Plassey, Battle of

British victory under Robert Clive over the Nawab of Bengal, Suraja Dowla, on 23 June 1757, which brought Bengal under the effective control of the East India Company and hence under British rule. The battle took place at the former village of Plassey, about 150 km/95 mi north of Calcutta (now Kolkata). Suraj had taken Calcutta in 1756 and carried out the notorious atrocity of the Black Hole of Calcutta.

Although outnumbered, Clive won the battle with minimal losses through Suraj's impetuous squandering of his advantage in an all-out bombardment which exhausted his ammunition. Clive used the support of his Indian banker allies to buy the defection of Suraj's general Mir Jafar, who he then installed as nawab.