Seven Years War
BATTLE OF PLASSEY The Battle of Plassey was fought in north-eastern India on 23 June 1757. Troops of the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, came up against the forces of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last Nawab of Bengal, and his French allies. Clive's victory eventually led to the British becoming the greatest economic and military power in India. By the mid-18th century, the Mughal Empire, which had once controlled the majority of the Indian sub-continent, was in a condition of breakdown as local Indian and European states endeavored to cut out their own political and economic power bases. The East India Company was one of these contending powers. While fighting the French for trading supremacy, it at the same time started to include itself in nearby political issues, particularly in Bengal, India's most richest territory. The Bengali ruler Siraj-ud-Daulah had been in dispute with the company for quite a while. A year prior to the Battle of Plassey, when the company woul...