CHANAKAYA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

HISTORY
ANGLO-FRENCH STRUGGLE

VINAY KUMAR

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my privilege to record my deep sense to perform gratitude to those who

helped me in completion of this project.

In making of this project many people helped me immensely directly or

indirectly. First of all I would like to thank Dr. Priyadarshni who had given me
an idea and encouragement for making this project. I would like also to thank
my friends for being cordial in order to make conducive environment of the
CNLU Hostel.

Vinay kumar

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology is a systematized investigation to gain new knowledge

about the phenomena or problems. Legal phenomena require their own research
methodology. The research methodology applied here is doctrine method of
research. The systematic investigation of problems and of matters concerned
with the topic “Anglo-French struggle ” has been done. The books in the
library and materials available on the internet have been used to study about the
topic. The main goal of this research is to understand the legal system prevailing
in this era.

(Signature)

Table of contents

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Contents page no

1. Intoduction
2. Early settlement
3. First carnatic war(1746-48)
4. Second carnatic war (1749-54)
5. Third carnatic war(1757-63)
.............................. 5
............................... 6
.................................8
.................................11
.................................13

6. conclusion ..................................15

7 .bibliography ...................................16

INTRODUCTION
English as well French was the major power in the world. Both of them wanted to show
their supremacy by the of colonising more places. Industrial revolution had already taken

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place in the Europe, and major power wanted to conquer places in order meet the demand of
raw material . . There was stiff competition between these two i.e French and English to
acquire more and more territory . In many part of world both of them had acquired
proportional land. India was the best example for this policy. Both them had territory but
neither of them interfered in each other matter. Some has derived a formula that ,‘two dagger
can’t lie in same case. There were continuous wars between these two powers,i.e Britain and
French. These war were namely- First Carnatic War(1746-48), Second Carnatic
War(1749-54)And Third Carnatic War(1757-63). These wars were the determinant that
English , not the French were the real the master of the India. So this war regarded as the
determining wars fought in the Indian history. The war proceed as French and its rivalries
English on one side and Deccan king on other side. The was short struggle between French
and the Englishmen for having its commercial supremacy over commercial territory of
Deccan. All these important factors shaped the course of events as they developed from a
petty struggle for the privileges of trade into the empire of the Mughal.

But it has been proved by the Englishmen that their wars tactics was one of the best in the
world. French army had their initial success under the leadership of Dupleix, but latter they
were forced to die hard, means complete defeat against the supremacy of the English.

FRENCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND EARLY SETTLEMENT

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There was a strong desire in the French colonist to colonise India and this desire has been
quoted through their writing. Once quoted, “ the desire of eastern traffic displayed itself a
very early period among the French “, but they were the last European to advent its
commercial activities in india. Commercial trade was the ultimate gain which each and every
European country wanted to achieve but French was the last to advent in India. Frenchmen
like Henry IV,Richelieu and Colbert realised the importance of eastern commerce . At the
effort of Colbert , compaige Des Indes orientales” was created to conquer eastern central
Asia. European tried the fruitless effort at Madagasca.

The first French factory in india was established by Francosis Caron at surat in 1668,which
was accompanied by another at Massulipatam in 1669. Factory at Masulipatam was
established after obtaining patent right from sultan of Golkunda. In 1672 the French army
defeated San thome,a Dutch leader at Madras, but at same time their own Adimiral De La
Haye , was defeated by combined force of sultan of Golconda and Dutch army .As a
consequence of this fight ,French army had to surrender San thome to the Dutch.
Meanwhile , in 1673 Francosis and Bellanger De Lespinay ,one of the right hand of
Admiral De La Haye captured a village from muslim governor of Valikondapuram. This
lead to the foundation of Pondicherry. Francosis martin was the helping hand, who took
charge of this settlement through excessive interest ,courage and tact.

In Bengal, nawab Shaista khan allotted exclusive sites to French in 1674. Here French built
a famous factory of Chandernagore in 1690-92.there was stiff competition between Dutch,
English and French to increase its territorial influence in India. Dutch supported English to
root out French from India. Pondicherry was captured by Dutch in 1693,but was again
handed back to the French by the “treaty of Ryswick” in 1693. Martin was again placed in
charge of Pondicherry and he restored the prosperity; so that it is

claimed that Pondicherry had a population of 40,000 at time of his death in 1706. While on
the other hand Calcutta used to possessed only 20,000 people in the same year.

In the beginning of 17th century ,French started losing its control over factories at Bantam,
Surat and Masulipatnam. They were abandoned from most of the places, resulting loss of
strong hold over its territory by the beginning of the 18th century. The resources of the French
army was practically exhausted by the time , since 1720 it passed through very bad days ,
even selling its licences to other.

