British Conquest of India

Before the conquest came the trade. Several European powers set up companies and factories, but only the British survived the contest for India.

• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach India by sea — Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498.
• In 1608, the first Englishman Captain William Hawkins came to Surat seeking trade approval from Jahangir (who first refused).
• In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe (ambassador of James I) won permission to set up a factory; the first English factory came up at Surat.
• The English set up an early factory in Bengal at Kasim Bazaar and their first South-Indian factory at Masulipatnam.

The first real contest for political power in South India was between the English and the French. Fought in the Carnatic region, these three wars decided which European power would dominate India.

• The French Governor Dupleix began the Anglo-French (Carnatic) conflict around 1742.
• The decisive Battle of Wandiwash was fought in 1760 between the English and the French, and was won by the English (EIC) — it ended French ambitions in India.
• The Carnatic Wars finally ended with the Treaty of Paris (1763), after which almost all French settlements passed to the English.
• Robert Clive rose to prominence in this period and became the architect of British power.

The Battle of Plassey is the single most important turning point — it made the British the real masters of Bengal, the richest province of India.

• It was fought during the reign of the Mughal emperor Alamgir II.
• The English victory was due to the betrayal of Mir Jafar, the Nawab's commander, who was bribed to switch sides.
• Aftermath: Mir Jafar was crowned the puppet Nawab (Governor) of Bengal.
• Mir Jafar is known as "Gaddar-e-Hind" (the traitor of India).
• Plassey made the East India Company the dominant political force in Bengal.

Plassey was less a battle than a betrayal — Clive won not by superior arms but by buying out the Nawab's general.

If Plassey gave the British Bengal, Buxar confirmed and legalised their control over eastern India. It was a far more decisive military victory.

• The combined force was led by Mir Qasim (deposed Nawab of Bengal), Shuja-ud-Daula (Nawab of Awadh) and Shah Alam II (the Mughal Emperor).
• Aftermath: the British annexed the Awadh region and expanded their power down towards South India.
• Buxar proved British military superiority and made them the supreme power in the east — unlike Plassey, this was won on the battlefield, not by treachery.

• After Buxar, Robert Clive signed the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765 with Shah Alam II.
• The Company was granted the Diwani (the right to collect revenue) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
• This made the Company the real ruler of eastern India, while the Mughal emperor lived on as a pensioner of the East India Company at Allahabad.

Both battles are exam favourites and are best remembered side by side.

Mysore under Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan was the toughest South-Indian challenge to British expansion. Four wars were fought before Mysore fell.

• Tipu Sultan was finally killed in 1799 at Seringapatam (Srirangapatnam), and Mysore came under British control.

• Treaty of Mangalore was signed between the British and Tipu Sultan.
• After the Third War, the Treaty of Seringapatam was signed; Tipu had to surrender half his kingdom and the fort of Mysore was burnt.
• In the Fourth War (1799) the British under Lord Wellesley stormed Seringapatam; Tipu Sultan died fighting, ending the Mysore threat.

The Marathas were the largest indigenous power. After their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), three Anglo-Maratha wars finally broke their confederacy by 1818.

• The chief minister of the Marathas was the Peshwa; their tax system included Chauth and Sardeshmukhi.

• The First Anglo-Maratha War began with the Battle / Treaty of Surat and ended without a clear winner.
• In the Second War, Lord Wellesley enforced the Subsidiary Alliance and annexed large Maratha territories.
• After the Third War, the Treaty of Bassein was associated with the final fall, and the entire Maratha empire was annexed in 1818.

Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the last major independent kingdom. After his death two wars led to the British annexation of Punjab in 1849.

• The Treaty of Amritsar was signed in 1809 AD between the British and Punjab (Ranjit Singh), fixing the Sutlej as the boundary.
• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–46): Sikhs defeated; ended by the Treaty of Lahore (1846).
• Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–49): Sikhs again defeated; Lord Dalhousie annexed Punjab in 1849.

As the British won battle after battle, the Mughal emperor shrank into a pensioner and finally a symbol.

• Shah Alam II (real name Ali Gauhar) lived for years at Allahabad as a pensioner of the East India Company after Buxar.
• He regained the throne of Delhi in 1772 with the help of the Maratha sardar Mahadji Scindia.
• By the mid-19th century the British were the undisputed paramount power, controlling almost the entire subcontinent.

The conquest was a step-by-step march — each war removing one more rival.

Buxar was the war that legally and militarily sealed British dominance in eastern India.

The British conquered India by defeating its great regional powers one after another.

A consolidated table of the conquest's decisive battles — the highest-yield revision tool.