muslim rulers (Khaljis, Tughlaqs, Lodis, Nawabs of Bengal, followed by Mughal rulers, till it was finally acceded to the British by Mir Quasim, after unseating his father-in-law Mīr Jafar on the grounds of old age, for a monetary reward negotiated by Vansittart. This deal involved payment by the East India Company's merchants of an ad valorem duty of 9 percent, against an Indian merchant's duty of 40%. The fort became a place of considerable importance to the British in Bengal till 1947.
Thomas Adams, was a British Army major, posthumously promoted to Brigadier-general based on accounts of his defence of the British position in Bengal in 1763.
The Oudh State was a Mughal subah, then an independent kingdom, and lastly a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of the state, also written historically as Oudhe.
Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil (1726-1799) was a French Army Colonel, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis, who worked in India. He is known for the collections he made of historic manuscripts and artifacts from India and for his cartography and documentation of Mughal history.
The Third Battle of Katwa occurred between the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim and the British East India Company in 1763. Dissatisfied with Nawab Mir Qasim's administration, the English deposed him in favor of his father-in-law Mir Jafar and officially declared war against Mir Qasim on July 7, 1763. The English command was given to Major Thomas Adams, who led a small force, variously estimated as between 3,000 and 5,000 men, of whom, approximately 1,000 were European. The Nawab had a total of approximately 25,000 troops at his disposal, led by the Armenian general Gurgin Khan. Although the Nawab's forces were numerically larger, they were hastily cobbled together and riven by internal strife. The Nawabi force that confronted the English at Katwa was a much smaller contingent under the leadership of the accomplished general Muhammad Taqi Khan, the Faujdar of Birbhum.
Maharaja Beni Bahadur was an administrator, minister, soldier and househelp in the courts of the Nawabs of Awadh from 1733 / 1734 to at least 1798 and at most 1814. He was most notable for his rapid rise to power, industry and charity.
Khoja Gregory, better known as Gurgin Khan, was an Armenian merchant and military leader who served Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1764, as minister of war and commander-in-chief. He was responsible for reforming the nawab's army along European lines. He was assassinated under unclear circumstances—possibly on Mir Qasim's orders—during the nawab's conflict with the British.