12/31/13 Battle of Buxar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buxar 1/4
Battle of Buxar
Date 23 October 1764
Location Near Buxar
Result British East India Company Victory
Belligerents
[1]
Nawab of Awadh
Nawab of Bengal
Mughal Emperor
British East India
Company
Commanders and leaders
Shah Alam II
[2]
Shuja-ud-Daula
Mirza Najaf Khan
Mir Qasim
Hector Munro of
Novar
Strength
40,000
140 cannons
7,072
30 cannons
Casualties and losses
10,000 killed or wounded
6,000 captured
1,847 killed or wounded
Battle of Buxar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of Buxar was fought on 23 October 1764
between the forces under the command of the British East
India Company led by Hector Munro and the combined
army of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daula
the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal King Shah Alam II
[3]
The battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of
Bengal, a town located on the bank of the Ganges river
about 130 km west of Patna, was a decisive victory for the
British East India Company.
Contents
1 Battle
2 Aftermath
3 See also
4 References
Battle
British troops engaged in the fighting numbered 7,072
[4]
comprising 857 British, 5,297 Indian sepoys and 918 Indian
cavalry. The alliance army's numbers were estimated to be
over 40,000.By other sources,the combined army of the
Mughals, Awadh and Mir Qasim consisting of 40,000 men
were defeated by British army consisting 10,000 men.
The Mughal camp was internally broken due to a quarrel
between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-
Daula the Nawab of Awadh; Mir Qasim was reluctant to
engage the British and went off collecting tribute. The lack of
basic co-ordination among the three desperate allies was
responsible for their decisive debacle.
Mirza Najaf Khan commanded the right flank of the imperial
army and was the first to advance his forces against the
anticipating Hector Munro at daybreak, the British lines
quickly formed within twenty minutes and reversed the
advance of the Mughals. According to the British, Durrani
and Rohilla cavalry were also present and fought during the battle in various skirmishes. But by midday the battle
was over and Shuja-ud-Daula blew up large tumbrils and three massive magazines of gunpowder. Leaving 6,000
12/31/13 Battle of Buxar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buxar 2/4
The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II,
as a prisoner of the British East India
Company, 1781
fellow Mughal loyalists and 133 pieces of artillery on the battlefield.
Hector Munro divided his army into various columns and particularly
pursued the Mughal Grand Vizier Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh,
who responded by blowing up his boat-bridge after crossing the river,
thus abandoning the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and members of his
own regiment. Mir Qasim also fled with his 3 million rupees worth of
Gemstones and later even committed suicide. Mirza Najaf Khan
reorganized formations around Shah Alam II, who retreated and then
chose to negotiate with the victorious British.
British losses are said to have been 1,847 killed and wounded, while the
three Indian allies accounted for 2,000 dead; many more were wounded.
The victors captured 133 pieces of artillery, 6,000 Mughals and over 1
million rupees of cash. Immediately after the battle Hector Munro
decided to greatly assist the Marathas, who were described as a "warlike
race", well known for their relentless and unwavering hatred towards the Mughal Empire and its Nawabs and the
Sultanate of Mysore.
Aftermath
The prime victim, Shah Alam II, signed the Treaty of Allahabad that secured Diwani Rights for the Company to
collect and manage the revenues of almost 100,000,000 acres (400,000 km
2
) of real estate, which form parts of
the modern states of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, as es. Mir Qasim, 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 Treaty of Allahabad heralded the establishment of the rule of the East India Company in one-eighth of India
proper with a single stroke. The battles of Plassey and Buxar secured a permanent foothold for the British East
India Company in the rich province of Bengal, and secured its political ascendancy in the entire region. Buxar
should be seen in conjunction with the third battle of Panipat in January 1761 in terms of its impact on consolidating
British presence in north-east India. By the treaty of 1752, the Marathas had essentially taken over administration
of all the subahs of the Mughal empire, and had established their right to collect Chauth across these subahs. In
return, they would protect the north-west frontier of the Mughal empire from Afghan invasion. This resulted in nine
years of Maratha-Afghan struggle to establish control over the empire, and the subah of Punjab, which was claimed
by both. However, due to the Marathas' defeat at the third battle of Panipat, and their subsequent ten-year hiatus
from North Indian affairs, the British were able to establish a foothold in North Indian affairs. Buxar was an
important step in that direction.
Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula was restored to Oudh, with a subsidiary force and guarantee of defence, the emperor
Shah Alam II solaced with Allahabad and a tribute and the frontier drawn at the boundary of Bihar. For Bengal
itself the Company took a decisive step.
In return for restoring Shah Alam II to Allahabad, the Company got from him the imperial grant of the diwani or
revenue authority in Bengal and Bihar. This had hitherto been enjoyed by the nawab of Bengal. Thus now there was
a double government, the nawab retaining judicial and police functions but the Company exercising the revenue
12/31/13 Battle of Buxar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buxar 3/4
The Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim
power. The Company was acclimatised, as it were, into the Indian scene by becoming the Mughal revenue agent
for Bengal and Bihar. There was as yet no thought of direct administration, and the revenue was collected by a
Company-appointed deputy-nawab, Muhammad Reza Khan.
But this arrangement made the British East India Company the virtual
ruler of Bengal, since it already possessed decisive military power. All
that was left to the Nawab was the control of the judicial administration.
But he was later forced to hand this over to the Company in 1793. Thus
the company's control was virtually complete.
In spite of all this the East India Company was again on the verge of
bankruptcy, which stirred the British to a fresh effort at reform. On the
one hand Warren Hastings was appointed with a mandate for reform; on
the other an appeal was made to the British state for a loan. The result
was the beginnings of state control of the Company and the thirteen-year
governorship of Warren Hastings.
Hastings's first important work was that of an organiser. In the two and a
half years before the Regulating Act came into force he put in order the
whole Bengal administration. The Indian deputies who had collected the
revenue on behalf of the Company were deposed and their places taken
by a Board of Revenue in Calcutta and English collectors in the districts.
This was the real beginning of British administration in India.
It should also be noted that when the Marathas finally did send a large force back into North India in 1771, they
were able to persuade Shah Alam II to leave British protection and enter Maratha protection. They then established
Maratha regency over Delhi, which they essentially held till their defeat in the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803.
See also
Battle of Plassey
References
1. ^ Sailendra Nath Sen, History of the freedom movement in India (1857-1947), p.2. New Delhi, India : New Age
International (2009). ISBN 8122425763 (http://books.google.com.pk/books?
id=n_Vi8sSjgYsC&pg=PA1&dq=siraj+imperial+investiture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uk7CUIHuNoeZhQfExIG4BQ&redir_
esc=y#v=onepage&q=Buxar%20proclaimed%20the%20collapse%20of%20the%20power%20of%20Awadh%20an
d%20even%20of%20the%20feeble%20Mughal%20Emperor&f=false)
2. ^ Sailendra Nath Sen, History of the freedom movement in India (1857-1947), p.2. New Delhi, India : New Age
International (2009). ISBN 8122425763 (http://books.google.com.pk/books?
id=n_Vi8sSjgYsC&pg=PA1&dq=siraj+imperial+investiture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uk7CUIHuNoeZhQfExIG4BQ&redir_
esc=y#v=onepage&q=Shah%20Alam%20II%2C%20the%20Mughal%20Emperor&f=false)
3. ^ A Dictionary of Modern History (1707 - 1947), Parshotam Mehra, ISBN 19-561552-2, 1985 ed., Oxford
University Press
4. ^ Sir Edward Cust, Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century, Vol. 3, p. 113 (Google eBook), Mitchell's
Military Library (1858). ISBN 1235663922 (http://books.google.com.pk/books?
id=DoZCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA112&dq=battle+of+buxar&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lc0ST8mfIo2f-
QagvIXlAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=snippet&q=7072&f=false)
12/31/13 Battle of Buxar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buxar 4/4
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Buxar&oldid=586920320"
Categories: Battles involving the Mughal Empire Battles involving the Indian kingdoms Battles involving Bengal
Battles involving the British East India Company 1764 in India Conflicts in 1764 History of Bihar
This page was last modified on 20 December 2013 at 08:07.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.