| First Carnatic War | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theWar of the Austrian Succession and theCarnatic Wars | ||||||||
 The British surrender of Madras, 1746 | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
| Anwaruddin Khan Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah | Joseph François Dupleix Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais | Stringer Lawrence Edward Peyton Edward Boscawen | ||||||
TheFirst Carnatic War (1744/1746–1748) was the Indian theatre of theWar of the Austrian Succession and the first of a series ofCarnatic Wars that established early British dominance on the east coast of the Indian subcontinent. In this conflict theBritish andFrench East India Companies vied with each other on land for control of their respective trading posts atMadras,Pondicherry, andCuddalore, while naval forces of France and Britain engaged each other off the coast. The war set the stage for the rapid growth of French hegemony in southern India under the command of French Governor-GeneralJoseph François Dupleix in theSecond Carnatic War.
In 1720France effectively nationalised theFrench East India Company, and began using it to expand its imperial interests. This became a source of conflict with theBritish inIndia with the entry of Britain into theWar of the Austrian Succession in 1744.[4] Hostilities in India began with aBritish naval attack on a French fleet in 1745, which led theFrench Governor-GeneralDupleix to request additional forces.[5] A fleet underLa Bourdonnais arrived in 1746 to help him. In July of that year La Bourdonnais and British AdmiralEdward Peyton foughtan indecisive action off Negapatam, after which La Bourdonnais put in atPondicherry for repairs and strategising with Dupleix. The fleets met again on 19 August, but Peyton refused battle, recognising that La Bourdonnais had acquired additional guns at Pondicherry, and retreated toBengal. On 4 September 1746, La Bourdonnais ledan attack on Madras. After several days of bombardment theBritish surrendered and the French entered the city.[6] The British leadership was taken prisoner and sent toPondicherry. It was originally agreed that the town would be restored to theBritish after negotiation but this was opposed by Dupleix, who sought to annexMadras to French holdings.[7] The remaining British residents were asked to take an oath promising not to take up arms against the French; a handful refused, among them a youngRobert Clive, and were kept under weak guard as the French prepared to destroy the fort. Disguising themselves as natives, Clive and three others eluded their inattentive sentry, slipped out of the fort, and made their way toFort St. David (the British post at Cuddalore), some 110 miles (180 km) to the south.[8][9] Dupleix, in the meantime, had before the assault promised to turn over Fort St. George to theNawab of the CarnaticAnwaruddin Khan, but refused to do so.
Anwaruddin responded by sending a 10,000-man army to take the fort from Dupleix by force. Dupleix, who had lost the support of La Bourdonnais over the status of Madras, had only 930 French troops. However, in theBattle of Adyar, this small force successfully repulsed the attacks of Anwaruddin's army.
Dupleix thenlaunched an assault on Fort St. David. Stung by his defeat at Adyar, Anwaruddin sent his sonMuhammad Ali to assist the British in the defence of Cuddalore, and was instrumental in holding off a French attack in December 1746. Over the next few months Anwaruddin and Dupleix had made peace, and the Carnatic troops were withdrawn.
The French, under the command of De Brurie, launched another attempt to take Fort St. David, forcing the British defenders inside the fort's walls. The timely counterattack by the British and the Nawab, however, turned the tables and prompted the French to withdraw to Pondicherry.[10]
In 1748 MajorStringer Lawrence arrived to take command of the British troops at Fort St. David.[11] With the arrival of reinforcements from Europe, the Britishbesieged Pondicherry in late 1748. Clive distinguished himself in successfully defending a trench against a French sortie: one witness of the action wrote "[Clive's] platoon, animated by his exhortation, fired again with new courage and great vivacity upon the enemy."[12] The siege was lifted in October 1748 with the arrival of themonsoon, and the war came to a conclusion with the arrival in December of news of thePeace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Under its termsMadras was returned toBritish control.
The power of a small number of heavily-trained French and French trained Indian troops over larger Indian formations using older military tactics was not lost onJoseph Dupleix, and over the next several years he capitalised on this advantage to greatly expand French influence in south India. In theSecond Carnatic War (1748–1754) he took advantage of struggles for succession to theNizam of Hyderabad and Nawab of the Carnatic to establish strong French influence over a number of states in south India. The British East India Company, in contrast, did little to expand its own influence and only weakly attempted to oppose Dupleix's expansive activities. Robert Clive recognised that this threatened the entire livelihood of the Company in the area, and in 1751 engaged in a series of celebrated military exploits that cemented British control overMadras by the end of that conflict. There were no territorial gains for either the British or the French and the former territories were restored to these two parties.[13] The war had also enhanced the prestige of the French in the Carnatic Region.[13]
TheFrench naval squadron in theEast Indies during the war included:[14]
The British naval squadron in theEast Indies during the war included:[15]
