Colonial and World War I · 1764

Battle of Buxar

The Company beat the combined armies of the Mughal emperor and two nawabs. In 1765 Shah Alam II granted it the right to collect the revenue of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

The site of the battle on the 1683 map. Shaded: Ottoman Empire, 1683, Safavid Iran, Mughal Empire, 1707.

Key facts

When: 1764
Where: Buxar, Bihar, India
Sides: East India Company vs the Mughal emperor and the nawabs of Bengal and Awadh
Commanders: Hector Munro vs Shah Alam II, Mir Qasim and Shuja ud-Daula
Result: British victory
Type: Colonial and World War I
Chapter: 4. Al-Andalus and the Subcontinent

The wider picture: Three gunpowder empires

Mehmed II took Constantinople in 1453. Selim I conquered Egypt in 1517 and the caliphate passed to the Ottomans. Suleiman won at Mohacs in 1526, and a second siege of Vienna failed in 1683. Further east, Safavid Iran and the Mughals of India ruled at the same time.

See the 1683 map Read chapter 4

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