Battle of Buxar was fought in Buxar . It was between British and Indian Alliances of Mughal, Bengal and Oudh nawab

Battle of Buxar was fought on 22 October 1764 in Buxar, a “small fortified town” inside the territory of Bihar, located on the banks of the Ganga river about 130 kilometers (81 mi) west of Patna.

It was fought between the forces under the command of British East India led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal, Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh, and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.

The British won the battle and consequently, the civil and revenue rights of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Bangladesh went to the British Company.

Battle

The British army has 7,072 soldiers comprising 859 British, 5,297 Indian Sepoys, and 920 Indian Cavalry. The alliance army’s number was supposed to be over 40,000. This alliance was formed by Bengal, Awadh, and the Mughal Empire. The reason for their failure was the absence of coordination among the three strange allies.

Mirza Najaf Khan commanded the right side of the Mughal imperial army. He was the first to advance his troops against Major Hector Munro at sunrise. It took just twenty minutes for the British army to form a line and reverse the advancement of the Mughals. According to the British, Durrani and Rohilla cavalry were also present and fought during the battle in different conflicts. But by midday, the battle was ended and Shuja-ud-Daula blew up large tumbrils and three huge magazines of gunpowder.

Munro split his army into several columns and especially tracked the Mughal Grand Vizier Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh, who reacted by blowing up his boat-bridge after crossing the river, thus rejecting the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and members of his regiment. Mir Qasim also escaped with his 3 million rupees worth of Gemstones and later died in poverty in 1777. Mirza Najaf Khan reconstructed formations around Shah Alam II, who ran and then chose to negotiate with the winning British.

John William Fortescue, the historian, claimed that the British casualties equaled 847: 39 killed and 64 injured from the European regiments and 250 killed, 435 injured and 85 missing from the East India Company’s sepoys. He also insisted that the three Indian allies suffered 2,000 dead and that many more were injured. Another reference states that there were 69 European and 664 sepoy casualties on the British side and 6,000 casualties on the Mughal side. The winners seized 133 pieces of artillery and over 1 million rupees of cash. Shortly after the battle, Munro decided to help the Marathas, who were labeled as a “warlike race”, well known for their constant anger towards the Mughal Empire and its Nawab and Mysore.

Instantly After Battle

The British success at Buxar had “at one fell swoop”, motivated by the three main descendants of Mughal power in Upper India. Mir Kasim [Qasim] left into poor uncertainty. Shah Alam realigned himself with the British, and Shah Shuja [Shuja-ud-Daula] left west hotly pursued by the winners. The whole Ganges valley lay at the Company’s mercy; Shah Shuja finally surrendered; henceforth Company troops became the power-brokers during Oudh as well as Bihar.

Long Term Result

The Battle of Buxar changed the future path for India. The British had been interested in coastal areas including Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. British success began with this battle with the Battle of Plassey and the Anglo-French wars. By 1765, the British were ruling Bihar and Bengal.

The Nawab of Awadh began to become reliant on them and shortly became the Nawab of Carnatic. There is still some historical stress between Britain and India. Much of this stress was formed in the events reaching up to the war which included misuse of Farman and Dastak by the British which challenged the authority of Mir Qasim, pressure and pressure utilized to Indian vendors, farmers, merchants, and artisans to trade their goods at extremely low prices, start a trend of bribery, an abolition of all duties on domestic trade from the British, and also British abuse to trade ethics and challenged Nawab authority.

The treaty of Allahabad

This treaty is signed after the battle of buxar

Clive entered into a treaty with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh after the battle ended.

First Treaty of Allahabad (12 August 1765 AD)
  • The company got Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa from the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.
  • The company took the district of Kada and Allahabad from Nawab of Oudh and presented it to Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.
  • The company accepted a yearly pension of 26 lakh rupees to the Mughal emperor.
Second Treaty of Allahabad (16 August 1765 AD)

The treaty was arranged between Clive and Shuja-ud-Daula. The terms of this treaty were as follows:

  • The left area of Awadh, except Allahabad and Kada, was passed to Najmuddaula.
  • An English army was posted at Awadh by the company at the cost of the Nawab for the security of Awadh.
  • The company got the ability to do the tax-free transaction in Awadh.
  • Shuja-ud-Daula was granted the right to receive the rent as before from King Balwant Singh of Benaras. Raja Balwant Singh helped the British in the war.

Bengal Diarchy (1765–1772 AD)

The first treaty of Allahabad was an epochal event in the history of Bengal as it next set the framework for the regulatory changes that set the base of the British administrative system. The Nawab’s rule came to an end and a system was born which was free from the burden of governance.

The duplex rule means a dual policy or dual governance. Clive established a dual rule in Bengal in which the company had the power to recover ‘Diwani’ i.e. land revenue, but the government was in charge of the Nawab’s shoulders. The specialty of this system was – Rights without responsibility. Under this system, the company took over the control of military protection, foreign trade policy, and Indian officers were selected to collect revenue. To collect the rent, Muhammad Raza Khan was made the Diwan of Bengal and Shitab Rai.

Under this system, out of the funds collected by the company, Rs.26 lakh was to be given yearly to the ruler and Rs.53 lakh to the Nawab of Bengal for the management of the business, the company was free to keep the balance with itself.

Soon the ill consequences of the diarchy governance system began to rise. Law and order in the country got disturbed and justice was only a matter of time. In this respect, Lord Cornwallis said in the House of Commons of England that, I can say with certainty that no country in the world was more corrupt, false, and evil than the government of the East India Company till 1765-1784 AD. The duplex government also damaged the agricultural system. Revenue collection started to be given to the highest bidder. From the top, the famine of 170 AD Bengal broke the back of farmers.

Read About Pandita Ramabai Sarawati

Sources: Wikipedia Hindi and Wikipedia English

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