Time Astra

Schematic plan · The Seven Year's War

Battle of Plassey

All battlesThe event in the chronicleWikipedia
A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveCentreGunsLeft wingRight wingGuns01 km2 kmN

Bengal (Bengali Army, 50,050 men under Siraj Ud-Daula) attacked Great Britain (Br Army, 2,975 men under Clive) in Bengal. The CAA Database of Battles records 9 hours of fighting on a front of 3.2 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Great Britain held. Losses: Bengal 500 (1%), Great Britain 63 (2%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Bengal

Siraj Ud-Daula

UnitArmMen
Bengal left wingInfantry8,221
Bengal centreInfantry10,962
Bengal right wingInfantry8,221
Bengal reserveInfantry6,851
Bengal cavalry of the leftCavalry7,500
Bengal cavalry of the rightCavalry7,500
Bengal artillery (53 guns)Artillery795
Siraj Ud-DaulaCommander—
In this plan50,050

Great Britain

Clive

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry671
Great Britain centreInfantry894
Great Britain right wingInfantry671
Great Britain reserveInfantry559
Great Britain artillery (12 guns)Artillery180
CliveCommander—
In this plan2,975

What the sources report

BengalGreat Britain
Strength, this plan50,0502,975
Losses, this plan50063

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 66, “Plassey”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Summer, Tropical
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
3.2 km (attacker), 0.7 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Bengalattacker50,05050015,00053Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Great Britaindefender2,97563012Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.