Battle of Adyar

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Battle of Adyar
Part of
Adyar river
Result French victory
Territorial
changes		 Nawab of Arcot defeated
Belligerents

Mughal Empire

  • Nawab of Arcot

Kingdom of France

Commanders and leaders Anwaruddin Khan
Mahfuz Khan Louis ParadisStrength 10,000 infantry and cavalry 350 French soldiers
700 French-trained Indian SepoysCasualties and losses 300 2 Sepoys killed

The Battle of Adyar (also the Battle of Adyar River) took place on 24 October 1746.

Nawab of Arcot forces over the St. George Fort, which was held by the French. It was part of the First Carnatic War between the English and the French.[2][3]

Background

The French captured

Madras. While leading an army of 10,000, he was dispersed by French forces, forcing him to move south. Khan seized San Thomé and formed a battle line on the north bank of the Adyar River on 22 October to prevent the French from moving up reinforcements from Pondicherry
.

Battle

Led by the Swiss engineering officer, Major Louis Paradis, some 350 French and 700 French-trained Indian troops force marched from Pondicherry, crossed Quibble Island and took positions on the south bank of the Adyar River and faced ineffective artillery fire from Khan's forces.

On 24 October, Paradis was informed that a similar sized army led by de le Tour was on its way from St. George Fort. He decided to ford the

Adayar river to attack the rear of Mahfuz Khan's battle line. de la Tour arrived too late to support Paradis, who with disciplined firing and then charging with bayonets, broke the Nawab's line. Mahfuz Khan's troops fled and the Battle of the Adyar River, which began on the morning of 24 October 1746, ended that evening with the French retaining control over Fort St. George.[4]

Significance

The battle of Adyar was one of the first that illustrated the overwhelming superiority of 18th century European military firepower in the Indian sub-continent, while also demonstrating that even a sizeable cavalry force was no match for a well-equipped, disciplined infantry. The flintlock musket and a flexible and mobile artillery enabled around one thousand defenders of the French-held fort to vanquish ten thousand Mughal troops.[5]

After the battle cemented the French position in Madras, they and the English continued to spar over French-controlled Pondicherry and British-held Fort St. David without either side gaining territory. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle resulted in the French handing Madras back to the British, in exchange for Louisbourg in 1748.

References

  1. ^ Hoover, James W. (1993). The origins of the Sepoy Military System: 1498-1770. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 56.
  2. ISBN 9788131300343
    .
  3. ^ Dalrymple, William (2019). The Anarchy :The Relentless Rise of The East India Company. Great Britain: Bloomsbury. p. 52.
  4. ^ Muthiah, S (25 November 2012). "Madras Miscellany: The Battle of the Adyar". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  5. ^ Kolappan, B (23 August 2019). "The Battle of Adyar, a turning point in Indian history". The Hindu. Chennai. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
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