Carnatic Wars | ||||||||
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Lord Robert Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, oil on canvas (Francis Hayman, c. 1762) |
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Alamgir II Anwaruddin † Nasir Jung † Muzaffar Jung † Chanda Sahib † Raza Sahib Wala-Jah Murtaza Ali Abdul Wahab Hyder Ali Dalwai Nanjaraja Salabat Jung |
Dupleix De Bussy Comte de Lally d'Auteil (POW) Law (POW) De la Touche |
Robert Clive Stringer Lawrence |
The Carnatic Wars (also spelled Karnatic Wars) were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India. The conflicts involved numerous nominally independent rulers and their vassals, struggles for succession and territory, and included a diplomatic and military struggle between the French East India Company and the British East India Company. They were mainly fought on the territories in India which were dominated by the Nizam of Hyderabad up to the Godavari delta. As a result of these military contests, the British East India Company established its dominance among the European trading companies within India. The French company was pushed to a corner and was confined primarily to Pondichéry. The East India company's dominance eventually led to control by the British Company over most of India and eventually to the establishment of the British Raj.
In the 18th century, the coastal Carnatic region was a dependency of Hyderabad. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1746 and 1763.