<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Part of the War of the Austrian Succession </Td> </Tr> <P> The war was also conducted in North America and India . In North America the conflict was known in the British colonies as King George's War, and did not begin until after formal war declarations of France and Britain reached the colonies in May 1744 . The frontiers between New France and the British colonies of New England, New York, and Nova Scotia were the site of frequent small scale raids, primarily by French colonial troops and their Indian allies against British targets, although several attempts were made by British colonists to organise expeditions against New France . The most significant incident was the capture of the French Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (Île Royale) by an expedition (29 April--16 June 1745) of colonial militia organised by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, commanded by William Pepperrell of Maine (then part of Massachusetts), and assisted by a Royal Navy fleet . A French expedition to recover Louisbourg in 1746 failed due to bad weather, disease, and the death of its commander . Louisbourg was returned to France in exchange for Madras, generating much anger among the British colonists, who felt they had eliminated a nest of privateers with its capture . </P> <P> The war marked the beginning of great power in England and the powerful struggle between Britain and France in India and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the subcontinent . Major hostilities began with the arrival of a naval squadron under Mahé de la Bourdonnais, carrying troops from France . In September 1746 Bourdonnais landed his troops near Madras and laid siege to the port . Although it was the main British settlement in the Carnatic, Madras was weakly fortified and had only a small garrison, reflecting the thoroughly commercial nature of the European presence in India hitherto . On 10 September, only six days after the arrival of the French force, Madras surrendered . The terms of the surrender agreed by Bourdonnais provided for the settlement to be ransomed back for a cash payment by the British East India Company . However, this concession was opposed by Dupleix, the governor general of the Indian possessions of the Compagnie des Indes . When Bourdonnais was forced to leave India in October after the devastation of his squadron by a cyclone Dupleix reneged on the agreement . The Nawab of the Carnatic Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan intervened in support of the British and advanced to retake Madras, but despite vast superiority in numbers his army was easily and bloodily crushed by the French, in the first demonstration of the gap in quality that had opened up between European and Indian armies . </P> <P> The French now turned to the remaining British settlement in the Carnatic, Fort St David at Cuddalore, which was dangerously close to the main French settlement of Pondichéry . The first French force sent against Cuddalore was surprised and defeated nearby by the forces of the Nawab and the British garrison in December 1746 . Early in 1747 a second expedition laid siege to Fort St David but withdrew on the arrival of a British naval squadron in March . A final attempt in June 1748 avoided the fort and attacked the weakly fortified town of Cuddalore itself, but was routed by the British garrison . </P>

Which place did british use as the spring board for the conquest of india