Anglo – Mysore War

The Anglo – Mysore War was a series of four military confrontations between the British and Mysore rulers in India .

First Anglo-Mysore War (1767-69)

The background

• The Mysore region emerged as a Hindu state in the year 1612 under the Wadiyar dynasty. Chikka Krishnaraja Wadiyar II ruled from the year 1734 to the year 1766.
• Hyder Ali, who was appointed as a soldier in the army of the Wadiyar dynasty, became the de facto ruler of Mysore on the strength of his great administrative skills and military strategy.
  • Mysore emerged as a powerful state in the late 18th century under the leadership of Hyder Ali.
• Hyder Ali’s proximity to the French, along with Hyder Ali’s control over the flourishing trade of the Malabar coast, jeopardized the British political and commercial interests and his control over Madras.
• After their success in the battle of Buxar with the Nawab of Bengal, the British signed a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nizam, who had already had differences with the Marathas, to protect Hyder Ali from the northern government coast of the British. Agreed to hand over
  • The Nizam, Maratha and British of Hyderabad united against Hyder Ali.
    • Hyder Ali diplomatically neutralized the Marathas and converted the Nizam as his ally against the Nawab of Arcot.

Hyder Ali

• Born into an unknown family, Hyder Ali (1721–1782) began his military life as a cavalryman in the Mysore army of King Chikka Krishnaraja Wadiyar.
  • He was uneducated but intellectual and was diplomatically and militarily skilled.
• He became the de facto ruler of Mysore in the year 1761 and with the help of French army started training in his army in the western way.
• With his excellent military skills, he defeated the Nizam’s army and Marathas and captured Dod Ballapur, Serra, Bednur and Hoskote in the year 1761-63 and subjugated the polygars of South India (Tamil Nadu) causing problems. took.
  • From the time of the Vijayanagara Empire, polygars or Palakkaras were appointed as military chiefs and administrators in parts of southern India. They also collected taxes from tenants.
• Emerging from their defeat, the Marathas under Madhavrao invaded Mysore and defeated Hyder Ali in the years 1764, 1766 and 1771.
• He had to pay a large sum of money to establish peace, but after the death of Madhavrao in the year 1772, Hyder Ali invaded the Marathas several times during the year 1774-76 and occupied new territories as well as by him All the lost areas were also reclaimed.

Result of war:

• The war continued for a year and a half with no consequences.
• Hyder changed his strategy and suddenly attacked Madras, causing chaos and panic in Madras.
• Due to this, the British were forced to make a treaty of Madras on 4 April 1769 with Hyder.
  • This treaty led to the exchange of prisoners and conquered territories.
  • The British promised to provide help to Hyder Ali in the event of an attack by another state.

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Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84)

The background

• When the Maratha army invaded Mysore in the year 1771, the British failed to abide by the Treaty of Madras.
  • Hyder Ali accused him of breach of trust.
• In addition, Hyder Ali found the French more resourceful in meeting the requirements of army guns, shora and lead.
  • As a result, he started importing French munitions in Mysore through Mahe, the French territory on the Malabar coast.
• The growing relationship of the two increased the worries of the British.
  • As a result, the British attempted to bring Mahe under their control which was under the patronage of Hyder Ali.
  • Anglo – Mysore War

Result of Anglo – Mysore War: 

• Hyder Ali allied with the Marathas and the Nizam against the British.
  • He invaded Karnataka and captured Arcot and in 1781 defeated the English army under Colonel Bailey.
• Meanwhile the British (led by Eyrakut) separated both the Marathas and the Nizams on Hyder’s side but Hyder Ali boldly faced the British, defeating him only once in November 1781 in Portonovo (present-day Parganipettai, Tamil Nadu). Had to face.
  • However, he reorganized his forces and defeated the British and took his commander Braithwaite captive.
• Hyder Ali died of cancer on December 7, 1782.
  • His son Tipu Sultan continued the war for a year without any positive results.
• Fed up with an indecisive war, both sides opted for peace and the Treaty of Mangalore (March 1784), under which both sides returned territories won from each other.

Tipu Sultan

• Tipu Sultan was born in November 1750. He was the son of Hyder Ali and a great warrior who is also known as ‘Mysore Tiger’.
• He was highly educated and was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Kannada and Urdu languages.
• Tipu, like his father Hyder Ali, paid much attention to the upliftment and maintenance of a skilled military force.
  • With the ‘Persian Words of Command’ he formed his army on the European model.
  • Although he enlisted the assistance of French officers to train his troops, he did not allow them (the French) to grow into an interest group.
• Tipu was well aware of the importance of the naval force.
  • In the year 1796, he built a navigational board and planned to build a fleet of 22 warships and 20 combat ships.
  • He established three dockyards at Mangalore, Wazidabad and Molyabad. However, his plans did not fructify.
• He was also a patron of science and technology and is credited as the ‘pioneer of rocket technology’ in India.
  • He wrote a military handbook explaining rocket operations.
  • He was also the pioneer of silk production in the state of Mysore.
• Tipu was a lover of democracy and a great diplomat who supported the French troops at Srirangapatnam for the establishment of the Jacobian Club in 1797.
  • Tipu himself became a member of the Jacobian club and called himself ‘Citizen Tipu’.
  • He planted a tree of freedom in Srirangapatnam.

