https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Battle_of_BalasoreBattle of Balasore - Revision history2026-07-30T22:15:03ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Battle_of_Balasore&diff=490105&oldid=prevMeeekil at 06:38, 28 December 20252025-12-28T06:38:33Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Battle between Mughals and Europeans in Balasore, 1647}}<br />
{{Infobox military conflict<br />
| conflict = Battle of Balasore<br />
| place = [[Balasore]], [[Bengal Subah]]<br />(present-day [[Odisha]], [[India]])<br />
| partof = [[Dano-Mughal War]]<br />
| date = 26 December 1647<br />
| coordinates = {{Coord|region:IN-OR_type:city(144,000)|qid=Q641098|format=dms|display=inline,title}}<br />
| result = See [[#Aftermath|Aftermath]]<br />
| combatant1 = {{flag|Danish India}}<br />
| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag (Nautical).svg}} [[Bengal Subah]]<br />
| commander1 = {{flagicon|Danish India}} [[Willem Leyel]]<br />{{flagicon|Danish India}} Christen Clausen<br />
| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag (Nautical).svg}} Malik Beg<br />{{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag (Nautical).svg}} Local nawab<br />
| units1 = {{flagicon|Danish India}} ''Christianhavn''<br />{{flagicon|Danish India}} ''The Bengali Prize''<br />
| units2 = {{flagicon image|Bengal subah flag (Nautical).svg}} Unknown<br />
| strength1 = 5 Ships<br />
| strength2 = Multiple ships<br />16 guns<br />1,000 men<br />
| casualties2 = 1 ship<br />8 elephants<br />
| casualties3 = {{flagicon image|British East India Company flag.svg|23px}} 9–12 ships<br />
| casualties1 = None<br />
| image = Moored boats from Arakan or Chittagong.jpg<br />
| caption = Moored boats near the Bengali Coast, by Thomas Prinsep in {{circa}} 1828.<br />
| image_size = 335<br />
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Dano-Mughal War}}<br />
| combatant3 = {{flagicon image|British East India Company flag.svg|23px}} [[East India Company|British East India]]<br />{{Flagicon|VOC}} [[Dutch India]]<br />
| commander3 = {{flagicon image|British East India Company flag.svg|23px}} Richard Hudson<br />
| units3 = Unknown<br />
| strength3 = {{flagicon image|British East India Company flag.svg|23px}} +13 ships<br />{{Flagicon|VOC}} 2 ships<br />{{Flagicon|VOC}} 60 men<br />
}}<br />
The '''Battle of Balasore''' ({{Langx|da|Slaget ved Balasore}}) was an engagement between [[Bengalis|Bengali]] and [[English language|English]] ships against Danish ships at [[Balasore]]. When the English failed to persuade the Danes, the Bengalis started attacking the English vessel, yet the English were rescued by the Dutch.<br />
<br />
== Background ==<br />
{{Further|Conflict between Willem Leyel and Bernt Pessart}}<br />
In 1643 [[Willem Leyel]] deposed governor [[Bernt Pessart]] as ''[[overhoved]]'' of [[Danish India]].{{Sfn|Knudsen|2017}} In the preceding year, Pessart had declared war on the [[Mughal Empire]].{{Sfn|Wellen|2015|p=448}} Leyel continued the privateering war against the Mughals as a source of revenue and income.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=}}<br />
<br />
In 1647 the privateer war still waged, and in December of that year, a noticeable incident was recorded by the English at Balasore.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=}}<br />
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== Battle ==<br />
The English at Balasore was given a good reception at Balasore.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=163}} Yet when a Danish fleet of five ships, including ''Christianshavn'' and ''The Bengali Prize'', appeared things suddenly started to change.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=163}} The Danes had come to settle their long-standing grievances and debts against the Mughal authorities by force.{{Sfn|Sarkar|1950|p=215}}<br />
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=== Confrontation with the Danish ===<br />
[[File:Charles D'Oyly06.jpg|left|thumb|[[Mosque]] on the Booragunga Branch of the [[Ganges]]. A typical view from Bengal at that time.]]<br />
Danes seized one of the [[Moors|Moorish]] ships with eight elephants at the harbour.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=164}} At the request of Governor Malik Beg, the English twice attempted to persuade the escaping Danish fleet.{{Sfn|Sarkar|1950|p=215}} When this proved a failure for the English, the Mughals informed the English that they now would have to compensate for the damage made by the Danes since both Europeans were [[Christians]].{{Sfn|Sarkar|1950|p=215}}{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=164}}<br />
=== Prelude ===<br />
