Editing Robert Clive (section)

====Further campaigns====

=====Battle of Condore=====
While busy with the civil administration, Clive continued to follow up his military success. He sent Major Coote in pursuit of the French almost as far as [[Benares]]. He dispatched Colonel Forde to [[Vizagapatam]] and the northern districts of Madras, where Forde won the [[Battle of Condore]] (1758), pronounced by Broome "one of the most brilliant actions on military record".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

=====Mughals=====
{{main|Treaty of Allahabad}}
[[File:Shah-alam-ii-mughal-emperor-of-india-reviewing-the-east-india-companys-troops-1781-1894 1247854.jpg|thumb|The [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Shah Alam II]], as a [[pensioner]] of the [[British East India Company]], 1781.]]

Clive came into direct contact with the Mughal himself, for the first time, a meeting which would prove beneficial in his later career. [[Shah Alam II|Prince Ali Gauhar]] escaped from [[Delhi]] after his father, the [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Alamgir II]], had been murdered by the usurping [[Vizier]] [[Ghazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung III|Imad-ul-Mulk]] and his [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] associate [[Sadashivrao Bhau]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=S.R. Sharma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j_VLlGqVSoC&pg=PA767 |title=Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material |date=1 January 1999 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-7156-819-2 |pages=767– |access-date=11 July 2012}}</ref>

Prince Ali Gauhar was welcomed and protected by [[Shuja-ud-Daula]], the [[Nawab of Awadh]]. In 1760, after gaining control over [[Bihar]], [[Odisha]] and some parts of the Bengal, Ali Gauhar and his Mughal Army of 30,000 intended to overthrow Mir Jafar and the Company in order to reconquer the riches of the eastern Subahs for the [[Mughal Empire]]. Ali Gauhar was accompanied by Muhammad Quli Khan, Hidayat Ali, Mir Afzal, Kadim Husein and Ghulam Husain Tabatabai. Their forces were reinforced by the forces of Shuja-ud-Daula and [[Najib-ud-Daula]]. The Mughals were also joined by [[Jean Law de Lauriston|Jean Law]] and 200 Frenchmen, and waged a campaign against the British during the [[Seven Years' War]].

Prince Ali Gauhar successfully advanced as far as [[Patna, India|Patna]], which he later besieged with a combined army of over 40,000 in order to capture or kill Ramnarian, a sworn enemy of the Mughals. Mir Jafar was terrified at the near demise of his cohort and sent his own son Miran to relieve Ramnarian and retake Patna. Mir Jafar also implored the aid of Robert Clive, but it was Major [[John Caillaud]], who defeated and dispersed Prince Ali Gauhar's army.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

=====Dutch aggression=====
While Clive was preoccupied with fighting the French, the Dutch directors of the outpost at [[Chinsurah]], not far from [[Chandernagore]], seeing an opportunity to expand their influence, agreed to send additional troops to Chinsurah. Despite [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and the [[Dutch Republic]] not formally being at war, a Dutch fleet of seven ships, containing more than fifteen hundred European and Malay troops, came from [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] and arrived at the mouth of the [[Hooghly River]] in October 1759, while [[Mir Jafar]], the Nawab of Bengal, was meeting with Clive in Calcutta. They met a mixed force of British and local troops at [[Chinsurah]], just outside [[Calcutta]]. The British, under Colonel [[Francis Forde (army officer)|Francis Forde]], defeated the Dutch in the [[Battle of Chinsurah]], forcing them to withdraw. The British engaged and defeated the ships the Dutch used to deliver the troops in a separate naval battle on 24 November. Thus Clive avenged the massacre of [[Amboyna massacre|Amboyna]]&nbsp;– the occasion when he wrote his famous letter; "Dear Forde, fight them immediately; I will send you the order of council to-morrow".

Meanwhile, Clive improved the organisation and drill of the [[sepoy]] army, after a European model, and enlisted into it many Muslims from upper regions of the Mughal Empire. He re-fortified Calcutta. In 1760, after four years of hard labour, his health gave way and he returned to England. "It appeared", wrote a contemporary on the spot, "as if the soul was departing from the Government of Bengal". He had been formally made Governor of Bengal by the Court of Directors at a time when his nominal superiors in Madras sought to recall him to their help there. But he had discerned the importance of the province even during his first visit to its rich delta, mighty rivers and teeming population. Clive selected some able subordinates, notably a young [[Warren Hastings]], who, a year after Plassey, was made [[resident (title)|Resident]] at the Nawab's court.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The long-term outcome of Plassey was to place a very heavy revenue burden upon Bengal. The company sought to extract the maximum revenue possible from the peasantry to fund military campaigns, and corruption was widespread amongst its officials. Mir Jafar was compelled to engage in extortion on a vast scale{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} in order to replenish his treasury, which had been emptied by the company's demand for an indemnity of 2.8 ''[[crore]]s'' of rupees (£3 million).<ref>{{harv|Marshall|1987|p=83}}</ref>