Battle of Buxar

Introduction:-

The Battle fought at Buxar, then within the territory of Bengal, a town on the bank of the Ganges river about 130 km west of Patna, was a decisive victory for the British East India Company. The battle of Buxar was fought on 23 October 1764 between the forces of the British East India Company led by Hector Munro and the combined army of Mughal rulers.

The Mughal forces were drawn from 2 princely states, whose rulers were Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, and the Mughal King Shah Alam II. The combined Mughal forces numbered about 40,000 men, and Monroe's forces numbered about 10,000 men, of whom 7,000 were regular British Army men seconded to the East India Company.

Causes of the Battle :-

• Mir Kasim wanted to be independent and shifted his capital to Munger Fort from Calcutta.
• He also hired foreign experts to train his army.
• He treated Indian merchants and English as same.
• The result of misuse of Dastak, Farman and expansion of trade by English.
• These factors fuelled the English decided to overthrow him and war broke out between Mir Kasim and the Company in 1763.

Course of the Battle:-

• Mir Qasim fled to Oudh
• He planned a confederacy with Shuja-ud-daula, the Nawab of Oudh and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II in a final bid to overthrow the English from Bengal.
• Mir Qasim’s soldiers met the English army troops directed by Major Munro in 1764.
• Joined armies of Mir Qasim were defeated by the British.
• Mir Qasim absconded from the battle and the other two surrendered to the English army.
• The battle of Buxar ended with the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765.

Aftermath of war :-

• Shah Allam was forced to pay a fine of five million rupees. After negotiation, the Treaty of Allahabad was signed. All his pre-war possessions were returned except for the districts of Karra and Allahabad. He became a pensioner, with a monthly pension of 450,000 rupees.
• The Company got revenue authority (Diwani rights) for almost 100,000 acres of land in the modern states of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, as well as in the neighbouring areas of Bengal.In return mughal emperor was given 26 lakh rupees.
• Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula was restored to Oudh, with a subsidiary force and a guarantee of defence.
• Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, was ruined by the defeat. He had been the prime mover in the war, but afterwards he was deposed by the Company and rejected by Shuja-ud-Daula.
   

By: Shashank Shekhar