Introduction ofthe battle of buxar and battle of plassey?

Answer 1

BATTLE OF BUXAR

Mir Qasim belied English hopes and soon emerged as a threat to their position and designs in Bengal. Mir Qasim was defeated in series of battles in 1763 and fled to Avadh, where he formed an alliance with Shuja-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Avadh, and Shah Alam, the fugitive ruler of Mughal Empire. The three allies crashed with the English army under Major Munro at Buxar on 22nd October, 1764 and were thoroughly defeated.

Company became the real master of Bengal at least from 1765. Its army was in sole control of its defence and the supreme political power was in its hands. The Nawab depended for his internal and external security on the British. As the Diwan, the East India Company directly collected its (Bengal, Bihar, Orrisa) revenues, while through the right to nominate the Deputy Subedar, it controlled the Nizamat or the police and judicial powers.

In May 1765, Robert Clive became the Governor of Bengal for the first time.

Political Implications of the Battle of Buxar: The Battle of Buxar proved to be decisive resulting in the establishment of British sovereignity in Bengal. This battle brought out the political weaknesses and military shortcomings of the Indians and the hollowness of the Mughal Empire.

Battle of Plassey

British rule in India is conventionally described as having begun in 1757. On June 23rd of that year, at the Battle of Plassey, a small village and mango grove between Calcutta and Murshidabad, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive defeated the army of Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The "battle" lasted no more than a few hours, and indeed the outcome of the battle had been decided long before the soldiers came to the battlefield. The aspirant to the Nawab's throne, Mir Jafar, was induced to throw in his lot with Clive, and by far the greater number of the Nawab's soldiers were bribed to throw away their weapons, surrender prematurely, and even turn their arms against their own army. Jawaharlal Nehru, in The Discovery of India (1946), justly describes Clive as having won the battle "by promoting treason and forgery", and pointedly notes that British rule in India had "an unsavoury beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since."

Clive thought of the battle as the climax to his career, a striking testimony to the extraordinary shallowness of his character, while his enemies, whose judgment modernizing Indians are still inclined to accept, attributed Clive's success to the "faint- heartedness" of "the effeminate and luxurious Asiatics". In one fundamental respect, the battle of Plassey signified the state of things to come: few British victories were achieved without the use of bribes, and few promises made by the British were ever kept. No doubt it was these traits of "honor" and "fair play" to which Thomas Macaulay was alluding when he wrote with his usual pomposity, "No oath which superstition can devise, no hostage however precious, inspires a hundredth part of the confidence which is produced by the "yea, yea" and "nay, nay," of a British envoy."

Answer 2

I would say Plassey because it resulted in British control of India in 1757. But it was a small battle and Buxar in 1764 resulted in the British defeating the Mughal Empire.