The Battle of Plassey & The English East India Company
The Battle of Plassey was a great victory for the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies. This made the company’s rule in Bengal much more secure and helped them become the dominant power in India.
Political Supremacy gained by the British
Expansion: British control over over Calcutta was acknowledged and and entrenched. The company VALLAN had the resources to broaden their rule owing to Bengal’s free trade and revenue.
Puppet Nawab: British were able to install a puppet nawab ‘Mir Jafar’ who gave them a substantial sum of money given as war reparations, which the British exploited to further their conquests.
Taxation Rights: Zamindari rights of Bengal parganas which upheld the taxing rights of the British, allowed the British to maintain their army at the expense of Bengal.
Controlling political Affair: Robert Clive started to introduce the political administration of the British in India. This later evolved into the Regulating Act of 1773 and so on.
Elimination of all European Rivals: It resulted in the ousting of the French from Bengal and left the British without any rivals in economic exploitation of Bengal.
Military Supremacy: It displayed the military supremacy of the British which helped in subsequent diplomatic efforts in expansion of the British empire.
The Battle of Plassey was of immense historical importance. It not only paved the way for the British dominance of Bengal and eventually the whole of India, but also it boosted the British prestige. The rich revenues of Bengal enabled them to organize a strong army that played a decisive role in Anglo-French rivalry and made the British the only contender of the Indian empire.