WI: The British East India company loses the battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey, fought between the East India Company and the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, is often regarded as a pivotal moment in Indian history, and can be regarded as the first major step in the British's expansion in the continent.
However, what would be the consequence of the Nawab winning? Victory for the British stemmed from the treacherous acts of Mid Jeffar, who convinced the Nawab to retreat only for the British forces to ambush his camp.
Let's say the Pod is Mir Jeffar is found out to be a traitor and the Nawab disregards his advice, and goes on to win the battle.
What next? For the East India company, Bengal and the subcontinent in general.
 
The Battle of Plassey, fought between the East India Company and the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, is often regarded as a pivotal moment in Indian history, and can be regarded as the first major step in the British's expansion in the continent.
However, what would be the consequence of the Nawab winning? Victory for the British stemmed from the treacherous acts of Mid Jeffar, who convinced the Nawab to retreat only for the British forces to ambush his camp.
Let's say the Pod is Mir Jeffar is found out to be a traitor and the Nawab disregards his advice, and goes on to win the battle.
What next? For the East India company, Bengal and the subcontinent in general.

Most likely the British Eastr India Company loses some prestige, perhaps a full scale push out of India?
 
Most likely the British Eastr India Company loses some prestige, perhaps a full scale push out of India?

Don't forget this is all during the 7 years war, and the British don't have full hegemony yet, the French East India company is still there as a counter balance, and actually in conflict with the British at this period. So I doubt a full scale push would be possible, with the French, and also several still strong states in the Marathas and Durranis all standing in the way of a full scale conquest.
 
They certainly don't win Bengal. Without Bengal, and the riches she brought, pushed the EIC to gain more influence.

I doubt they would have lost their other trading facilities. Losing their Bengal factory wouldn't have affect Madras, Bombey, etc.

Bengal set the precendent that was followed ruthlessly, if haphazardly.

More so than Bengal's loss of autonomy, it was France losing many of their factories and being forced to demilitarize the rest that truly lead to the end. Without French influence and military power as a counterweight, Britain was able to overrun by diplomacy or war the rest of the principalities of the continent without European opposition.

An interesting parollel would be if the French Revolution never happened, France's fleet not crippled leaving Britain utterly dominant at sea, and French attention not focused on Europe for the next three decades, would even a weaker French Navy and diplomacy be able to halt the Britain conquest of the Maratha states?
 
Depends. If the EIC is able to retreat to Madras in good order, then the French and the Nawab of Arcot become their more immediate threats. The knock-on effects in Bengal are that Chandernagore and the Dutch town get a sizeable boost in private trade there. The Nawab also becomes even more prestigious in the Mughal imperial structure. French training may or may not become a staple of the Bengal Army given that a victory would be very bloody comparing British and Indian doctrines at the time.
 
Hmm interesting, could be a blow to EIC, and could well hinder their reputation though. Of course there are other factors to take into account as mentioned above.,
 
They certainly don't win Bengal. Without Bengal, and the riches she brought, pushed the EIC to gain more influence.

I doubt they would have lost their other trading facilities. Losing their Bengal factory wouldn't have affect Madras, Bombey, etc.

Bengal set the precendent that was followed ruthlessly, if haphazardly.

More so than Bengal's loss of autonomy, it was France losing many of their factories and being forced to demilitarize the rest that truly lead to the end. Without French influence and military power as a counterweight, Britain was able to overrun by diplomacy or war the rest of the principalities of the continent without European opposition.

An interesting parollel would be if the French Revolution never happened, France's fleet not crippled leaving Britain utterly dominant at sea, and French attention not focused on Europe for the next three decades, would even a weaker French Navy and diplomacy be able to halt the Britain conquest of the Maratha states?

All lead to a very interesting scenario in the continent. We're there any other European powers left in India at this point, I assume Portuguese Goa, but not much else?
For Siraj ud-Daulah, the consequences are quite interesting, he becomes one of the most powerful Nawab within the rump Mughal empire at this point, may want to declare himself fully independent, and we could see a return of the Bengal Sultanate.
 
