Theme 3Part A · The British conquest
The Carnatic Wars
1746 to 1763 · the English and the French fight for the Coromandel coast
The Carnatic was the coastal plain between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, ruled by a nawab at Arcot who answered to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Here, over seventeen years and three wars, the English and the French discovered that small European armies could make Indian kings.
Event 11746 to 1748
The First Carnatic War
When Britain and France went to war in Europe over the Austrian Succession, their companies on the Coromandel coast fought too. The war was short, but one small battle on the Adyar river changed how everyone in India thought about armies.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
A French fleet under La Bourdonnais, governor of Mauritius, takes Madras. He agrees to ransom it back to the English, but Dupleix, governor of Pondicherry, refuses and keeps it.
Anwaruddin, Nawab of the Carnatic, had forbidden war in his lands and sends his army to take Madras. A small French force under Paradis routs an army about ten times its size at St Thome on the Adyar. Trained infantry with muskets and field guns had beaten Indian cavalry.
The English besiege Pondicherry and fail. The Treaty of Aix la Chapelle ends the war in Europe, and Madras is handed back to the English in exchange for Louisbourg in North America.
- A European war fought in India, ended by a European treaty.
- Nothing changed hands, but Adyar showed that a small drilled force could beat a big Indian army.
- Dupleix drew the lesson: hire out such troops to Indian princes and take power in return.
Event 21749 to 1754
The Second Carnatic War: king making
Now there was no war in Europe. Dupleix used his soldiers to put his own candidates on the thrones of Hyderabad and the Carnatic, and the English did the same with theirs.
| Hyderabad (Deccan) | Carnatic (Arcot) | |
|---|---|---|
| The dispute | Nizam ul Mulk dies (1748): his son Nasir Jung against his grandson Muzaffar Jung | Nawab Anwaruddin against Chanda Sahib, son in law of an earlier nawab |
| French backed | Muzaffar Jung, then Salabat Jung | Chanda Sahib |
| English backed | Nasir Jung | Anwaruddin, then his son Muhammad Ali |
| Result | Salabat Jung rules with Bussy and French troops at his side | Muhammad Ali wins; Chanda Sahib killed (1752) |
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
French troops with Muzaffar Jung and Chanda Sahib defeat and kill Anwaruddin at Ambur. His son Muhammad Ali escapes to the great rock fort of Trichinopoly.
Nasir Jung is killed near Gingee (December 1750) and Muzaffar Jung becomes Subahdar, rewarding Dupleix with land and titles. When he too is killed (1751), Bussy installs Salabat Jung and stays at Hyderabad with French troops. French influence runs from Pondicherry to the Deccan.
To relieve Trichinopoly, Robert Clive, a young Company clerk turned soldier, seizes Arcot, Chanda Sahib's capital, with about 500 men and holds it through a 53 day siege. Chanda Sahib's army is drawn away from Trichinopoly; he surrenders and is killed in 1752.
Salabat Jung grants the French the Northern Circars (1753) to pay Bussy's troops. But the French company, losing money, recalls Dupleix (1754). Godeheu makes peace and both sides promise not to interfere in Indian politics.
Dupleix
Brilliant idea, no backing. Saw that Indian princes could be made dependent on European troops and paid in land revenue. His company in Paris wanted dividends, not wars, and called him home in 1754; he died poor in 1763.
Clive
Took the same idea and had the backing to finish it. Arcot made his name; within six years he would use the method on Bengal, with London's money and ships behind him.
Event 31756 to 1763
The Third Carnatic War and Wandiwash
The Seven Years' War brought the two companies back to war. This time it was decisive, because the English now had the revenues of Bengal behind them after Plassey (1757).
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Count de Lally lands with a large force, takes Fort St David (1758) and besieges Madras for two months, until an English fleet forces him to withdraw (February 1759). To strengthen himself he recalls Bussy from Hyderabad.
Without Bussy, the French hold on the Deccan collapses. An English force from Bengal under Colonel Forde takes Masulipatnam (1759), and Salabat Jung hands the Northern Circars to the English.
