• European companies came to India for trade, these companies were interested in buying fine-quality cotton, silk, pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon
• We have already discussed how trade led to conflict between European nations and they engaged in a race to win over colonies in South Asia and South East Asia. Because of the conflict their profits were reduced as buyers in Europe had more choices, the only way to increase profit was to eliminate competition.
• So trade was carried on with arms and trading posts were protected through fortification. But this battle was not only in between European companies. Another important player had their stakes in this claim and rightfully so. The local rulers.
• This fortification of settlements and carry on profitable trade also led to intense conflict with local rulers. The company therefore found it difficult to separate trade from politics. Let us see how all of these led to intense battles in the history of India.

• The first English factory was set up on the banks of the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which the Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”, operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored, and it had offices where Company officials sat.
• As trade expanded, the Company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory. By 1696 it began building a fort around the settlement. Two years later it bribed Mughal officials into giving the Company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these was Kalikata, which later grew into the city of Calcutta or Kolkata as it is known today.
• Company also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade duty free.
• The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges. Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had granted only the Company the right to trade duty-free. But officials of the Company, who were carrying on private trade on the side, were expected to pay duty. This they refused to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.

• Through the early eighteenth century, the conflict between the Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal Nawabs asserted their power and autonomy, as other regional powers were doing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler.
• They refused to grant the Company concessions, demanded large tributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it any right to mint coins, and stopped it from extending its fortifications. Accusing the Company of deceit, they claimed that the Company was depriving the Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and undermining the authority of the Nawab. It was refusing to pay taxes, writing disrespectful letters, and trying to humiliate the nawab and his officials.
• The Company on its part declared that the unjust demands of the local officials were ruining the trade of the Company, and trade could flourish only if the duties were removed. It was also convinced that to expand trade it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages, and rebuild its forts.
• The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated in the famous Battle of Plassey.

• 1756, Sirajuddaulah became the nawab of Bengal. The Company was worried about his power and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly give trade concessions and other privileges. So it tried, though without success, to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals become the nawab.
• An infuriated Sirajuddaulah asked the Company to stop meddling in the political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification, and pay the revenues. After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials, locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships. Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the Company’s fort there.
• On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Company officials in Madras sent forces under the command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets. Prolonged negotiations with the Nawab followed. Finally, in 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after crushing Sirajuddaulah.
• The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major victory the Company won in India.

read Decay of the Mughal Empire