Battle of Plassey

On a rainy afternoon on 23 June 1757, at a small village called Palashi in Bengal, the young Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah met the British East India Company's soldiers on the battlefield. The Nawab's army was much larger, but one of his own commanders, Mir Jafar, had secretly agreed to help the British.

When the battle began, Mir Jafar's soldiers did not fight. With just about 3,000 men, the British won.

This surprising victory marked the beginning of British rule in India.

The Battle of Plassey took place on 23 June 1757 at Palashi, near Murshidabad in Bengal. Robert Clive, a young officer of the British East India Company, led a force of about 3,000 soldiers against the much larger army of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah.

The outcome was decided less by fighting and more by a secret agreement.

Before the battle, Clive had bribed some of the Nawab's key commanders — most importantly Mir Jafar, who commanded a large section of the army. When the battle began after a heavy monsoon shower, Mir Jafar's troops held back and refused to advance.

Siraj-ud-Daulah was defeated and later killed. Mir Jafar was placed on the throne as a puppet Nawab.

This victory gave the East India Company deep influence over Bengal, then the richest province in the subcontinent. By 1765 the Company obtained the diwani, or right to collect revenue, of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, setting the pattern for a hundred and ninety years of British rule.