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French people were never in strong as their counterpart. With the reconstitution of the
company in 1720 their perpetual succession again returned under the wise administration of
Lenoir and Dumas between 1720 and 1742 .The French occupied Mauritius in 1721,Mahe
and Malabar coast in 1726,Karnikal in 1739. The motive of French was purely economical
and many of their tactician devoted their minds for trade purposes, they never devoted their
time for political conquests. Most of their leader lacked of political idea of conquest and
spent most of their time in self defence against Dutch and English. After 1742 political
motives began to overshadow the desire of commercial gain and Dupleix began to cherish the
empire in India.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH THE FIRST – CARNATIC WAR(1746-48)

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For more than 20 years the carnatic –the name given by the European to the coast and its
hinterland -became the scene of long drawn contest between the French and the British,
which led to overthrow of French power in India. These wars were the determinant that
English , not the French were the real the master of the India. So this war regarded as the
determining wars fought in the Indian history. The war proceed as French and its rivalries
English on one side and Deccan king on other side. The was short struggle between French
and the Englishmen for having its commercial supremacy over commercial territory of
Deccan. All these important factors shaped the course of events as they developed from a
petty struggle for the privileges of trade into the empire of the Mughal.

Madras and the Pondicherry were the trading station of French and the English on the
Coromandel coast. Each of these was fortified city with about 500 European and 25,000
Indians. The English also possessed St.David the small sea coast and depended for their
safety and fresh supplies of resources from home upon the command of the sea. Both
English and the French were the on the vantage position who didn’t have navy, which
ultimately made success for the two European to administer whole sea .

The existence of common goals led in South East Asia to real inter-colonial collaboration
between two colonial powers which were supposed to be rivals.Like everywhere, the
colonisers had to consolidate their authority through the administration and the economic
exploitation of their Asiatic possessions andprotectorates. But the local conditions were
specific. The distance from thehome country, the existence of ancient local civilisations and
politicalstructures, the natural constraints, were objective conditions that French and British
had to be aware of.1

Condition of the Indian ruler was always deplorable, failed to maintain navy and highly
equipped weapon ; they always had short hand in battle field. Province was under Suhadar of
Deccan, and was ruled by a governor called Nawab, with its headquarters at Arcot. Nizam-
ul-mulk, the Suhadar of Deccan , had made a independent territory, and the nizam behaved as
if like a independent prince. The nizam was attached with Marathas and was having trade
affairs with northern India. In1743, Marathas had plundered into the carnatic war, killed its
governor, Nawab Dost Ali. Chanda shaheb ,the Son of Dost Ali was taken to Satara as
prisoner of war. Safdar ali ,another son of Dost Ali saved his life by paying one crore rupees ,
1
ASIA EUROPE JOURNAL SPRINGER VERLAG (2004)

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but soon he was murdered by the cousin. The youngest among brother obtained the post of
Nawab . All these revolt and incident created a stigma of fear and distraction among the
people of Carnatic region, even the Nawab took time to recover from agony and distraction.
All things were restored after a period three to four months. Nawab of Deccan appointed
Anwar- ud-din , a tried servant ,as the Nawab of carnatic region. Condition of carnatic region
became bad to worse, while relatives of Dost Ali even have huge jagirs.2

While whole of the carnatic Was being convulsed by three political events, the English and
French were carrying their settlement through unhindered trade and commerce. The French
as well as British didn’t take part in the political interest of Indian until and unless and it
affected their trade affairs. In 1740,there was Austrian war of succession among the European
countries. In this war both these countries took active part against each other. These raised a
kind of tension in the colonial power existing in India. The European countries were hostile
against each other and failed to maintain any neutrality in their colonised state. The French
governor of Pondicherry proposed neutrality in trade relations, but the British colonised east
India company didn’t assured for such obligation, especially in the field of sea where they
had strong hand.

As a matter of fact , Englishmen tried to capture the French territory but the entrance of
heroic la bourdonnais , paved a way for the French trader. The French people were armoured
fleet which they lacked in the earlier part of the war. British either controlled or had to
move away to the territory of the Calcutta ,taking their all fleets. Now British have total
control over the territory of Madras ,at meagre cost of six life as it wasn’t used to be in past
arena .

