Saturday, March 26, 2011

Carnatic Wars (1746-1763)

The Carnatic Wars, 1st,2nd, and 3rd were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th  century on the Indian Subcontinent. The conflicts involved many independent rulers for succession of their territories and between the two European forces the French and the British. 
First Carnatic war (1746-1748)    
The Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb died in 1707 CE.He was succeeded by Bahadur Shah I but there had been a general decline of the central control over the entire empire after the death of Aurangazeb. Several erstwhile Mughal colonies revolted. Carnatic was ruled by Nawab Dost Ali, despite being under the legal perview of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Dost Ali's death spurked a power struggle between his son-in-law Chand Sahib and the Nizam;s nominee, Anwar-ud-Din. The British enlisted the help of Anwar-ud-Din to oust Joseph Francois Dupleix and the French from Madras.
The Genesis of the Carnatic wars are generally attributed to the ambition of Dupleix. As governor of the French East India Company , Dupleix sought to establish a French colony in India. Immediately upon his arrival in india, he organized Indian recruits under French officers for the first time in 1740.
In the mean time the British and the French went to war over the succession of the throne of Austria in 1740. The decline of Mughal power in India provided an opportunity for the contending European trading Companies to venture out brazen use of intrigues for obtaining hold over the land for the benefit of their respective companies.By that time, the French and the British trading companies had the largest presence among all the European Companies trading in India, dominating in influence those of the Dutch Republic and Portugal.
After the British initially captured a few  French Ships ,  the French, in return,  captured  , in 21 Sept. 1746, the British city Madras. Among the prisoners  of war was Robert Clive.
With the termination of the war of Austrian Succession in European, the first Carnatic War also came to an end. In the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), Madras was given back to the British in exchange for the French fortress of Louisbourg in north America, which the British had captured.