six of the killed and ten of the wounded were of the artillery, as were
likewise the two officers who were wounded during the different
operations of the day." The numbers of killed and wounded are given
somewhat more in detail by Malleson, although his totals agree with
those given by Orme. By Malleson's account, seven Europeans were killed
and sixteen wounded. According to both these writers, the total number
of killed and wounded in Clive's force was seventy-two. The loss on the
Nawab's side appears to have been between five and six hundred.

Considering the great disparity of numbers, the loss to Clive's force
was ridiculously small. Indeed, as Sir Alfred Lyall justly observes in
his interesting review of _The Rise and Expansion of the British
Dominion in India_, the so-called battle of Plassey was a rout rather
than a battle. As a military achievement it cannot be compared with the
defence of Arcot, or with the fight at Kaveripak, or with some other
actions in which Clive was engaged. At the same time its results were
far-reaching and of the greatest political importance. Indeed, it is
universally regarded by historians as the starting-point of British
dominion in India.

Had Plassey been lost, the establishment of British rule in India would
in all probability never have taken place; and although Plassey was
followed in a very few years by other contests far more severe, such as
Adams' fights at Gheria and at Andhanala, and Sir Hector Munro's victory
over the Mogul's and the Nawab Vazir's troops at Buxar, the political
importance of Plassey, which placed the ruler of the richest provinces
in India in subjection to the English company, can hardly be
overestimated. Nor, although the victory was so easily won, was it less
remarkable than Clive's other military achievements for the strategy
which he displayed or for the unfailing nerve and coolness with which
he encountered the enormous odds against him. Clive had not anticipated
that the Nawab would be able to array against him so large a force. When
day broke on that June morning, and revealed to his astonished gaze the
50,000 horse and foot and the large artillery force, to which he had to
oppose his 3200 infantry, his eight light field-pieces and no cavalry,
it must have needed an amount of nerve which is rarely possessed even by
the bravest men to make his dispositions for the approaching battle. But
on this, as on other occasions, Clive's nerve never failed. Ind