The Battle of Buxar was fought in October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh; and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor[1]. The battle fought at Buxar (currently in Bihar state, India), a town located on the bank of the Ganges river, was a decisive battle won by the forces of the British East India Company.
The battle and booty
British troops engaged in the fighting numbered 7,072 comprising 857 Europeans, 5,297 sepoys and 918 Indian cavalry. Estimates of the native forces vary from 40,000 to 60,000. Lack of co-ordination among the three disparate allies, each with a different axe to grind, was responsible for their decisive debacle.
British losses are said to have been 847 killed and wounded, while the three Indian allies accounted for 2,000 dead, many more were wounded. The victors captured 133 pieces of artillery and over 1 million rupees of cash.
Treaty of Allahabad
Siraj-ud-Daula, the prime victim, signed the Treaty of Allahabad that secured Diwani Rights for the Company to administer the collection and management of the revenues of almost 100 million acres of real estate which currently form parts of the Indian states of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh , as well as of Bangladesh. He was also forced to pay a war indemnity of 5 million rupees. However, all his pre-war possessions were returned except for the districts of Karra and Allahabad.
Shah Alam II became a pensioner with a monthly stipend of 450,000 rupees towards upkeep of horses, sepoys, peons, burcandazes and household expenses. Mir Kasim, who was not a general, was quietly replaced. He also received a small share of the total land revenue, initially fixed at 2 million rupees.
The Battle of Buxar heralded the establishment of the rule of the East India Company in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. While the Battle of Plassey secured a foothold for the British East India Company in the rich province of Bengal, the Battle of Buxar is really the battle that made them the dominant force in India.
References
- ^ A Dictionary of Modern History (1707 - 1947), Parshotam Mehra, SBN 19-561552-2, 1985 ed., Oxford University Press
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