While of the other hand ,Anwar –Ud- Din was appointed as the Nawab of the Carnatic ,and
also tried to control contest raging in the country. Duplex appointed Nawab a protector of the
right and obligation of the English ships. Duplex was controller of rights and duties of the
king against navy and territorial interest of people . French were the superior in this phase,
and emerged as the superior in all three subordinates i.e Britain and regional kings . French
conquered the territory of Madras from the clutches of Nawab. The main reason for the
failure of Nawab was incapacity of the theirs to handle the navy .Nawab didn’t have well
equipped navy in those days ,and it was the main reason of British’s defeat. Finally the
Nawab’s army was to forced retire before St.Thome.
2
Modern India 2nd edition L.P Sharma 29

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The Defeat of Nawab was Nawab army had a far reaching consequences , leading to increase
in the prestige of French amongst the other European nation. La Bournannis was ready to
restore madras for ransom of certain amount ,but Duplex was against policy. After a
prolonged quarrel , Dupleix seemed ready to submit, when a severe hurricane caused damage
to the French fleet and forced La Bourdannis to retire with his ships from the Indian seas.
Finally French had control of Madras and treaty of Madras was signed ,under which French
plundered into whole of madras .here they ruled over eighteen months.3

In June 1748, a large scale army was sent from England to plunder into the Madras , and
conquer the lost territory. English supported by Indian ruler came with a huge army came to
conquer the Madras and extend its territorial control till Pondicherry. Madras was now under
the control of English with minimum number of casualties. English men also tried to control
over the French territory at Pondicherry but was saved due to the lack of military skills of
military skills of the besieging army and latter was force to siege the war. Austrian war of
succession had been concluded by treaty of chapello(1748) and same terms and codition had
been followed to restore the territory of Madras to the English. Both war had been conclude
d by the territorial gain of both sides.4

Second Carnatic War ( 1749-54)

3
Mordern history –V.D. Mahajan 16 Edn.2004
4
Sarkar and Dutta , Modern India History vol II

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Both French and English army supported by the regional ruler were left comprised by the
treaty and this had changed the situation existing in between them. The war illustrated the
power struggle between English and French. Both of the parties were in position to uplift
themselves the superior power of the sea. They thought that without control over the sea
,none of them were able to maintain the imperial control over the vast empire colonised by
them. The French were restricted to the carnatic war while on the other hand English had
already managed a super massive control over the Bengal and Bombay .5

Indian king like Anwar-ud-din have recognised that merely maintaining a large is better was
not enough to fight with skilled army of the European countries. French army also had a
great leadership of the Dupliex which always proved a better hand to fight against the British.

Another discontent started against the Anwar-ud-in Khan who had been the Nawab of the
carnatic region, among the relatives of the Nawab Dost Ali. Chanda Sahib Who was the son-
in-law of the Nawab Dost Ali had been taken as the prisoner by the Marathas in the 1741. He
had been released after 7 years. He was eyeing to control over the Deccan region. Dupleix
was egarly waiting for the similar situation and concluded a treaty between Chanda sahib and
Mujafar jung Ali with a view to place them on them on the throne of carnatic and Deccan
respectively. On the 3rd August 1749, the three allies defeated and killed Anwar-ud-in at the
battle of Almur to the south east of Vellore. Muhammad Ali ,the son of the Anwar ud-in ,fled
to Trichponoply and a French army was sent to the town.

The English could not fail to realise the great danger which threatened them, but they lacked
the energy of the Dupliex. They sent urgent invitations to Nasir jang to come and crush his
enemies and sent some help to the Muhammed Ali at Trichinopoly. The result was that
inspite of initial success in the carnatic ,Nasir jung was killed in the 1750. Mujjafar jang,
who had been kept as a prisoner and was set now aside free and now claimed Subhdar of the
Deccan. The suhadar rewarded his services French allies for his services. He appointed
Dupleiex as the governor of the Mughal territories of the south of the Krishna river and
ceded the territories near Pondicherry as well as on the Orissa coast ,including the famous
town of Masaulipatnam.

Mujaffar jung and Chanda sahib, occupied the throne at Hyderabad and Acrot. In less than
two year an insignificant body of French under the leadership of Dupliex’s success appeared
nothing sort of miracle.
5
Mallesion G.B ,History of French in India

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In meantime events were marching rapidly in the north .Robert clive ,a civilian employee in
Madras has been lately joined the Army. He proposed a expedition against the Acrot, which
had been already suggested by Muhammad Ali and approved by the English governor ,
Saunder as best means of Preventing the fall of the Trichnopoly , for the chanda Sahib was
sure to divert the effective part of his capital. The proposal was accepted and clive was
entrusted with its execution of his capital. Chanda sahib immediately sent a relieving force
from Trichinopoly to recapture his capital. For fifty three days Clive heroically defended the
city besieging forces withdrew.

The French general in charge of the siege of Trinchonopoly, was unlevered by the success
of the clive and took refuge on the island of the Srirangam. At the instance of the Robert
Clive the English besieged the island .Dupleix sent reinforcement but surrendered to the
English on June,9 ,1752.6

Dupleix won over Mohari Rao and the ruler of the Mysore to his side and secured the
neutrality of the Raja of Tanjore. He then began active operations( 31st December 1752) and
renewed the siege of Trinchnopoly . Minor military engagement took place throughout 1753
with alternative success and failure of the on both sides .

