Mysore Wars
Mysore Wars
At issue: Future of Mysore
Date: 1767–1799
Location: Mysore, India
Combatants: Sultans of Mysore vs. East India Company
Principal commanders: Mysore, Haydar Ali (1722–1782), Tipu (1749/1753–1799); British, Eyre Coote (1728–1783), Lord Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805), Richard Wellesley (1760–1842), George Harris (1746–1829)
Principal battles: Porto Novo, Siege of Mangalore, Bangalore
Result: East India Company victorious; extinction of Muslim state and restoration of Hindu dynasty
Background
Haydar Ali (also Hyder Ali), a Muslim soldier of fortune, overthrew the Hindu dynasty of Mysore and reigned as sultan from 1761 until 1782. His ambitions and those of his son, Tipu (r. 1782–1799), threatened the interests of the East India Company, which had recently fought three wars for control of southeastern India, the First, Second, and Third Carnatic Wars (1746–1748, 1751–1754, and 1756–1763).
Action
The Mysore sultans and the East India Company fought four wars, in 1767–1769, 1780–1784, 1790–1792, and 1799. By 1767, the beginning of the First Mysore War, Haydar Ali had aroused the combined hostility of the Marāṭhā peshwa in Poona, the niẓām of Hyderabad, and the East India Company. He spread terror and devastation as he swept down onto the plains of the Carnatic, reaching the outskirts of Madras by March, 1768. In April, 1769, he dictated a peace that restored the state existing before the war. Mysore and the East India Company signed a defensive alliance.
In 1771, the peshwa’s forces invaded Mysore, but the East India Company failed to come to Haydar Ali’s assistance. In 1780, the Second Mysore War began when Haydar Ali launched a fresh attack on the Carnatic, occupying Arcot, the capital, and laying waste the countryside around Madras. Haydar Ali retained the initiative until Sir Eyre Coote defeated him at Porto Novo (July 1, 1781), but Haydar Ali found new allies in France and Holland.
Coote moved north and won two more engagements. Meanwhile, at sea, Admiral Sir Edward Hughes captured Negapatam from the Dutch and, a year later, Trincomalee. However, a powerful French fleet arrived in the Bay of Bengal, commanded by Bailli de Suffren, who landed French reinforcements. When Haydar Ali died unexpectedly in December, 1782, his son, Tipu, proceeded to besiege Mangalore (May 16, 1783-January 30, 1784). Expecting no further help from his European allies, Tipu signed the Peace of Mangalore on the basis of the status quo (March 7, 1784).
A new British governor-general, Lord Charles Cornwallis, entered into an engagement with the niẓām of Hyderabad. Tipu regarded this as a breach of the Mangalore treaty and ravaged the state of Travancore (December, 1789). Cornwallis regarded this as grounds for war and initiated a triple alliance with the Marāṭhās and the niẓām of Hyderabad that resulted in the Third Mysore War. Late in 1790, three British columns advanced on Mysore, but Tipu’s generalship prevented them from achieving anything. In December, 1790, Cornwallis took the field in person and captured Bangalore (March 21, 1791), but was forced to fall back from Tipu’s capital, Seringapatam. In 1791, Cornwallis again reached Seringapatam, and Tipu opened negotiations. In the Treaty of Seringapatam (March 1, 1792), Tipu lost half his state, which was divided between the allies, agreed to pay an indemnity, and surrendered his sons as hostages.
The Fourth Mysore War began in 1798, when an aggressive new governor general, Richard Wellesley, demanded that Tipu accept a subsidiary treaty with the East India Company, which would have reduced his status. Wellesley treated Tipu’s refusal as a cause for war and ordered three British columns (one led by the governor general’s brother, Arthur Wellesley, future duke of Wellington) to besiege Seringapatam. In a general assault led by General George Harris on May 4, 1799, Tipu fell, sword in hand, mortally wounded.
Aftermath
Haydar Ali and Tipu were two of the most remarkable Indian military leaders of the eighteenth century. With Tipu’s death, the East India Company decided against annexation of Mysore, perhaps to avoid sharing the spoils with its allies, and instead restored the former Hindu dynasty. Mysore survived as a princely state until 1947.
Milestones in the Mysore Wars
| Date | Event |
| First Mysore War | |
| 1766–1769 | Mysore ruler Haydar Ali battles British troops to a stalemate, then signs agreement forming alliance with the East India Company. |
| Second Mysore War | |
| 1780 | Haydar Ali declares war on British, joins French, and attacks British forces at Perambakam. |
| July, 1781 | British forces defeat Haydar Ali at the Battle of Porto Novo. |
| August-September, 1781 | British defeat Haydar Ali at Pollilur and Sholingarh. |
| 1782 | French capture port of Trincomalee, retaining control of the Indian Ocean; Haydar Ali dies. |
| 1784 | French sign peace treaty with England and withdraw aid to Mysore; Haydar Ali’s son, Tipu Sahib ends war. |
| Third Mysore War | |
| 1789–1792 | Tipu attacks Travancore; British, led by Lord Cornwallis, invade Mysore, storming its capital and besieging Tipu in Seringapatam. |
| March, 1792 | Tipu signs peace agreement giving half his lands to the British. |
| Fourth Mysore War | |
| 1799 | British forces, led by Governor General Richard Wellesley, attempt to rid India of French influence; Tipu refuses to cooperate, and Wellesley sends armies into Mysore, driving Tipu into Seringapatam, where he is killed after the British breach the wall. |
Resources
Bowring, Lewin B. Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Shephard, E. W. Coote Bahadur: A Life of Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote. London: W. Laurie, 1956.
Wilks, Mark. Historical Sketches of the South of Indian History: From the Earliest Times to the Last Muhammadan Dynasty. Vol. 21 in Indian Historical Researches. Reprint. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 1990.
Wilson, W. J. History of the Madras Army. 5 vols. Madras, India: Government Press, 1882.