Nawab of Awadh - Inclination Towards British

Inclination Towards British

Achieving a degree of independence from the Mughals in Delhi did not mean the Nawabs could rule entirely as they pleased. They had merely exchanged one master for another. The British, in the form of the East India Company based in Calcutta, had long looked with predatory eyes at the wealth of Awadh. Excuses for interference in the province were not hard to find. The most catastrophic from Awadh's point of view came when Shuja-ud-Daula invaded Bengal and briefly held Calcutta. The British military victories at Plassey in 1757 and Buxar in 1764 proved damaging for the Nawab. When peace was made, Awadh had lost much land. But the enemies became friends, on the surface anyway, and the Nawab Wazir was extolled in the British Parliament as the Chief native ally of the East India Company in all India.

The Nawabs surrendered their independence little by little over many years. To pay for the protection of British forces and assistance in war, Awadh gave up first the fort of Chunar, then the districts of Benares and Ghazipur, then the fort at Allahabad; as the cash subsidy which the Nawab paid to the Company kept growing over the years.

In 1773, the Nawab accepted a British Resident at Lucknow, and surrendered to the Company all control over foreign policy. Soon the Resident, however much he might defer ceremonially to the Nawab, became the real ruler.