The Battle of Chinsurah (Bedara), fought in 1759 in Bengal, was between the English East India Company and the:

The Battle of Chinsurah, also called the Battle of Bedara (Biderra), was fought in November 1759 in Bengal, between the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Background:

• After the Battle of Plassey (1757), the English became the dominant power in Bengal, and Mir Jafar was their puppet Nawab.
• Mir Jafar was unhappy with the growing power and demands of the English.
• He secretly encouraged the Dutch to send troops from their base in Java (Batavia) to Bengal, hoping to use them to check the English.
• The Dutch had a trading settlement at Chinsurah, on the Hugli river.

The battle:

• In 1759, a Dutch fleet with soldiers arrived in the Hugli river.
• Robert Clive, then Governor of Bengal, acted quickly.
• The English forces, led by Colonel Francis Forde, defeated the Dutch troops on land at Bedara (near Chinsurah), and the English navy defeated the Dutch ships.

Results:

• The Dutch were forced to accept humiliating terms.
• They agreed not to keep troops or build fortifications in Bengal, and to keep only a small number of soldiers for police purposes.
• The battle ended Dutch ambitions in India; afterwards, they concentrated on the East Indies (Indonesia), which were more profitable.
• Mir Jafar's position weakened, and he was replaced by Mir Qasim in 1760.

The Dutch in India:

• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded in 1602.
• Their settlements in India included Pulicat (their headquarters on the Coromandel coast for a time), Masulipatnam, Nagapattinam, Chinsurah, Cochin and Surat.
• They built Fort Geldria at Pulicat.
• Chinsurah was later handed over to the British in 1825, in exchange for territories in Sumatra (under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824).

Why not the other options?

• ✗The French, Portuguese and Danes were not the opponents in this battle.