The Mughal Empire

The Battle of Buxar 1764: The Decisive British Victory in North India

The Battle of Buxar, fought on 22 October 1764, was engagements in the history of the British presence in India. The battle was fought between the British East India Company forces under Major Hector Munro and a combined army of the Nawab of Awadh, the Nawab of Bengal, and the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. The British victory was decisive, and the subsequent Treaty of Allahabad in 1765 reshaped the political order of north India. The principal treatment of the British expansion is the British East India Company and the Mughals page, and the related engagement is the Battle of Plassey 1757. This page focuses on the battle, its participants, and its consequences.

The Context of the Battle

The Battle of Buxar must be understood in the context of the expansion of British power in India in the 1750s and 1760s. The British East India Company, established in 1600, had transformed itself in the aftermath of the Battle of Plassey 1757 from a trading corporation into a significant territorial power in Bengal. The grant of the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765, treated in detail in the Diwani of Bengal and the Treaty of Allahabad 1765 pages, gave the Company considerable fiscal resources, but the political situation in north India remained unstable.

The instability was significantly created by the political fragmentation of the post-Maratha Mughal order. The Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, had major interests in the heartland of north India, and the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, had significant interests in the Bengal-Bihar-Orissa region. The Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, had considerable claims to major portions of north India, but his authority was largely nominal. The British expansion was resented by significant portions of the Indian political class, and the confrontation that culminated in Buxar was the consequence of the competition for influence in the remainssof the Mughalstate.

The Three Indian Allies

The army that confronted Hector Munro at Buxar was a combined force of three Indian powers. The Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, was the principal leader of the coalition, and his army, drawn significantly from the Awadh region, was the core of the coalition. The Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, had interests in control of portions of the Bengal-Bihar-Orissa region, and his army was major. The Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, had claims to portions of north India, and his contingent, although considerable on paper, was weakened by the fiscal crisis of the post-Maratha Mughal state.

The coalition was major in size, perhaps forty thousand men or more, but it was divided by political rivalries. The interests of the three Indian powers were different, and the coalition’s strategy was complicated by the difficulty of cooperation between forces of different traditions. The coalition’s commander, a Mughal general, was a competent tactician, but the coalition’s strategic coordination was poor.

Hector Munro and the British Forces

The British commander at Buxar was Major Hector Munro, who had experience in the campaigns of the British East India Company in Bengal. Munro’s forces were perhaps seven thousand men, but they were excellent in quality, well disciplined, and well commanded. The British artillery was formidable, and the British infantry was trained in the European military tradition. The significant cavalry component, drawn largely from the Indian cavalry traditions, was also effective.

Munro was a capable tactician, and the British plan for the battle was designed to exploit European military superiority. The British forces were superior in discipline, in firepower, and in command structure, and the British victory at Buxar was the direct consequence of these advantages.

The Course of the Battle

The battle was fought on 22 October 1764, near the town of Buxar on the banks of the Ganges, in the present-day state of Bihar. The Indian coalition was larger in size, but it was poorly coordinated, and the British forces were superior in discipline. The Indian cavalry made several charges against the British infantry squares, but the charges were broken by British artillery and musket fire. The British forces, fighting in disciplined formation, gradually wore down the Indian coalition and eventually forced it from the field.

The Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, escaped from the field, but the Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, was captured, and the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim, fled. The casualties on the Indian side were heavy, and the political consequences of the battle were immediate. The British position in Bengal and north India was significantly consolidated, and the political order of north India was reshaped by the consequences of the battle.

The Outcome

The outcome of the battle was decisive. The British position in Bengal and north India was significantly consolidated, and the Indian coalition that had confronted the British was broken. The Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, who had been in the coalition as a nominal ally of the Nawab of Awadh, was captured and brought into the British camp. The emperor’s position was a considerable diplomatic asset for the British, and the British authorities were quick to capitalise on the opportunity. The subsequent Treaty of Allahabad, concluded in 1765 between Robert Clive, Shah Alam II, and Shuja-ud-Daulah, established the framework for the British presence in north India for the following decades.

The Treaty of Allahabad

The Treaty of Allahabad 1765 is examined in detail in a separate article, but its principal provisions must be recalled here. By the terms of the treaty, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the East India Company, a grant examined in detail in the Diwani of Bengal page. The Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, was confirmed in his possession of Awadh but was required to pay a major indemnity to the Company and to surrender significant portions of his territory. The emperor was given the territory of Allahabad and a considerable pension, and the Company undertook to maintain him in his position as the nominal sovereign of the Mughal empire.

The treaty was a major diplomatic achievement. It established the British position in north India on a major legal basis, it confirmed the Company’s fiscal control of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, and it deprived the French and the Dutch of the significant commercial position they had previously enjoyed in the region. The treaty was, in effect, the foundation on which the subsequent British presence in India was built.

The Significance for British Control of India

The Battle of Buxar and the Treaty of Allahabad were the foundational events of the British presence in India. The grant of the diwani gave the Company the fiscal resources to expand its territorial control, and the considerable British victory in north India established the Company as the dominant political power in the subcontinent. The consequences of the battle and the treaty are examined in detail in the British East India Company and the Mughals page and in the colonial Mughal legacy page.

The long-term significance of the battle and the treaty was major. The British position in India, established on a major fiscal and territorial basis, was the foundation on which the subsequent British raj was built. The rebellion of 1857, the colonial Mughal legacy, and the broader Mughal decline overview are all incomprehensible without reference to the significant consequences of the Battle of Buxar and the Treaty of Allahabad.

Sources

  • P.J. Marshall, Bengal: The British Bridgehead (NCHI II.2, 1987), ch. 3.