Eyre Coote defeats Lally at Wandiwash (Vandavasi). Bussy is taken prisoner. It is the decisive battle between the two companies.
After a long siege Pondicherry surrenders and the English level its fortifications. Under the Treaty of Paris (1763) the French get their settlements back, but only as unfortified trading posts.
The three wars at a glance
| First | Second | Third | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | 1746 to 1748 | 1749 to 1754 | 1756 to 1763 |
| Cause in Europe | War of the Austrian Succession | none: a war by proxy | Seven Years' War |
| Cause in India | Anglo French trade rivalry | succession in Hyderabad and the Carnatic | carry over of the European war |
| Key battles | Madras, Adyar (St Thome) | Ambur, Arcot, Trichinopoly | Madras, Masulipatnam, Wandiwash, Pondicherry |
| Ended by | Treaty of Aix la Chapelle (1748) | Treaty of Pondicherry (1754 to 1755) | Treaty of Paris (1763) |
| Outcome | status quo; Madras returned | English candidate rules the Carnatic; French strong at Hyderabad | French reduced to unfortified trading posts |
Event 4the verdict
Why the French lost
The French had the better idea first and, in Dupleix and Bussy, men who understood Indian politics. They still lost, and the reasons are a stock Mains answer.
The French company was run by the crown, starved of funds and swung by court politics; the English company was private and well financed.
The Royal Navy could reinforce Madras and blockade Pondicherry; the French navy could not.
After 1757 the English had Bengal's revenue to pay for armies in the south; the French had nothing like it.
La Bourdonnais against Dupleix, Lally against Bussy; and Dupleix recalled at the height of his success.
France cared more about its wars in Europe than about India, and gave up India in the treaties.
Dupleix's mistake? Some historians say he spread himself too thin in the Deccan; others that Paris simply would not pay for his plans.
A lesson for Indian rulers Mysore, the Marathas and the Nizam now hired European officers to train their own infantry. It helped, but the English had become the main power before they caught up.
Who's who16 people
People
Dupleix
Pondicherry
Governor 1742 to 1754; first to use European troops to make Indian rulers.
La Bourdonnais
Mauritius
Took Madras in 1746; quarrelled with Dupleix.
Paradis
French officer
Won at Adyar (1746).
Bussy
Hyderabad
Kept Salabat Jung on the throne; won the Northern Circars; captured at Wandiwash.
Count de Lally
French commander
Lost at Wandiwash; executed in Paris in 1766.
Godeheu
French
Replaced Dupleix and made peace in 1754.
Robert Clive
English
Took and held Arcot (1751).
Stringer Lawrence
English
Commander of the Company's Madras army, father of the Indian Army.
Eyre Coote
English
Won at Wandiwash (1760).
Colonel Forde
English
Took Masulipatnam (1759).
Anwaruddin
Nawab of the Carnatic
Beaten at Adyar, killed at Ambur (1749).
Chanda Sahib
claimant
French ally; killed at Trichinopoly (1752).
Muhammad Ali
Nawab of the Carnatic
English ally; nawab from 1752, deep in debt to Company men.
Nasir Jung
Hyderabad
English backed; killed in 1750.
Muzaffar Jung
Hyderabad
French backed; killed in 1751.
Salabat Jung
Hyderabad
French protégé; granted the Northern Circars.
Key terms8
Terms
- Carnatic
- The Coromandel coastal region from the Krishna to the Kaveri, ruled by the Nawab of Arcot.
- Northern Circars
- The coastal districts of the Andhra region from Ganjam to Guntur.
- Sepoy
- An Indian soldier trained and armed in the European way (from sipahi).
- Subahdar
- A Mughal provincial governor; the Nizam was the Subahdar of the Deccan.
- War of the Austrian Succession
- European war of 1740 to 1748 behind the First Carnatic War.
- Seven Years' War
- Global war of 1756 to 1763 behind the Third Carnatic War and the British victory in Bengal.
- Treaty of Aix la Chapelle
- 1748; returned Madras to the English.
- Treaty of Paris
- 1763; returned French posts in India, unfortified.