British India – French Algeria and France relations
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French Colonial Algeria
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British India
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Various Franco-Indian Alliances were formed between France and various Indian kingdoms from the 18th century to the ascent of Napoleon.
Indian history[edit]
An Indian Christian priest, Saint Severus settled in Vienne, France in the 5th century. In the 17th century François Bernier (1625–1688), a French physician and traveler, became for 12 years the personal physician of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
In the 18th century, France was actively involved in the European colonial powerplay in the Indian Ocean region.
The French General Dupleix was allied to Murzapha Jung in the Deccan, and Chanda Sahib in the Carnatic Wars, in the conflict against Robert Clive of the East India Company. These relationships were beneficial to the French, and French allies gifted areas such as the Alamparai Fort in return for the services provided by the French against the British East India Company.
The French succeeded in the 1746 Battle of Madras, and the French and Indians fought together and vanquished Anwaruddin in 1749, but failed in the Battle of Arcot in 1751 and finally surrendered in 1752.[2] The French again had a success at the capture of Fort St David in 1758 under Lally, but were finally defeated at Machilipatnam (1759) and Vandavasi (1760).[2]
The French military adventurer and mercenary, Benoît de Boigne, made his name in India under the Marathas, whom he assisted in many battles against the Rajputs.[3]
French had lost pre-eminence in India with the Treaty of Paris (1763), although five trading posts were being maintained there, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with the British.[4] France was successful in supporting the Patriot cause during American War of Independence in 1776, and wished to expel the British from India as well.[4]
In 1782, Louis XVI sealed an alliance with the Maratha Peshwa Madhav Rao Narayan. As a consequence Bussy moved his troops to Ile de France (Mauritius) and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783.[4][5] Admiral Suffren became the ally of Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War against the British East India Company in 1782–1783, engaging in five battles against the Royal Navy on the coasts of India and Ceylon.[6][7] Between February 1782 until June 1783, Suffren fought the English admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and collaborated with the rulers of Mysore.[7][8] An army of 3,000 French soldiers collaborated with Hyder Ali to capture Cuddalore.
While the British established their authority over the Madras Presidency (covering the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu), France retained control of Pondicherry, Karikal, Yanam, and Mahé, as well as maintaining a foothold in Chandannagar, now in West Bengal.[9] During the British Raj, many Indian independence activists (Subramania Bharati, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sri Aurobindo) sought refuge in French establishments in India to stay out of reach of the British colonial authorities.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Facelift for Dupleix statue". The Hindu. 29 December 2014. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare, p.160
- ↑
. Encyclopædia Britannica. 04 (11th ed.). 1911.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "The Tiger and The Thistle – Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India". Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ The influence of sea power upon history, 1660–1783 by Alfred Thayer Mahan p.461 [1]
- ↑ The History Project, University of California Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Black, Jeremy (2002-01-04). Britain As A Military Power, 1688–1815. ISBN 9780203007617. Search this book on
- ↑ Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare, p.159
- ↑ Raffin, Anne (December 2014). "Civility and Humiliation under the French Flag: The Tensions of Colonial Liberalism in Pondicherry, 1871–86". Journal of Historical Sociology (Journal of Historical Sociology, Volume 27, Issue 4 ed.). 27 (4): 523–540. doi:10.1111/johs.12049. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2019. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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