Grapes over grapevine: A powerful lesson from EIC’s triumph at the Battle of Buxar

With the British muscle proving muscular enough to plunder the local tigers of the Bengal forces, the arduous Battle of Buxar- 1764 made sure the Sun never set on the ‘incognito-British empire’​ . Its’​ conclusion reserved a rather dense chapter in future- books-to-be-published recounting imperialist misadventures in the Indian sub-continent.

This win as historic as it could get, offers a powerful thought- process namely “EXPANSION AND CONSOLIDATION”​ simply meaning one should expand only as much as one could consolidate.

A win here, meant the British had the golden opportunity to capture Awadh(geographic region in one of the vast states of India), however it did not capture the resourceful land!

Why did then the colonial mind control its’​ most potent urge of territorial conquest?

The answer lies in the Policy of Expansion and Consolidation. The British followed this principle with far-fetched vision, as capturing an extra territory i.e. Awadh would mean confronting the bold neighbours- the Marathas, and a possible invasion from the rickety Afghans from the North-West. So rather than capturing Awadh, the imperial celebrium used it as a buffer state to protect its frontiers-which eventually was given the name of Ring Fence policy. Therefore, it controlled the greed of expansion against the less lustrous consolidation. They believed in expansion but only with its foot firmly rooted in consolidating the immediate grapes (already acquired states) and then only go for the glorious grapevine.

A powerful lesson indeed!