Indian Wars

The Wars Of Southern India

This Naval History continues on from: "Marine Gunners"

Britain and France both had significant colonial possessions in India and had been battling for supremacy for a number of years. The British were represented by the British East India Company who were permitted to raise troops.

The collapse of the long-standing Mughal Empire brought the clash between the two states to a head, as each tried to gain sufficient power and territory to dominate the other.

The 1754 Treaty of Pondicherry which ended the Second Southern India War had brought a temporary truce to India, but it was soon under threat again. A number of smaller Indian Princely States aligned with either Britain or France to gain influence.

One of the most assertive of these Princes was the pro-French Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, who resented the British presence in Calcutta, and was prepared to assist the French in removing the British.

In 1756 he had succeeded his grandfather Alivardi Khan who had been a staunch British ally. By contrast he regarded the British East India Company as an encroaching threat on his jurisdiction.

Marine Gunners

Land Battle Of Calcutta

On 20 June 1756 the Nawab's troops stormed Fort William and captured the city. A number of the British civilians and prisoners of war were locked in a small, dark, damp and dirty guardroom in what became known as the Black Hole of Calcutta.

After the death of many of them, the atrocity became a popular rallying call for revenge. A strong force from Madras under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive, arrived and liberated the city, driving out the Nawab's troops.

The Third War of Southern India that followed saw Britain ranged against the Nawab and France. Clive consolidated his position in Calcutta, and made contact with one of the Nawab's chief advisors Mir Jafar attempting to persuade him and other leading Bengalis to overthrow the Nawab.

After the British ambushed a column of the Nawab's troops which was approaching Calcutta on 2 February 1757, the two sides agreed the Treaty of Alinagar which brought a temporary truce to Bengal.

Land Battle of Plassey

Despite the agreement at Alinagar, neither side was content with the status quo. The British felt that if they did not assert their position, the French would become the dominant power in Bengal.

Siraj ud-Daulah was fearful of being forced to accept British sovereignty. His position was weakened by his unpopularity with his own subjects, and the threat of other military enemies to the west. He began to take steps to drive the British out of Bengal entirely.

On 23rd June 1757 the Nawab led a force of 50,000 into the field. Ranged against them was a much smaller Anglo-Indian force under the command of Robert Clive.

The Nawab was weakened by the betrayal of Mir Jafar who had concluded a secret pact with the British before the battle - and refused to move his troops to support the Nawab.

Faced with the superior firepower and discipline of the British troops – the Nawab's army was routed. After the brutal battle, Siraj ud-Daulah was overthrown and executed by his own officers, and Mir Jafar succeeded him as Nawab. He then concluded a peace treaty with the British.

Mir Jafar himself subsequently clashed with the British for much the same reasons as Siraj ud-Daulah had. He conspired with the Dutch East India Company to try to oust the British from Bengal. In 1759 he invited the Dutch to send troops to aid him.

The defeat of the Dutch at the Battle of Chinsurah resulted in Britain moving to have Jafar replaced with his son-in-law, who was considered more favourable to the British East India Company. One of the most important long-term effects of the battle was that the British received the diwan – the right to collect taxes in Bengal which was granted in 1765.

The French East India Company

The French presence in India was led by the French East India Company operating out of its base at Pondicherry. Its forces were under the command of Joseph François Dupleix and Lally, a Jacobite. The veteran Dupleix had been in India a long time, and had established a key rapport with France's Indian allies.

Lally was more newly arrived, and was seeking a swift victory over the British - and was less concerned about diplomatic sensibilities. This mistake would cost the French dearly.

Following the Battle of Chandalore when Clive attacked a French trading post the French were driven completely out of Bengal. In spite of this the French still had a major presence in central India, and hoped to regain the power they had lost to the British in southern India during the Second War.

The Years Of Misfortune 1759

Apart from a few isolated victories, the war had not gone well for Britain since 1754 and in all theatres except India and North America (where Pitt's strategy had led to important gains in 1758) they were on the retreat.

British agents received information about a planned French invasion which would knock Britain out of the war completely.

While France starved their colonial forces of troops and supplies to concentrate them on the goal of gaining total strategic supremacy in Europe. At Arromaches the French prepared to invade England; but they had second thoughts and a change of mind.