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Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92)

The background

• The Treaty of Mangalore was not sufficient to resolve disputes between Tipu Sultan and the British.
  • Both aimed to establish their political dominance over the Deccan.
• The Third Anglo-Mysore War began when Tipu invaded Travancore, a British ally, Travancore was the only source of pepper for the East India Company.
  • Travancore bought Jalakottal and Cannanore from the Dutch in the Cochin state, a vassal of Tipu, considered the act of Travancore to be a violation of their sovereign rights.

Outcome of war

• The British joined Travancore and attacked Mysore.
  • The Nizams and Marathas, envious of Tipu’s growing power, met the British.
• In the year 1790, Tipu Sultan defeated the British army under the leadership of General Meadows.
• In the year 1791, Lord Cornwallis took the leadership and reached Bangalore (authorized in March 1791) via Ambur and Vellore with great military force and from there to Srirangapatnam.
  • And finally with the support of the Marathas and the Nizam, the British attacked Srirangapatnam for the second time.
  • Tipu faced the British strongly but could not succeed.
• The war ended in 1792 with the Treaty of Srirangapatnam.
  • Under this treaty almost half of the Mysore region was acquired by a coalition of British, Nizams and Marathas.
    • The British got the Baramahl, Dindigul and Malabar, while the Marathas got the areas around Tungabhadra and its tributaries and the Nizam took over areas from the Krishna River to beyond Pennar.
  • Apart from this, three crore rupees were also taken from Tipu as war damage.
    • Half of the war damage compensation was to be paid immediately while the remaining payment was to be made in installments, for which Tipu’s two sons were taken hostage by the British.
• Due to the Third Anglo-Mysore War, Tipu’s dominant position in the south was destroyed and British domination was established there.

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Fourth Anglo-Maratha War (1799)

The background

• During the period 1792-99 both the British and Tipu Sultan tried to recover their losses.
  • Tipu fulfilled all the terms of the treaty of Srirangapatnam and his sons were freed.
• When the Hindu ruler of the Wadiyar dynasty died in 1796, Tipu declared himself a sultan and decided to avenge his humiliating defeat in the previous war.
• In the year 1798, Lord Wellesley was made the new Governor General after Sir John Shore.
• Welgeley’s worries increased due to Tipu’s growing relationship with France.
• For the purpose of ending Tipu’s independent existence, he forced him to subdue him through the subsidiary pact system.
• Tipu was accused of conspiring against the British by sending intelligence to Arabia, Afghanistan and the French islands (Mauritius) and Versailles with the intention of betrayal. Welgeley was not satisfied with Tipu and thus began the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.

Subsidiary treaty

• In the year 1798, Lord Wellesley introduced a subsidiary treaty system in India, under which the ruler of the allied Indian state was obliged to pay financially for the maintenance of the British army in return for protection from the British against their enemies. Was.
  • It provided for the appointment of a British resident in the court of the concerned ruler, which prohibited the ruler from appointing any European to his service without the approval of the British.
  • Sometimes rulers ceded part of their territory instead of making economic payments annually.
  • The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first Indian ruler to sign a subsidiary treaty.
• The native kings or rulers who made subsidiary treaties were not free to declare war against any other state or to make agreements without the consent of the British.
  • States that were relatively strong and powerful were allowed to keep their armies, but their armies were kept under British generals.
• The subsidiary treaty was a policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of the state, but it was never followed by the British.
• Arbitrary fixed and huge economic payments destroyed the economy of the states and made the people of the states poor.
• At the same time, the British could now keep a large army at the expense of the Indian states.
  • They protected and controlled foreign relations and deployed powerful military forces on their land.

Result of war: 

• The war began on 17 April 1799, and the war ended with its fall on 4 May 1799. Tipu was defeated first by British General Stuart and then by General Harris.
  • Lord Welledgeley’s brother Arthur Welledgeley also participated in the war.
• The Marathas and the Nizam again assisted the British as the Marathas were promised half of Tipu’s kingdom and the Nizam had already signed the subsidiary treaty.
• Tipu Sultan was killed in the war and all his treasures were confiscated by the British.
• The British selected a person from the erstwhile Hindu royal family of Mysore as the Maharaja and imposed an auxiliary treaty on him.
• It took the British 32 years to subdue Mysore. The threat of French re-enforcement in the Deccan was permanently eradicated.

Post war scenario

• Lord Wellejali offered to give the Sunda and Harponeli districts of the Kingdom of Mysore to the Marathas, which was later refused.
• The Nizam was given the districts of Gooty and Gurramkonda.
• The British captured Kanara, Wayanad, Coimbatore, Dwarapuram and Srirangapatnam.
• The new kingdom of Mysore was handed over to Krishnaraja III (Wadiyar) of an old Hindu dynasty, who accepted the subsidiary treaty.

Tags:

• General Studies-I
• Modern Indian History