THE FIRST CARNATIC WAR (1746-1748)

THE FIRST CARNATIC WAR (1746-1748)

In 1740, a war, known as the Austrian war of succession, broke out in Europe. In this war, England and France took opposite sides. This led to a war between the English and French trading Companies in India also. The French under Dupleix captured Madras in 1746. They tried to capture Fort St. David, an English possession to the south of Pondicherry, but failed to do so. The English tried in vain to recapture Madras. In the meanwhile, the war of Austri~ succession came to an end and so did the First Carnatic War­inconclusively. The Treaty of Aix-La Chapelle (1748) handed Madras back to the English Company. The First Carnatic War is also memorable for the Battle of St. Thome (1746), in which a small French army under Captain Paradise defeated the Carnatic Nawab's large army commanded by Mahfuz Khan as the latter attempted to force the French to evacuate Madras. The French victory clearly demon­strated the superiority of well-trained and disciplined European troops against the loose Indian levies.