The Battle
Clive had with him some 3000 soldiers and they took their position in the grounds of an old hunting lodge on the plane of Plassey. The walls of the lodge provided good cover and the lodge itself good shelter from the elements. It had been very wet during Clive's march to this spot which was close to the encampment of the Nawab, Siraj-ud-dowla . On the grey morning of 23 June 1757 Clive's men watched from the rooftops of the lodge as before them on the plane of Plassey the Nawab's army of 50,000 appeared.
Plassey, like all of Clive's battles, bore little resemblance to the set pieces of the European conflicts. Most of the Nawab's army were cavalry and with the exception of some French soldiers had little experience of a full scale battle. Clive's troops had won a number of battles and knew that in Clive they had a general who had never been defeated. Although the odds were against them they remained calm and confident.
The battle began with the Nawab's artillery opening fire on Clive's position. Although it caused little in the way of casualties it was troublesome and Clive's own light artillery was having little effect on the opposition which was keeping well out of range. The weather now took a hand. By mid morning it was raining heavily and the Nawab's artillery stopped firing because their powder had become damp. Clive's men had taken precautions and protected their powder and could now fire unopposed. Without the worry from the enemy artillery he advanced with about 1000 men and his artillery fired into the ranks of the enemy. During this time two of the Nawab's finest generals were killed and the native army began to lose heart. Hearing that Clive was advancing and now without his best generals the Nawab panicked and fled. On hearing this his army began a mass retreat.
The casualties on Clive's side were some 50 killed and on the Nawab's side some 500 killed. While this makes Plassey seem more of a skirmish than a major battle it once again showed Clive's skill as a general and his reputation as unbeatable was reinforced throughout India.
After Plassey the East India Company, through Clive, controlled a vast area with a huge population. In an almost completely dominant position the Company should have become wealthy beyond imagination. Instead corruption and mismanagement was rife and although Clive returned over the years to try to sort out the problems whenever he returned to England things just reverted back.
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