Anglo-Mysore Wars

Anglo-Mysore Wars 

waged in the last four decades of the 18th century by the British East India Company to conquer the principality of Mysore (India).

The first Anglo-Mysore War (1767–69) began with an invasion of Mysore by the troops of the company and its protege Nawab of Karnata. The Mysore army was led by their ruler, Haidar Ali, who successfully took the English army from the rear. By the peace treaty of Madras (1769) both parties renounced the territories they had conquered from each other and concluded a defensive alliance.

In the second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84), Mysore was allied with Hyderabad and the Maratha. From 1782, after the death of Haidar Ali, the Mysore army was led by his son, Tipu Sultan. The successes of Tipu Sultan, who had been aided by the French, came to nothing because of the betrayal of his allies and the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles (1783) between England and France. By the peace treaty of Mangalore, the enemies returned the lands and prisoners they had captured.

In the third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–92), the English succeeded in drawing the troops of the Maratha and of Hyderabad into the battle against Mysore. However, the situation of the British troops was so serious that in 1791 Governor-General Cornwallis came from Bengali to lead them. He managed to mobilize all the English forces and move them on Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore. Tipu Sultan was forced to sign the Seringapatam peace treaty of 1792 and surrender almost half his principality to the allies as well as paying an indemnity. In the fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799), Seringapatam was taken by storm and Tipu Sultan killed. Mysore was turned into a vassal principality of the company.

REFERENCES

Antonova, K. A. Angliiskoe zavoevanie Indii v XVIII veke. Moscow, 1958.
Khan, M. H. History of Tipu Sultan. Calcutta, 1951.

K. A. ANTONOVA