French authorities were thoroughly tired of the Dupleix and decided to recall him. They never
understood the full implication of the mastery policy and the heavy financial losses which his
policy was involved .Accordingly they sent Godeheu to investigate the local condition and
take proper action to retrieve the situation. Goudheiu policy was opposed to the policies of
the Dupleix. He opened negotiation with the English and concluded a treaty. The English
and French agreed on the proposal that they would not interfere in the Quarrel of the Princes
and each party would be left in the possession of the territories which was actually possessed
by them at the time of treaty.

THIRD CARNATIC WAR(1757-63)

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The peace was established in the Carnatic region by the treaty of Godeheu was again broken
by the seven year war .In 1758, warlike operation began on a large scale. The condition was
worsening day by day , English Company had to call back their forces from Bengal under the
command of the Pocock. French received enforcement from home, Count De Lily was sent to
conduct the war. He was invested with over Naval Forces which were commanded by D’
Ache.

Lally began splendidly. He Besieged the Fort. David on 1 st may and the place was captuated
by him on 2nd June 1758. He wisely decided to strike the root of the British power in the
Carnatic by reducing Madras. But D’ Ache who had been defeated by the English fleet on
28th April 1758, refused to sail. It was impossible to carry out the operation without the Navy,
and so Lally to relive his financial difficulties by forcing Raja of Tanjore to pay 70 lacs of his
rupees which he had owned to the French. In meantime, English fleet had engaged D’Ache’s
squadron and inflicted heavy losses upon it. As soon Lally received the news, he raised the
siege of Tanjore (10th August 1758). Thereby not inflicting his own reputation but also the
prestidge of the French Army.

The French fleet now left the Indian seas and Lally had to wait till English forced to leave the
Harbour of the Madras on the approach of Monsoon.On 17 th February 1759,when English
army reappeared after monsoon, then French attacked immediately. Luck never favour
cowards , so they were defeated in the counter attack ; seiging the future of the French in
India.

In the carnatic war,English took the aggressive steps. The severe war between English and
the French leaded by Pocock fom English side and D’Ache from French side. The defeat in
this battle had successive impact on all over world ; leaving English as master of sea.
Consequently French were defeated bitterly in Madras.

By the last of effort , French general hoped that they would revive after collision with Hyder
Ali, the ruler of Mysore. The idea was well conceived but lead no success for French. Hyder
Ali sent troops to help the French army, but due to lack of military supervision they suffered
a heavy set back against the English Army. The army sent returned to its previous destination
,leaving Lally to suffer his own fate.

Pondicherry was blocked by both land as well as sea. On 16 th January 1761, British attacked
the territory and widely ruined the resources of the French. Pondicherry was sieged by the

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English army following the capure of the Ports of Jinji and Mahe , which was under French
control. French lost their possession over India, but they restored back by the Treaty of
Paris.

The reason for defeat was possibly the weak support from the motherland. Whenever they
required money they were not provided so.Both Lally and Dupleix had face the consequences
of weak support from the home, which caused great loss to the reputation of French in India.

CONCLUSION

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Since the 15th century when Europeans first arrived in India the fight for supremacy between
rival factions became a part of the Indian history. But the Anglo-French struggles should get
special mentions, as there role in shaping the course of modern India is far more important
than that of any other contemporary struggles.

The actual onset of the struggles arose from Anglo-French commercial and political rivalry in
India and political rivalry in Europe. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century the
French stake in India was not great enough to be worth the despatch of an English armament.
The two companies therefore declared neutrality and went on trading. But between 1720 and
1740 the French Company's trade increased ten times in value until it was nearly half that of
the old-established English company at about Pound 880,000.

The stake of both countries in India was now considerable. The British were deeply involved
with indigo, saltpetre, cottons, silk, and spices; they had a growing, trade with China and a
strong vested interest in England itself in the form of shipping and stores brokers. The value
of the trade was more than ten per cent of the public revenue of Great Britain at that time.

The occasion for intervention arose with Frederick the Great of Prussia's seizure of Silesia in
1740. In the war of the Austrian Succession, which followed (1740-48) Britain and France
were on the opposite sides in the rival coalitions. It is these wars, of wholly European origin,
which provided the political turning point in the history of modern India. In 1746 a French
fleet made possible the capture of Madras. In 1748 a British fleet made an unsuccessful
attempt to capture Pondicherry. Madras was again exchanged between the French and the
British by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

Bibliography

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BOOKS REFERRED

 Modern History,VD Mahanjan

 History of Modern India, LP Sharma,2004

 An Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar 2005,Edn

 Mallesion G.B ,History Of French In India

WEBSITE

 www.google.com

 Www.wikepedia.com

 WWW.Enclyopedia.com

 Www.debojiblogspot.com

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