The Siege of Calcutta was a battle between the British Honourable East India Company, and Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal in India. The Nawab aimed to recapture the city of Calcutta from European control, after tensions had risen due to the East India Company building fortifications in case of French attack as part of the Seven Years War. The British were unprepared for the attack on June 20th, and Fort William - containing the entire Europe...
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The Siege of Calcutta was a battle between the British Honourable East India Company, and Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal in India. The Nawab aimed to recapture the city of Calcutta from European control, after tensions had risen due to the East India Company building fortifications in case of French attack as part of the Seven Years War. The British were unprepared for the attack on June 20th, and Fort William - containing the entire European population of the city - fell almost immediately, leaving the city in Indian hands. Many of the British prisoners were held in a prison called the 'Black Hole' shortly afterwards, with many deaths.
A trading post had been established in the area of Calcutta at the end of the seventeenth century by the East India Company, who purchased the three small villages that would later form the base of the city, and began construction of Fort William to house a garrison. In 1717 they had been granted immunity from taxation throughout Bengal by the...
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