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Robert Clive, the commander of the British company of the Eastern Indies, won on Mir Jafar in a secret pact, promising the Nawab of the Bengal throne.
Mir Jafar covered Siraj-Ud-Daaulah in the battle of Plassey.
Murshidabad, a quiet district located in the heart of Western Bengal, may sound remote to many today, but once found in the epicenter of a seismic change in history. It was in this city where the Battle of Plassey was developed on June 23, 1757, a day of blood spill that prepared the stage for almost two centuries of British colonial domain.
In the center of the battle was Siraj-Daulah, the last Nawab independent of Bengal. Born in 1733 in the ruling family of Murshidabad, Siraj came to power when he was a teenager in 1756. Despite his young age, he found himself faced with the growing ambitions of the British company of the Eastern Indies. His presence in India, which had begun as a commercial company, quickly evolved to something much more territorial.
The tensions between Siraj and the British intensified rapidly. When the throne was promoted, Siraj-Daulah launched an attack against Fort William in Calcutta (now Kolkata), a key strength of the British at that time. After the fort fell, 146 British prisoners were confined during the night in a narrow dungeon, later called the “black hole of Calcutta”. It was only said that 23 had survived. He thought the account is still controversial, fueled the flames of indignation in Great Britain and gave the Eastern Indies company a moral pretext for retaliation.
But the company had no intention of trusting only in the military force. Behind the scene, they were involved in a more insidious strategy, identifying weaknesses within the Nawab court. His spies discovered that Mir Jafar, Siraj’s military commander, housed dreams of power. Robert Clive, the company’s commander, won on Mir Jafar in a secret pact, promising the Nawab throne.
While the British forces marched towards Murshidabad, Siraj-Daulah tried to set up a defense. However, uncertain of loyalty within its ranks and policies overcome, it reached Plassey, a mango forest 27 kilometers from Murshidabad, with a limited force. Crucially, his trusted general Mir Madan died the commitment, leaving the isolated Nawab. In despair, Siraj approached Mir Jafar, without realizing his pact with the British commander.
Fake a lawyer, Mir Jafar urged Nawab to stop hostilities. Siraj fulfilled, retiring to his camp and acting on the signal of Mir Jafar, the British launched a sudden and devastating assault. The Nawab army, without lead and confused, disintegrated. Siraj fled, just to be captured and killed by Mir Jafar’s son, they look. Shortly after, Bengal’s throne was delivered to Mir Jafar, as the British promised him.
However, the reign of the duration of Mir Jafar, the unbridled looting and the place of economic exploitation in Bengala and what was once the richest province of India, drained from wealth, which established a precedent for colonial policies. Mir Jafar’s alliance with the British was fatal, since it was discarded by them once it ceased to be useful for them.
