Siraj ud Daulah, governor of Bengal, unwisely provokes a military confrontation with the British at Plassey in 1757.

He is defeated by Robert Clive, an adventurous young official of the British East India Company.

Clive's victory is consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar on the Ganges, where he defeats the Mughal emperor.

As a result, the British East India Company is granted the title of diwan (collector of the revenue) in the areas of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, making it the supreme, but not titular, governing power.

Henceforth the British will govern Bengal and from here extend their rule to all of India.

The provincial capital of Bengal is moved from Dhaka to Murshidabad in 1704.

Although the governors continue to pay tribute to the Mughal court, they become practically independent rulers after the death in 1707 of Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor.

The governors are strong enough to fend off marauding Hindu Marathas from the Bombay area during the eighteenth century.

When the Mughal governor Alivardi dies in 1756, he leaves the rule of Bengal to his grandson Siraj ud Daulah, who will lose Bengal to the British the following year.

The British company employs sepoys—European-trained and European-led Indian soldiers—to protect its trade, but local rulers seek their services to settle scores in regional power struggles.

South India witnesses the first open confrontation between the British and the French, whose forces are led by Robert Clive and Francois Dupleix, respectively.

Both companies desire to place their own candidate as the nawab, or ruler, of Arcot, the area around Madras.

At the end of a protracted struggle between 1744 and 1763, when the Peace of Paris is signed, the British gain  an upper hand over the French and install their man in power, supporting him further with arms and lending large sums as well.

The French and the British also back different factions in the succession struggle for Mughal viceroyalty in Bengal, but Clive intervenes successfully and defeats Nawab Siraj-ud-daula in the Battle of Plassey (Palashi, about one hundred and fifty kilometers north of Calcutta) in 1757.

Clive finds help from a combination of vested interests that oppose the existing nawab: disgruntled soldiers, landholders, and influential merchants whose commercial profits are closely linked to British fortunes.

The European factories in India serve during the wars of the eighteenth century not only as collection and transshipment points for trade but also increasingly as fortified centers of refuge for both foreigners and Indians.

British factories gradually begin to apply British law to disputes arising within their jurisdiction.

The posts also begin to grow in area and population.

Armed company servants are effective protectors of trade.

As rival contenders for power call for armed assistance and as individual European adventurers find permanent homes in India, British and French companies find themselves more and more involved in local politics in the south and in Bengal.

Plots and counterplots climax when British East India Company forces, led by Robert Clive, decisively defeat the larger but divided forces of Nawab Siraj-ud-Dawlah at Plassey (Pilasi) in Bengal in 1757.

The British East India Company, established in 1600, gains complete control of Bengal after its forces, led by Robert Clive, defeat the larger but divided forces of the Mughal viceroy of Bengal, Nawab Siraj-ud-Dawlah at Plassey (Pilasi) in 1757.

Clive consolidates his victory at Plassey at the Battle of Buxar (in Bihar), in which he defeats the Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, in 1764.

As a consequence, Shah Alam is coerced to appoint the company to be the diwan (collector of revenue) for the areas of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.

The company thus becomes the supreme, but not the titular, power in much of the Ganges Valley, and company agents continue to trade on terms highly favorable to them.

This allows the company to exercise a monopoly over opium production and export in India, to encourage ryots (peasant cultivators) to cultivate the cash crops of indigo and opium with cash advances, and to prohibit the "hoarding" of rice.

The Company develops a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly at Plassey and ...

...in Bihar.

The Nawab, on learning of the attack on Hooghley, raises his army and marches on Calcutta, arriving with the main body on February 3 and encamping beyond the Maratha Ditch.

Siraj sets up his headquarters in the garden of one Omichund, who had long been resident at Calcutta, where he has acquired a large fortune by providing the investment for the British East India Company and by acting as intermediary between the English and the native court at Murshidabad.

Several houses owned by him in Calcutta are mentioned in connection with the fighting that preceded the tragedy of the Black Hole in 1756, and it is on record that he suffered heavy financial losses at that time.

He had been arrested by the English on suspicion of treachery, but afterwards he was forward in giving help to the fugitives and also valuable advice.

A small body of their army attacks the northern suburbs of the town but are beaten back by a detachment under Lieutenant Lebeaume places there, returning with fifty prisoners.

Clive decides to launch a surprise attack on the Nawab's camp on the morning of February 4.

At midnight, a force of six hundred sailors, a battalion of six hundred and fifty Europeans, one hundred artillery-men, eight hundred sepoys and six six-pounders approach the Nawab's camp.

At 6:00, under the cover of a thick fog, the vanguard comes upon the Nawab's advanced guard, who, after firing with their matchlocks and rockets, run away.

They continue forward for some distance until they are opposite Omichund's garden, when they heard the galloping of cavalry on their right.

The cavalry comes within thirty yards (twenty-seven meters) of the British force before the line gives fire, killing many and dispersing the rest.

The fog hampers visibility beyond walking distance.

Hence, the line moves slowly, infantry and artillery firing on either side randomly.

Clive had intended to use a narrow raised causeway, south of the garden, to attack the Nawab's quarters in the garden.

The Nawab's troops have barricaded the passage.

At about 9:00, as the fog begins to lift, the troops are overwhelmed by the discharge of two pieces of heavy cannon from across the Maratha Ditch by the Nawab's artillery.

The British troops are assailed on all sides by cavalry and musket-fire.

The Nawab troops now made for a bridge a mile further on, cross the Maratha Ditch and reach Calcutta.

The total casualties of Clive's force are fifty-seven killed and one hundred and thirty-seven wounded.

The Nawab's army has lost twenty-two officers of distinction, six hundred common men, four elephants, five hundred horses, some camels and a great number of bullocks.

The attack scares the Nawab into concluding the Treaty of Alinagar with the Company on  February 5, agreeing to restore the Company's factories, allow the fortification of Calcutta and restoring former privileges.

Based on the terms of the accord, the Nawab will recognize all the provisions of Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar's firman of 1717.

Moreover, all British goods that pass through Bengal will be exempt from duties.

In other tenets of the agreement, the British will not be hindered from fortifying Calcutta, as well as mint coins in Calcutta.

The Nawab withdraws his army back to his capital, Murshidabad.