Dupleix's Carnatic Gambit

October 28, 1745

Joseph-Francois Dupleix, French governor of Pondicherry, began building an alliance of Indian princes to counter British influence along India's southeast coast. He trained Indian sepoys in European tactics, an innovation that Clive would steal. The small wars of the Carnatic would decide who would eventually rule the subcontinent. Dupleix's strategy was brilliant but underfunded; Paris recalled him in disgrace, and Britain inherited his methods.