{"id":2268,"date":"2026-10-13T20:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/battle-of-plassey-1757\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T21:18:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:48:30","slug":"battle-of-plassey-1757","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/13\/battle-of-plassey-1757\/","title":{"rendered":"The Battle of Plassey 1757: How the British East India Company Took Bengal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Last updated: October 2026 \u00b7 3 min read<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On 23 June 1757, near the village of Palashi (Plassey) in Bengal, the forces of the British East India Company under <b>Robert Clive<\/b> defeated <b>Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah<\/b>. The battle was short, but it changed Indian history by handing the Company control of India&#8217;s richest province.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/battle-of-plassey-1757.png\" alt=\"Infographic: The Battle of Plassey 1757: How the British East India Company Took Bengal\" class=\"wp-image-2267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/battle-of-plassey-1757.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/battle-of-plassey-1757-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/battle-of-plassey-1757-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/battle-of-plassey-1757-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption>The Battle of Plassey 1757: How the British East India Company Took Bengal \u2013 infographic by Tiwaripedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Causes of the battle<\/h2>\n<ul><li>The Company fortified Calcutta without the Nawab&#8217;s permission.<\/li><li>It misused trade permits (dastaks) to avoid taxes.<\/li><li>It sheltered people who had fled the Nawab&#8217;s justice.<\/li><li>In 1756 Siraj-ud-Daulah captured Calcutta; the &#8220;Black Hole&#8221; incident was used by the British as propaganda.<\/li><li>Clive recaptured Calcutta and plotted with discontented nobles.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h2>The conspiracy<\/h2>\n<p>Clive secretly agreed with <b>Mir Jafar<\/b>, the Nawab&#8217;s army commander, merchant banker <b>Jagat Seth<\/b> and others: Mir Jafar would stay out of the fight and in return become Nawab. On the battlefield, most of the Nawab&#8217;s large army did not fight.<\/p>\n<h2>The battle in brief<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th><\/th><th>Nawab of Bengal<\/th><th>East India Company<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Commander<\/td><td>Siraj-ud-Daulah (Mir Jafar held back)<\/td><td>Robert Clive<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Army size<\/td><td>About 50,000 (estimates vary)<\/td><td>About 3,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Outcome<\/td><td>Defeated; Siraj fled and was killed<\/td><td>Victory<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<h2>Results<\/h2>\n<ul><li>Mir Jafar became a puppet Nawab and paid huge sums to the Company and its officers.<\/li><li>The Company gained the zamindari of the 24 Parganas.<\/li><li>Bengal&#8217;s wealth funded further British expansion.<\/li><li>It began the process of British political control in India.<\/li><\/ul>\n<h2>From Plassey to Buxar<\/h2>\n<p>When Mir Qasim, Mir Jafar&#8217;s successor, tried to act independently, he allied with the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II and the Nawab of Awadh. Their defeat at the <b>Battle of Buxar (1764)<\/b> led to the Treaty of Allahabad (1765), which gave the Company the <b>diwani<\/b>: the right to collect revenue in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Who won the Battle of Plassey?<\/h3>\n<p>The British East India Company led by Robert Clive.<\/p>\n<h3>Who betrayed Siraj-ud-Daulah?<\/h3>\n<p>Mir Jafar, his commander-in-chief, along with Jagat Seth, Rai Durlabh and Omichund.<\/p>\n<h3>Which battle is more important, Plassey or Buxar?<\/h3>\n<p>Historians often say Plassey gave political influence while Buxar (1764) gave real legal and military control.<\/p>\n<h2>Keep exploring<\/h2>\n<ul><li><a href=\"\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/india-freedom-struggle-timeline\/\">India&#8217;s freedom struggle 1857-1947<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/mughal-empire-history\/\">The Mughal Empire<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/industrial-revolution-explained\/\">The Industrial Revolution<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/index.php\/category\/history\/\">More History articles on Tiwaripedia<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<p><em>Facts are based on widely accepted official, scientific and historical sources at the time of writing. Spotted something that needs updating? <a href=\"\/index.php\/contact-us\/\">Let us know<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Battle of Plassey 1757 explained: causes, Siraj-ud-Daulah vs Robert Clive, Mir Jafar&#8217;s betrayal, results and why it marked the start of British rule in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow_YXIDA:productID":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tiwaripedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}