Anglo-Mysore Wars

The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the
18th century between the Sultanate of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India
Company (represented chiefly by the neighbouring Madras Presidency), Maratha Empire,
Kingdom of Travancore, and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his
succeeding son Tipu fought the wars on four fronts: with the British attacking from the west,
south and east and the Nizam's forces attacking from the north.[1] The fourth war resulted in the
overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu (the latter was killed in the fourth war, in 1799), and
the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which took control of
much of the Indian subcontinent.

The four wars

Hyder Ali in 1762, incorrectly described as "Commander in Chief of the Marathas. At the head of his army in the war
against the British in India" (French painting).

First Anglo-Mysore War

The First Anglo-Mysore War (1767 – 1769) saw Hyder Ali enjoy some measure of success
against the British, almost capturing Madras. The British convinced Nizam Mir Nizam Ali Khan to
attack Ali. That was temporary, however, and the Nizam signed a new treaty with the British in
February 1768. Ali had to contend with a British Bombay army attacking on the west and a
Madras army attacking from the northeast. However, Hyder's attack towards Madras resulted in
the Madras government suing for peace, and the resultant Treaty of Madras.[1]

Second Anglo-Mysore War

The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780 – 1784) witnessed bloodier battles with fortunes
fluctuating between the contesting powers. Tipu defeated William Baillie at the Battle of Pollilur
in September 1780, and John Braithwaite at Kumbakonam in February 1782, both of whom were
taken prisoners to Seringapatam. This war saw the comeback of Sir Eyre Coote, the British
commander who defeated Ali at the Battle of Porto Novo and Arni. Tipu continued the war
following his father's death. Finally, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore on
11 March 1784, which restored the status quo ante bellum. The Treaty of Gajendragad in April
1787 ended the conflict with the Marathas.[1]

Third Anglo-Mysore War

In the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790 – 1792), Tipu, now an ally of France, invaded in 1789 the
nearby Kingdom of Travancore, a British ally. British forces were commanded by Charles
Cornwallis. The resultant war lasted three years and was a resounding defeat for Mysore. The
war ended after the 1792 Siege of Seringapatam and the signing of the Treaty of Seringapatam,
according to which Tipu had to surrender half of his kingdom to the British East India Company
and its allies.
Fourth Anglo-Mysore war

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798 – 1799) saw the death of Tipu and further reductions in
Mysorean territory.[1] Mysore's alliance with the French was seen as a threat to the East India
Company and Mysore was attacked from all four sides. Mysore had 35,000 soldiers, whereas
the British commanded 60,000 troops. Nizam Akbar Ali Khan and the Marathas launched an
invasion from the north. The British won a decisive victory at the Siege of Seringapatam (1799).
Tipu was executed during the defence of the city. Much of the remaining Mysorean territory was
annexed by the British, the nizam, and the Marathas. The remaining core, around Mysore and
Seringapatam, was restored to the Indian prince Yuvaraja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (later Maharaja
Krishnaraja Wadiyar III) under his grandmother's regency; members of the Wodeyar dynasty had
been in power before Ali became the de facto ruler. The Wodeyars ruled the remnant Kingdom of
Mysore until 1947, when it joined the Dominion of India.

Aftermath

After the Battles of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), which established British dominion over
East India, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, the Anglo–Maratha Wars (1767 – 1799), and finally the
Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849), consolidated the British claim over South Asia, resulting in the
British Empire in India, though resistance among various groups such as the Afghans and the
Burmese would last well into the 1880s.
The First and the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

The Third Anglo-Mysore War

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War

1793 map
 1800 map

Rockets

The Mysorean rockets used by Tipu during the Battle of Pollilur were much more advanced than
any that the British East India Company had previously seen, chiefly because of the use of iron
tubes for holding the propellant. This enabled higher thrust and a longer range for the missile (up
to 2 kilometres (1.2 mi)). After Tipu's eventual defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and the
capture of a number of Mysorean iron rockets, they were influential in British rocket
development, inspiring the Congreve rocket, which was soon put into use in the Napoleonic
Wars.[2]

See also

Mysorean invasion of Malabar

Battle of Nedumkotta

Regiment de Meuron

Garrison Cemetery, Seringapatam

References

1. Naravane, M. S. (2014). Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. New Delhi:
A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. pp. 172–181. ISBN 978-81-313-0034-3.
 2. Narasimha, Roddam (May 1985). Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750–1850 A.D. (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20120303205010/http://www.nal.res.in/pdf/pdfrocket.pdf) (PDF). Bangalore, India: National
Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science. Archived from the original (http://www.nal.res.in/
pdf/pdfrocket.pdf) (PDF) on 3 March 2012.

Further reading

Brittlebank, Kate (1997). Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu
Domain. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Cooper, Randolf G. S. (September 2005). "Culture, Combat, and Colonialism in Eighteenth- and
Nineteenth-Century India". The International History Review. 27 (3): 534–549.
doi:10.1080/07075332.2005.9641071 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F07075332.2005.964107
1) . S2CID 154707328 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:154707328) .

Jaim, H. M. Iftekhar; Jaim, Jasmine (Autumn 2011). "The Decisive Nature of the Indian War
Rocket in the Anglo-Mysore Wars of the Eighteenth Century". Arms & Armour. 8 (2): 131–138.
doi:10.1179/174962611X13097916223244 (https://doi.org/10.1179%2F174962611X1309791
6223244) . S2CID 161374846 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161374846) .

Kaliamurthy, G. (1987). Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84). Mittal Publications.

Roy, Kaushik (2011). War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849. Taylor &
Francis.

Gidwani, Regan S. (2014). The Sword of Tipu Sultan. – a novel linked to TV series

https://sites.google.com/vvdatalink.com/vv-datalink/knowledge/history/indian-
history/mordern-history/anglo-mysore-wars

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