The English then tried to escape the harbour, yet were [[blockade]]d by the Mughals, who placed guns at strategic points and summoned a large force of soldiers.{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=164}} Meanwhile, a letter from the [[Nawab]] arrived with a captain and 500 [[cavalry]], demanding to meet the English outside of the town.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=174}} The English factors refused the demands of the letter.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}<br />
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=== Battle ===<br />
When the Nawab heard the English rejection he called {{Abbr|c|circa}} 1.000 soldiers and placed nine guns in strategic positions around the harbour.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=164}} The following day additional guns were planted.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}} The English could not leave the harbour and the [[Budhabalanga River]] because of a blockade.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}{{Sfn|Bredsdorff|2009|p=164}} The Bengalis had already seized 3-4 English boats and 6-8 smaller vessels in the river.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}<br />
<br />
Things escalated when the Bengalis fired at the British [[warehouse]] in Balasore.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}} The English took position with their guns and an ensuing confrontation lasted four hours.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}<br />
<br />
Because of the blockade, the [[Dutch East India Company]]'s business was stopped and was thus forced to join the English course.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}} The Dutch send 60 men and 2 ships to Balasore, which unprovoked the attack on the English.{{Sfn|Foster|1914|p=175}}<br />
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== Aftermath ==<br />
At the time of the Battle the Danes had presumably already managed to bring themselves and their [[Prize (law)|prize]] to safety. The war between the Danes and Mughals in Bengal hindered the prospects of trade between the English and Dutch at Balasore.{{Sfn|Sarkar|1950|p=215}}<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
* {{Annotated link|First Anglo-Maratha War}}<br />
* {{Annotated link|Cattle War}}<br />
* {{Annotated link|Loss of the St. Jacob}}<br />
* {{Annotated link|Dano-Mughal War}}<br />
* {{Annotated link|Capture of St. Michael}}<br />
* {{Annotated link|Skirmish at the Strait of Malacca}}<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
== Works cited ==<br />
* {{Cite book |last=Wellen |first=Kathryn |url=https://www.kitlv.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mughal.pdf |title=The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698 |publisher=Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies |year=2015 |isbn= |edition= |location=}}<br />
* {{Cite book |last=Bredsdorff |first=Asta |url= |title=The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel |publisher=[[Museum Tusculanum Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=9788763530231 |edition= |location=Copenhagen}}<br />
* {{Cite book |last=Bredsdorff |first=Asta |url=https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/928692.pdf |title=Søhistoriske Skrifter |publisher=Handels- og Søfartsmuseet Kronborg |year=1999 |isbn= |edition= |volume=XXI |location=Copenhagen |language=Danish}}<br />
* {{Cite book |last=Leyel |first=Willem |url=https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/other/index-creator/149/103799/23436633 |title=Rentekammerafdelingen: Willum Leyels arkiv (1639–1648) |publisher=Danske Kancelli |year=1644 |isbn= |edition= |volume= |location= |language=Danish}}<br />
* {{Cite journal |last=Sarkar |first=Jagadish |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44140917 |title=Notes on Balasore and the English in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |year=1950 |edition= |volume=13 |pages=209–219 |jstor=44140917 |language=}}<br />
* {{Cite book |last=Foster |first=William |url=https://ia801409.us.archive.org/32/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.223801/2015.223801.The-English_text.pdf |title=THE ENGLISH FACTORIESIN INDIA 1646— 1650 |publisher=Oxford |year=1914 |isbn= |edition= |volume= |location= |language=}}<br />
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* {{Cite web |last=Knudsen |first=Karin |date=2017 |title=Kolonien Trankebar |url=https://www.foreningen-trankebar.dk/402582377.html |website=Trankebar Foreningen}}<br />
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[[Category:Battles involving the Mughal Empire]]<br />
[[Category:1640s in the Mughal Empire]]<br />
[[Category:Naval battles involving the Dutch East India Company|Balasore]]<br />
[[Category:Naval battles involving the British East India Company|Balasore]]<br />
[[Category:Battles involving the Danish East India Company|Balasore]]<br />
[[Category:Naval battles involving Denmark–Norway]]</div>Meeekil