The British government agreed to continue their policy of shipping their own troops to fight for total victory in the colonies—leaving Britain to be guarded by the large militia that had existed since 1757.

Siege Of Madras And Battle Of Condore

Following Clive's victory at Plassey and the subjugation of Bengal, Britain had not directed large resources to the Indian theatre. The French meanwhile had despatched a large force from Europe to seize the initiative on the subcontinent.

The clear goal of this force was to capture Madras, which had previously fallen to the British in 1746. With the arrival of fresh forces in December 1758 a French force of 8,000 under the Comte de Lally descended on Madras, bottling up the 4,000 British defenders in Fort St George.

After a hard-fought three-month siege the French were finally forced to abandon their attempt to take the city by the arrival of a British naval force carrying 600 reinforcements on 16 February 1759. Lally withdrew his troops, but it was not the end of French ambitions in southern India.

Battle of Wandiwash and Siege of Pondicherry

The British capture of Pondicherry proved to be a decisive moment in the long-term battle for control in India. After this point French India was confined only to a handful of trading posts stretched along the coast, while the British moved into the interior extending their control. Eventually the French departed entirely from the Indian mainland.

George Pocock In Indian Waters

Admiral George Pocock was a man of a different, and higher, stamp, and there is little resemblance between him and Edward Peyton. Either in general personal character or in success as a naval officer; or in relative achievements.

For, in a situation not unlike that which Peyton found himself, Pocock proved strategically successful where Peyton failed altogether. Yet in one respect they were not unalike in their attitude towards their Fighting Instructions. The scene was much the same on the Coromandel coast of India.

During the Second of the Seven Years War the ultimate mastery of the whole area depended upon the acquisition or maintaining sea-power along the all-important coast.

Three dull actions which ended undicisively took place. The first, off Fort St. David on 29th April 1758; at much the same spot on 3rd August 1758; and off Pondicherry 10th September 1759.

Each time Pocock had the wind advantage, and each time he attacked in the approved manner. Each time heavy firing developed in part of the line, the British, by reason of their gun method, inflicted far heavier losses of men than they themselves received.

The French, by reason of their run-away and fight another-day tactics, leaving the British unable to achieve their offensive intentions. Each time, when d'Ache, the French commander, found that when he or his captains had had enough, he would simply slip away.

Lose Effectiveness Or Intensity

On the first occasion, the French wore-away in succession, whilst damaging Pocock's flagship in the process-and on the second by wearing-away together "in a ragged line abreast".

On the third occasion the French stood their ground for a longer time, and only departed one-by-one, as each ship's commander felt he had had enough of the action.

Here we see a very good examle of the working of that famous article 21, which forbade any ship to leave the line in pursuit of any small number of enemy.

The Individual British Ships Had Done Well

Many of them had inflicted wounds, but only less than mortal upon the hostile enemy. But now, as their foes dropped away, they had the problem of not being allowed to follow them to complete the work.

It was unsatisfactory both morally and materially. No ship, on either side, was sunk or taken in any of the battles. The one and only presumed advantage of the system proved to be something of "hope-for," which was either illusory or impossible to achieve.

Pocock, his captains and his men were good seamen, and it may be assumed that they did their first turn from line ahead to line abreast, and their second turn from line abreast to line ahead well, if not better than usual.

Yet the "shock tactics" failed completely to materialize. The trouble was always the same: the leading ships got ahead of the others, and were turning into their final line ahead positions some time before their comrades in the rear were ready to do the same.

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His Tactics Were Possibly Correct

It must be emphasized that Pocock was not necessarily wrong in the tactics which he used. Were the results of the battles illusory, he could well claim them to be right. For after the third encounter.

It was a badly punished d'Ache, and not Pocock, who took a leaf out of Peyton's book and withdrew his fleet entirely: and in the end it was Pondicherry, not Madras, which fell into the hands of whoever had control over the seas.

The point to look at is that Pocock, like Peyton, made no tactical effort of any kind to get round the Permanent Instructions, which they had to follow. That's why he must be labelled here as-tactically-"docile".

The continuation of this Naval Hisory will be: "Edward Hughes"

Indian Wars Edward Hughes

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