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The battle appeared to be heading for a stalemate when it started to rain. Clive had brought
tarpaulins to keep his powder dry, but the Bengalis had no such protection. Thinking that the
British guns were rendered as ineffective as his own by damp powder, the nawab ordered his
cavalry to charge. However, the British guns opened fire and slaughtered many of the cavalry,
killing their commander Mir Madan Khan. The nawab panicked at the loss of this valued general
and ordered his forces to fall back, exposing the French artillery contingent. This was rushed by
the British and captured. With the French cannon taken, the British bombarded the nawabs
positions without reply and the tide of the battle turned. The nawab fled the battlefield on a
camel, and Mir Jafar was duly installed in power as a British puppet. The victory had cost the
lives of only twenty-two soldiers on the British side, while achieving a major stride toward
British control of Bengal.
Losses: Bengal and French East India Company, 1,500 casualties of 50,000; British East India
Company, fewer than 100 casualties of 3,000.
The British government made Clive the Baron of Plassey. Events that developed after Clive's
victory at the Battle of Plassey would change the British East India Company from a trading
company to a governing power and draw Britain to conquer the whole of India. Thus, the Battle
of Plassey was a historic turning point, and its principal participant Robert Clive, an empire
builder.