Section 6: India, Afghanistan and Burma (1750–1919)

The question asks why Plassey is historically significant — not what happened tactically, but what structural change followed the battle. The key concept is the shift from trade to sovereignty.

After Plassey, Mir Jafar was installed as a puppet Nawab, and the East India Company gained access to Bengal's enormous land revenue system. In 1765 this was formalized as the Diwani — the right to collect taxes — which turned the Company into a governing authority, not merely a trading one.

Plassey's importance is structural and political, not purely military. The Nawab's army vastly outnumbered Clive's force; victory was secured chiefly through Mir Jafar's betrayal, not battlefield superiority. What mattered was what the victory unlocked: revenue control and political dominance.

Option B is correct because it captures the revenue and political control that followed the battle. The other options either misrepresent the military dimension (A), overstate the French defeat (C — France was already weakened by the Carnatic Wars), or invent a Mughal recognition (D).

The question tests understanding of the significance of Plassey, requiring knowledge of its consequences rather than just its events.

Option A attributes the outcome to superior weaponry in open battle. In fact, the Nawab's army was far larger and the battle was decided largely by Mir Jafar's prearranged betrayal — Mir Jafar's contingent held back, causing the Nawab's army to collapse without a full engagement.

Option C claims Plassey eliminated all French forces from India. The French had already been weakened in southern India through the Carnatic Wars (1746–1763); Plassey further reduced their presence in Bengal but did not eliminate all French activity across the subcontinent.

Option D suggests the Mughal Emperor granted legal sovereignty after Plassey. By 1757 the Mughal emperor held symbolic prestige but virtually no real authority; while the Company later obtained the Diwani grant (1765) in a formal ceremony, this was not a recognition of sovereignty freely extended by a powerful imperial court.

Option B is the only answer that correctly identifies the structural consequence — revenue collection and political control over the throne — that made Plassey the start of British political rule, rather than simply one military engagement among many.