Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / The Bengal Nawabs' Art of War: Elephants, Artillery, and Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So far in this series we've talked a lot about Bengal's rulers — the Palas, the Senas, the Sultans, the Mughals. But one thing we haven't really dug into is how the Nawabs of Bengal actually fought their wars. Luna: You mean the independent Nawabs, like Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi? Lucas: Exactly. These guys ruled from the early 1700s until Plassey in 1757, and they built a pretty sophisticated military machine. It wasn't just Mughal leftovers — they actively modernized. Murshid Quli Khan, for instance, reorganized the revenue system to fund a standing army, and he imported heavy artillery from European traders in Chinsurah. Luna: So they were using European cannons before the British took over? Lucas: Oh yes. The Dutch and French were happy to sell them guns and powder. Alivardi Khan, especially, built a formidable arsenal at Murshidabad. He had a topkhana — that's an artillery park — with hundreds of brass and iron cannons, many of them cast locally by Armenian and Mughal foundrymen. And he employed French and Portuguese gunners as mercenaries. Lucas: One of those Frenchmen was Jean Law, who later fought for the Nawab's side during Plassey. But beyond guns, the backbone of the Nawab's army was the war elephant corps. Luna: Elephants in battle — that always sounds terrifying. Lucas: It was. Alivardi kept a filkhana — an elephant stable — with over a thousand elephants. They were trained for charge tactics, carrying howdahs with archers or musketeers. The elephants themselves wore armor, sometimes chainmail or plate. In the Bargi raids of the 1740s, when Maratha cavalry swept into Bengal, Alivardi used his elephants to break their formations. Lucas: But elephants were expensive — each one ate as much as fifty men. So the Nawabs also invested in cavalry, mostly Afghan and Mughal horsemen, and infantry armed with matchlocks. These were called sipahis, the same word that became 'sepoy'. Luna: Were they using rockets too? I thought Tipu Sultan pioneered that. Lucas: Tipu made them famous, but Bengal had rocket brigades before him. Alivardi's army included a corps of rocketmen — they used bamboo tubes packed with gunpowder and iron tips. They weren't as accurate as later Mysorean rockets, but they caused chaos in enemy ranks. The Mughals had used rockets for centuries, actually. Luna: So why did this well-armed army lose at Plassey? Lucas: That's the tragedy of it. At Plassey, siraj ud daulah had around 50,000 men, including 15,000 cavalry and 53 cannons — plus elephants. But his commander Mir Jafar defected, and the rain soaked his cannon powder. The French gunners under Jean Law fought hard, but without coordination the army collapsed. It wasn't a failure of technology — it was betrayal. Lucas: After Plassey, the British systematically dismantled the Nawab's military infrastructure. The Murshidabad arsenal was stripped. The elephant corps was disbanded. The foundries fell silent. By 1800, the Katra Masjid — the great mosque in Murshidabad — was surrounded by rusting cannons half-buried in the mud. Luna: That's a powerful image. So the military know-how just vanished? Lucas: A lot of it, yes. The British preferred to recruit from outside Bengal — they distrusted Bengali soldiers after the 1857 rebellion. So the tradition of local artillery and elephant warfare faded. But for a few decades, the Nawabs of Bengal ran one of the most advanced armies in India. Lucas: And honestly, if today's conversation was worth a coffee to you, there's a link for that — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Keeps the show ad-free and lets us keep exploring these forgotten corners of history. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to support the research that goes into these episodes. Lucas: Now, one last thing I want to mention: the elephant armor. We have a surviving example from the 18th century, now in a museum in Kolkata. It's made of steel plates riveted onto leather, covering the elephant's head and trunk. You can see the rivet holes where it would have been strapped on. That's the kind of craftsmanship the Nawabs could command. Luna: I'd love to see that. Do you know which museum? Lucas: The Indian Museum in Kolkata has one. It's a reminder that Bengal's military history isn't just about battles — it's about the material culture, the elephants, the guns, the people who made them. And that's a story worth remembering.