DUPLEIX, JOSEPH-FRANOIS

born 1697, Landrecies, Fr. died Nov. 10, 1763, Paris colonial administrator and governor-general of the French territories in India who nearly realized his dream of establishing a French empire in India. Although he was an imaginative political visionary, he died in despair and comparative poverty. His father, Franois, a director of the French East India Company, sent Dupleix on a voyage to India and America in 1715. His father's influence led to his appointment (1720) to the superior council of Pondicherry, the capital of French India. He was made superintendent of the French factory (trading station) in Chandernagore, Bengal, in 1731 and 11 years later was appointed governor-general of all French establishments in India. When fighting between France and Britain broke out in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744, the French proposed neutrality in India, but this was rejected by the British. In 1746, with the help of a French fleet, Dupleix took Madras but failed to take the neighbouring British fort of St. David; he twice defeated armies sent to relieve Britain's ally, the nawab Anwar-ud-Din of the Carnatic (modern Karnataka state). The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war in Europe in 1748 and restored Madras to the British, but Dupleix embarked on further schemes for French aggrandizement in India. Sensing the military weakness of the various contending princes in South India, he made local alliances with them that were aimed at ruining the British East India Company. He supported Chanda Sahib's claim to the nawabship of the Carnatic, and, when the British supported a rival candidate, a largely private war ensued (1751) between the two companies. Mostly as the result of the exploits of Dupleix's chief rival, the brilliant young British soldier Robert Clive, all the French forces except those in the Deccan were defeated. Dupleix's grand schemes continued toppling for two more years, and the French finances were exhausted in the struggle. In 1754 Dupleix was recalled to Paris, where he sued (unsuccessfully) the French East India Company for money he claimed he had spent on its account. Dupleix remained discredited in France and died in obscurity. He had displayed great talents as an organizer and diplomat, but he lacked military acumen and the ability to work with others.