Question

Name the treaty signed after the First Carnatic War.
A) Treaty of Paris
B) Treaty of Madras
C) Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle
D) Treaty of Mangalore

Answer 1

Hint: The First Carnatic War was fought between the French and English forces during 1746-1748. It was fought in the Carnatic region of Southern India. The war ended without deriving a proper conclusion.

Complete Answer:
At the war of Austrian Succession that had broken out in 1740, France and Britain were on the opposite sides of the camp. This led to Anglo-French rivalry in India; both the countries started vying with each other for supremacy. The French Governor of Pondicherry Joseph Francois Dupleix had raised an army of Indian sepoys under French officers in India. France had imperialistic intentions for capturing India and the French East India Company was nationalized in 1720.

Britain conducted a naval attack on the French fleet in 1745 in which even Pondicherry was in danger. Dupleix defended against this attack and captured Madras, which had been controlled by the English, along with additional French troops from Mauritius. The English attacked Pondicherry for the second time but instead faced a heavy loss. Thus, the English sought help from the Nawab of Carnatic (Arcot) Anwaruddin Khan. The Nawab demanded the French to return Madras to the British.

Dupleix tried to convince the Nawab that Madras would be handed over to him at a later stage, but he was unsuccessful in convincing the Nawab. As a result, in 1746 the Nawab sent a huge army to fight the French forces, but it was defeated by the relatively small number of French forces in Mylapore. This revealed the weakness of the armies of the Indian rulers vis-à-vis the efficiently trained armies of the European powers. The war then ended in 1748 with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, also called the Treaty of Aachen.

Thus, option (C) is correct.

Note:
Madras was returned to the English in exchange for Louisburg in North America to France. Dupleix now understood the superiority of the European armies, thus he used this to influence Indian princes and establish French hegemony in South India.