Second Anglo-Mysore War
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The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784) was a conflict in India between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Mysore. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the Franco-British conflict raging on account of the American Revolutionary War helped spark Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India.
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[edit] Background
Haider Ali ruled Mysore (though he did not have the title of king). Stung by what he considered a British breach of faith during an earlier war against the Marathas (three wars he fought and lost between 1764-1772 against Madhavrao Peshwa), Haider Ali committed himself to a French alliance to seek revenge against the British. Upon the French declaration of war against Britain in 1778, the British (then firmly entrenched in Madras) resolved to drive the French out of India, by taking the few enclaves of French possessions left on the subcontinent.[1]
[edit] Causes of war
Following the outbreak of hostilities between France and Britain during the American Revolutionary War in 1778, both France and Britain began waging war against each other's colonies. Britain embarked on a plan to drive the French from India, capturing Pondicherry and other French outposts in 1778. They then captured the French controlled port at Mahé on the Malabar coast in 1779. Mahé was of great strategic importance to Haider, who received French supplied arms and munition through the port, and Haider had not only explicitly told the British it was under his protection, he had also provided troops for its defence. Haider set about forming a confederacy against the British, which, in addition to the French, included the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad.
[edit] War
In July 1779 Haider invaded Karnataka with an army of 80,000, mostly cavalry. He descended through the passes of the Ghats amid burning villages, before laying siege to British forts in northern Arcot. The British responded by sending a force of 5,000 to lift the sieges. From his camp at Arcot Haider sent part of his army under the command of his eldest son, Tipu Sultan, to intercept a British force from Guntur sent to reinforce Colonel Hector Munro's army 145 miles (233 km) to the north at Madras.[1] On the morning of 10 September 1780, the British force from Guntur under the command of Colonel William Baille came under heavy fire from Tipu's guns near Pollilur. Baille formed his force into a long square formation at began to move slowly forward. However, Haider's cavalry broke through the formation's front, inflicting many casualties and forcing Baille to surrender. Out of the British force of 3,820 men, 336 were killed. The defeat was considered to be the East India Company's most crushing loss in India at that time. Munro reacted to the defeat by retreating to Madras, abandoning his baggage and dumping his cannons in the water tank at Conjeevaram, a small town some 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Madras.[2]
Instead of following up the victory and pressing on for a decisive victory at Madras, Haider Ali instead renewed the siege at Arcot, which he captured on 3 November. This decision gave the British time to shore up their defences in the south, and despatch reinforcements under the command of Sir Eyre Coote to Madras.[2]
Tipu also defeated on Colonel Braithwaite at Annagudi near Tanjore on 18 Feb 1782. This army consisted of 100 Europeans, 300 cavalry, 1400 sepoys and 10 field pieces. Tipu seized all the guns and took the entire detachment as prisoners. In December 1781 Tipu had successfully seized Chittur from British hands. These operations gave Tipu valuable military experience, that became more important after Haider died in December 1782.
Warren Hastings sent from Bengal Sir Eyre Coote, who, though repulsed at Chidambaram, defeated Haidar three times in succession in the battles of Porto Novo, Pollilur and Sholinghur, while Tipu was forced to raise the siege of Wandiwash, and Vellore was provisioned. Tipu defeated Brathwaite on the banks of the Coleroon in February 1782. The arrival of Lord Macartney as governor of Madras in the summer of 1781 included news of war with the Dutch Republic. Macartney ordered the seizure of the Dutch outposts in India, and the British captured the main Dutch outpost at Negapatam after three weeks of siege in November 1781 against defenses that included 2,000 of Haider's men. This forced Haider Ali to realize that he could never completely defeat a power that had command of the sea, since British naval support contributed to the victory. Haider had sent his son Tipu to the west coast to seek the assistance of the French fleet when he suddenly died in December 1782 at Chittur. Tipu quickly returned and took over the war effort.
[edit] Treaty of Mangalore
The British captured Coimbatore in 1783, but neither they nor Mysore were able to obtain a clear overall victory. The war was ended on 11 March 1784 with the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore, at which both sides agreed to restore the others' lands to the status quo ante bellum. The treaty is an important document in the history of India, because it was the last occasion when an Indian power dictated terms to the British, who were made to play the role of humble supplicants for peace. Warren Hastings called it a humiliating pacification, and appealed to the king and Parliament to punish the Madras Government for "the faith and honor of the British nation have been equally violated." The British would not reconcile to this humiliation, and worked hard from that day to subvert Tipu's power.
The great advantage was the psychological impact of his victory with the British, the mode of conclusion was highly satisfactory to him. The march of the Commissioner all the way from Madras to Mangalore seeking peace made Munro remark that such indignities were throughout poured upon the British" that limited efforts seemed necessary to repudiate the Treaty at the earliest time."
[edit] Aftermath
This was the second of four Anglo-Mysore Wars, which ultimately ended with British control over most of southern India.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: First Anglo-Mysore War |
Anglo-Mysore Wars | Succeeded by: Third Anglo-Mysore War |
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Barua, Pradeep (2005), The State at War in South Asia, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0803213441
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
