Battle of Buxar

The Battle of Buxar was an important battle in Indian history that was fought between the British East India Company and the combined army of Nawab of Bengal, Awadh and Mughal King . British EIC won this battle and got Complete control over Bengal.

Background

Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey and made Mir Jafar the Nawab of Bengal., but he had to accept all the demands of the British East India Company. The East India Company used him as a puppet and he had to forcibly fulfill all the demands of the EIC.

As the days were passing , the demand for the East India Company was kept on increasing. Hence, Mir Jafar joined hands with the Dutch Company to get rid of the East India Company. He called the Dutch EIC and told them do whatever you want to drive the British EIC out of Bengal.

The Dutch EIC also felt that there could never be a better opportunity than this to become a leading company in Bengal, so they accepted the proposal of Mir Jafar. When the East India Company saw that the Dutch East India Company was coming with their soldiers to fight with them, they sent their soldiers to Chinsur.

Chinsura is a place near to Kolkata and here the “Battle of Chinsurah” took place between the British EIC and the Dutch EIC. The British EIC was victorious in this war.

When the East India Company came to know about the evil mind of Mir Jafar they took strong action against him and made Mir Qasim the Nawab of Bengal in place of Mir Jafar.

Cause of Battle of Buxar

Mir Qasim was the son-in-law of Mir Jafar and Robert Clive made him the Nawab. Robert Clive was a clever man. Therefore, before making Mir Qasim the Nawab, he placed a condition that he would have to fulfill all the demands of the company.

In the greed of becoming the Nawab, Mir Qasim agreed. In the beginning, he kept accepting all the demands of the East India Company, but soon he realized if he kept fulfilling all their demands like this. So one day the treasury of Bengal will be completely empty.

In 1760 Robert clive went back to England. Mir Quasim got tired of British interference and endless demand. To maintain some distance from British he shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger Fort. He also hired foregin expert to train his army and stared manufacturing guns . Now his confidence was high to fight against the British EIC.

Mughal king Farrukshiyar completly waived off custom duties from EIC while the local merchant had to pay upto 40% tax. Due to this the business of British Merchant was flourishing. Mir Quasim tough if i dosen’t collect tax from local traders of Bengal the British merchant have to suffer in their trade and they will leave Bengal.

This decision of Mir Qasim made the EIC furious as the demand for their goods was decreasing but it was because of the EIC that Mir Qasim became the Nawab and this policy was against the EIC, this lead to 3 small fight between them. After defeated by EIC, Mir Qasim approached the Nawab of Awadh.

The Battle of Buxar

At that time the Nawab of Awadh was Shuja-ud-daula and he sought help from Shuja-ud-daula. The Nawab of Awadh agreed to help Mir Qasim.

He formed an confederacy with Awadh ruler Suja ud Daulah and Mughal emperor Shah Alam 2 . All the three ruler came to Buxar with a combined army of 40,000 soldiers while British army has only 10,000 soldiers leaded by Hector Munro.

This Battle was fought at Buxar , place at border of UP and Bihar on the bank of Ganga on 22 Oct 1764 and know as “Battle of Buxar”. Mir Qasim fled in the middle of the war While Mughal Emperor and Nawab of Awadh surrendered.

Rovert Clive came back to India in 1765 and conculded two seprate “Treaty of Allahabad” with Shah Alam 2 and Suja ud Daula.

Treaty of Allahabad

• Awadh except the district of kora and Allabhad as restored to Nawab.
• Nawab have to pay 50 lakh Rs. to the company as the war indemnity.
• The Nawab had to maintain a British contingent at his own expense also have to pay tax for it , In return they will protect territories of him.
• The company gave the district of Kora and Allahabad to Mughal king and recieved the Diwani Right of Bengal, Bihar, Odisha.

As Mir Quasim ran away in between the battle, British EIC has taken up the control of Bengal.