In the mid-eighteenth century, a contest between two factions of the Deccan aristocracy for the title of the Nawab of Arcot (in modern-day Tamil Nadu) sparked a multi-decade struggle for supremacy in India known as the Carnatic Wars, which enmeshed the motivations of the two factions with those of the French and English trading companies. The military lessons learned during the conflicts at Arcot, Cuddalore, Pondicherry and Trichy were then applied by the English in their campaigns across the Indian subcontinent: against Siraj-ud-daulah in Bengal, the French at Wandiwash, Hyder Ali in Mysore, the Marathas and finally the Sikhs. The setbacks suffered and the victories gained in these battles may well have laid the foundations of the British Empire and altered the political course of the nation.

This epochal set of battles for political dominance is frequently reduced to a conflict between Joseph Dupleix and Robert Clive. It is this misleading binary that Venkatesh Parthasarathy seeks to correct. Drawing on rigorous research and first-hand accounts of diverse players on that crowded stage, he reintroduces a forgotten episode in Indian history that features a host of larger-than-life characters and the complex interplay between local politics and global power rivalries. Vividly narrated and deeply engaging, this is a must-read for history buffs