Charles Robert Godeheu de Zaimont was Acting Governor General of

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. He was the Commissioner of French army during Dupleix's reign.

Important incidents

In 1754, Godeheu gave up with the English the Indian territories, especially

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, which had been conquered in 1746 by Dupleix and left the French with the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

region. From 1751 Dupleix's star began to wane.

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

, a discontented young British factor who had left the

countinghouse A counting house, or counting room, was traditionally an office in which the financial books of a business were kept. It was also the place that the business received appointments and correspondence relating to demands for payment. As the use of ...

for the field, seized the fort of

Arcot Arcot (natively spelt as Ārkāḍu) is a town and urban area of Ranipet district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Located on the southern banks of Palar River, the city straddles a trade route between Chennai and Bangalore or Salem, between t ...

, political capital of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

, with 210 men in August 1751. This daring stroke had the hoped-for effect of diverting half of

Chanda Sahib Chanda Sahib (died 12 June 1752) was a subject of the Mughal Empire and the Nawab of the Carnatic between 1749 and 1752. Initially he was supported by the French during the Carnatic Wars. After his defeat at Arcot in 1751, he was captured by ...

's army to its recovery. Clive's successful 50-day defense permitted

Mohamed Ali Khan Walajan Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah, or Muhammed Ali, Wallajah (7 July 1717 – 13 October 1795), was the Nawab of the Carnatic from 1749 until his death in 1795. He declared himself Nawab in 1749. This position was disputed between Wallajah and Ch ...

to procure allies from

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

and the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

. The French were worsted, and they were eventually forced to surrender in June 1752. Dupleix never recovered from this blow and was superseded in August 1754 by his director Godehou, who made an unfavourable settlement with the British. On 26December 1754, he signed the

Treaty of Pondicherry The Treaty of Pondicherry was signed in 1754 bringing an end to the Second Carnatic War. It was agreed and signed in the French settlement of Puducherry in French India. The favoured British candidate Mohamed Ali Khan Walajan was recognized as t ...

with Thomas Saunders, the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southe ...

's resident at

, that forbade the British and French companies all political activity in India and the activity must be strictly commercial. His intervention in French activity at that time left an unerasable scar on Dupleix's efforts and became the death blow for future expansion of the

French Colonial Empire The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...

in India.

References

Titles

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godeheu, Charles French colonial governors and administrators Governors of French India Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown

Important incidents

See also

References

Titles