All lead to a very interesting scenario in the continent. We're there any other European powers left in India at this point, I assume Portuguese Goa, but not much else?
For Siraj ud-Daulah, the consequences are quite interesting, he becomes one of the most powerful Nawab within the rump Mughal empire at this point, may want to declare himself fully independent, and we could see a return of the Bengal Sultanate.

Te French were still very much present and so were the Dutch
 
Depends. If the EIC is able to retreat to Madras in good order, then the French and the Nawab of Arcot become their more immediate threats. The knock-on effects in Bengal are that Chandernagore and the Dutch town get a sizeable boost in private trade there. The Nawab also becomes even more prestigious in the Mughal imperial structure. French training may or may not become a staple of the Bengal Army given that a victory would be very bloody comparing British and Indian doctrines at the time.

Could a French-Bengali alliance be formed? I assume the British would then pick their own local power to form an alliance with, the smart money would be on the Maratha's, but due the decentralised nature of the state I assume they'd pick on of the stronger vassals within the Maratha Empire.
 
Could a French-Bengali alliance be formed? I assume the British would then pick their own local power to form an alliance with, the smart money would be on the Maratha's, but due the decentralised nature of the state I assume they'd pick on of the stronger vassals within the Maratha Empire.

The French and the Bengalis were already in an implicit alliance. The French also fought in Plassey.
 
True. More French spine could be interesting.

What could be possible is that Siraj Ud-Daulah or one of his successors could replace Tipi Sultan as the main French ally on the continent. Speaking of which, I assume in this time line Madras would replace Calcutta as headquarters of the East India Company, how does that effect things for the rulers there, and eventually Tipi himself, assuming he still rises to power.
 
Having recently read a history of the British in India, it became very clear that what ultimately caused British domination was naval supremacy. This allowed them to retreat with few losses when losing, or to bring in backup where a battle was closely fought. If we imagine the EIC does not penetrate Bengal to the extent they do here, they will likely not have domination in the Indian Ocean until the Napoleonic Wars (assuming few butterflies in Europe). I think the British will still achieve hegemony in India here, but it will be set back 50 years, and they may not penetrate the Maratha polity in quite the same way.
 
What could be possible is that Siraj Ud-Daulah or one of his successors could replace Tipi Sultan as the main French ally on the continent. Speaking of which, I assume in this time line Madras would replace Calcutta as headquarters of the East India Company, how does that effect things for the rulers there, and eventually Tipi himself, assuming he still rises to power.

I think it means these rulers might well become puppets of the EIC, or they might look to peacefully (read lack of will to fight) co-exist. Changes the dynamic though after defeat at PLessey, could see more Indian rulers looking to dictate the terms.
 
Having recently read a history of the British in India, it became very clear that what ultimately caused British domination was naval supremacy. This allowed them to retreat with few losses when losing, or to bring in backup where a battle was closely fought. If we imagine the EIC does not penetrate Bengal to the extent they do here, they will likely not have domination in the Indian Ocean until the Napoleonic Wars (assuming few butterflies in Europe). I think the British will still achieve hegemony in India here, but it will be set back 50 years, and they may not penetrate the Maratha polity in quite the same way.

I think in this Timeline, the British won't have 'true hegemony" on the continent, as from Madras it's a lot more geographically difficult to control the subcontinent's various powers, and also "the Great Game" in this Timeline is heavily butterflied, maybe meaning the British lose interest in North west of the subcontinent, Afghanistan too.
 
Having recently read a history of the British in India, it became very clear that what ultimately caused British domination was naval supremacy. This allowed them to retreat with few losses when losing, or to bring in backup where a battle was closely fought. If we imagine the EIC does not penetrate Bengal to the extent they do here, they will likely not have domination in the Indian Ocean until the Napoleonic Wars (assuming few butterflies in Europe). I think the British will still achieve hegemony in India here, but it will be set back 50 years, and they may not penetrate the Maratha polity in quite the same way.

At this point British naval supremacy was not absolute...and it only helped if they could retreat in good order to Madras as per OTL. If that were threatened again, along with Bengal...bye bye EIC. And they still need an army, a lot of which they lose if Bengal is lost- thus Indian domination is certainly not necessarily happening in 5o years if at all.
 
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