ABSTRACT
In the 1740s the French in India made a decisive change of policy by ceasing to concentrate on peaceful trade and turning instead to political and military intervention in south India, a policy which came to an abrupt end in 1754 when the directors of the Company dismissed Dupleix. The foundations of the change were laid in the 1730s when the Company’s trade was at its height, but it was not until war broke out with England in 1744, when French trade ended altogether, that the new direction opened up clearly. The increasingly difficult economic situation in Indian Ocean trade, the ending of essential French investment, the growth of French willingness to use force were all contributory factors, which came into play once war had begun, turning French energies inland. The occasion for the war was provided by Europe, but its development and momentum were entirely Indian.
