Editing Robert Clive (section)

===Political situation in south India===
The India Clive arrived in was divided into a number of successor states to the [[Mughal Empire]]. Over the forty years since the death of the [[Aurangzeb|Emperor Aurangzeb]] in 1707, the power of the emperor had gradually fallen into the hands of his provincial viceroys or ''[[Subahdar]]s''. The dominant rulers on the [[Coromandel Coast]] were the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], [[Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I|Asaf Jah I]], and the [[Nawab of the Carnatic]], [[Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan]]. The Nawab nominally owed fealty to the nizam, but in many respects acted independently. Fort St. George and the French trading post at [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]] were both located in the Nawab's territory.{{sfn|Malleson|1893|pp=16–32}}

The relationship between the Europeans in India was influenced by a series of wars and treaties in Europe, and by competing commercial rivalry for trade on the subcontinent. Through the 17th and early 18th centuries, the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and British had vied for control of various trading posts, and for trading rights and favour with local Indian rulers. The European merchant companies raised bodies of troops to protect their commercial interests and latterly to influence local politics to their advantage. Military power was rapidly becoming as important as commercial acumen in securing India's valuable trade, and increasingly it was used to appropriate territory and to collect land revenue.<ref>Harvey (1998), pp. 29–30</ref>