Introduction
War is a state of armed conflict between states, governments, societies and informal paramilitary groups, such as mercenaries, insurgents and militias The Anglo–Mysore Wars was a series of wars fought in over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company (represented chiefly by the Madras Presidency), and Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his successor Tipu Sultan fought a war on four fronts with the British attacking from the west, south, and east, while the Marathas and the Nizam's forces attacked from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu (who was killed in the final war, in 1799), and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which won and took control of much of India.
Wars
Anglo–Mysore War - Portuguese:
- Vasco-da-Gama reached the port of Calicut in 1498 during the reign of king Zamorin (Hindu ruler of Calicut).
- Settlements Daman, Salsette, Chaul, and Bombay (West coast), San Thome (near Madras) and at Hooghly.
- Alfonso de Albuquerque, the second Governor of India (first being Fransisco de Almeida) arrived in 1509 and captured Goa in AD 1510.
- Dutch East India Company was formed in AD 1602.
- Dutch were defeated by English at the Battle of Bedara in AD 1759 and as per the agreement, the Dutch gained the control over Indonesia and the British over India, Sri Lanka and Malaya.
- Settlements They set-up their first factory at Masulipatnam in 1605. Their other factories were at Pulicat, Chinsura, Patna, Balasore, Naga pattanam, Cochin, Surat, Karaikal, and Kasimbazar.
- The English East India Company was formed in 1599 under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. Jahangir granted a Farman to Captain William Hawkins permitting the English to erect a factory at Surat (1613).
- In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe succeeded in getting an imperial farman to trade and establish a factory in all parts of the Mughal Empire by ruler Jahangir.
- In 1690, a factory was established at Suttanati by Jab Charnock. In 1698, following the acquisition of zamindari of three villages of Sultanate, Kalikata and Govindpur, the city of Calcutta was founded.
- Fort William was set-up in 1700.
- In 1717, John Surman obtained a farman from Farrukhsiyar, which gave large concessions to the company. This Farman has been called the Magna Carta of the Company.
- Battle of Plassey (1757) English defeated Sirajuddaula, the Nawab of Bengal.
- Battle of Buxar (1764) Captain Munro defeated joint forces of Mir Qasim (Bengal), Shujauddaula (Awadh) and Shah Alam II (Mughal).
- The Danish East India Company was formed in 1616.
- The Danish colony 'Tranquebar' was established on Southern Coromandel coast of India.
- Settlements Serampur (Bengal) and Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu) sold their settlements to the English in 1845.
- The French East India Company was formed by Colbert under state patronage in 1664.
- The First French factory was established at Surat by Francois Caron in 1668.
- A factory at Masulipatnam was set-up in 1669.
- French were defeated by English in the Battle of Wandiwash (1760).
Anglo–Mysore War -Hyder Ali:
- The state of Mysore rose to prominence in the politics of South India under the leadership of Hyder Ali.
- In 1761 he became the de facto ruler of Mysore.
- The war of successions in Karnataka and Haiderabad, the conflict of the English and the French in the South and the defeat of the Marathas in the Third battle of Panipat (1761) helped him in attending and consolidating the territory of Mysore.
- Hyder Ali was defeated by Maratha Peshwa Madhav Rao in 1764 and forced to sign a treaty in 1765.
- He surrendered him a part of his territory and also agreed to pay rupees twenty-eight lakhs per annum.
- The Nizam of Haiderabad did not act alone but preferred to act in league with the English which resulted in the first Anglo-Mysore War.
- Tipu Sultan succeeded Hyder Ali in 1785 and fought against the British in III and IV Mysore wars. He brought great changes in the administrative system.
- He introduced modern industries by bringing foreign experts and extending state support to many industries.
- He sent his ambassadors to many countries for establishing foreign trade links. He introduced a new system of coinage, new scales of weight and a new calendar.
- Tipu Sultan organized the infantry on the European lines and tried to build the modern navy. Planted a tree of liberty at Srirangapatnam and became a member of the Jacobin Club.
Anglo–Mysore War -Types:
- The First Anglo-Mysore War (1767-69)-Treaty of Madras
- The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-1784)-Treaty of Mangalore
- The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792)- Treaty of Srirangapattanam The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799)
- The main causes of this war were Haider's ambition to drive the British away from the Carnatic and finally from India and the British realization of the threat posed to them by
- A tripartite alliance was formed against Hyderby the British, the Nizam and the Marathas.
- Haider's success in breaking the alliance and declaration of war on the British. The war ended with the defeat of the British.
- The panic-stricken Madras government concluded the humiliating Treaty of Madras in 1769 on the basis of mutual restitution of each other's territories and a defensive alliance between the two parties committing the English to help Hyder Ali in case he was attacked by another power.
- The treaty of 1769 between Hyder Ali and the English company proved more in the nature of a truce and Hyder Ali accused the company of not observing the terms of the defensive treaty by refusing to help him when the Marathas attacked Mysore in 1771.
- Hyder found the French more helpful than the English. Further in 1778 English in India seized the French settlements including Mahe a port which was very crucial for Hyder Ali for the entry of supplies.
- Hyder Ali tried to take Mahe port but in vain.
- He arranged a joint front with the Nizam and the Marathas against the common enemy - the English East India Company. The war lasted from 1780-1784.
- But he died in 1782 and was succeeded by his son Tipu Sultan.
- Tipu continued the war for another year but absolute success eluded both the sides. Tired of war the two sides concluded the peace Treaty of Mangalore.
- By this Treaty it was decided that English would return Srirangapatnam to Tipu and Tipu would handover Fort of Badnur to English.
- Treaty of Mangalore: Both sides agreed to a mutual restoration of possessions (barring the forts of Amboorgur and Satgur) and Tipu undertook not to make any claims on the Carnatic in future.
- Tipu agreed to release all prisoners of war and he had to restore the factory and privileges possessed by the Company at Calicut until 1779.
- The war between Tipu Sultan and the British began in 1789 and ended in Tipu's defeat in 1792.
- Even though Tipu fought with exemplary bravery, Lord Cornwallis the Governor General had succeeded through shrewd diplomacy in isolating him by winning over the Marathas, the Nizam and the rulers of Travancore and Coorg.
- This war again revealed that the Indian powers were short-sighted enough to aid the foreigner against another Indian power for the sake of temporary advantages.
- The Third Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of Srirangapatnam in March 1792.
- Treaty of Srirangapatnam: This treaty resulted in the surrender of nearly half of Mysore territory to the British.
- Tipu also had to pay a war indemnity of over three crores of rupees.
- With his defeat in the third Anglo-Mysore war, Tipu was burning with revenge.
- He wanted to get back his territory and to achieve that objective he carried on negotiations with the French and Zaman Shah of Kabul.
- Tipu wanted his allies to expel the English.
- Lord Wellesley after making Subsidiary Alliance with the Nizam asked Tipu Sultan to accept the same but he refused.
- Mysore was attacked from two sides.
- The main army under General Harris supported by Nizam's subsidiary force under Arthur Wellesley attacked Mysore from the east while another army advanced from Bombay.
- Tipu was at first defeated by the Bombay army and was later on defeated by General Harris at Mallavalli. Tipu died fighting bravely.
- The members of his family were interned at Vellore.
- A boy of the earlier Mysore royal family was installed on the Gaddi of Mysore and a Subsidiary Alliance was imposed.
- Thus, the fourth Mysore War destroyed the state of Mysore which was ruled by Hyder Ali 33 years.