Anglo-Mysore wars

Topic: Europeans in India and the Rise of Company Rule · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Anglo-Mysore wars were four wars, fought between 1767 and 1799, between the English East India Company and the kingdom of Mysore under Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. They ended in 1799, when Tipu was killed at Seringapatam (Srirangapatna). The Company then took a large part of Mysore and put the old Wodeyar family back on the throne under a subsidiary alliance.

They matter because Mysore was one of the strongest Indian powers that refused to bow to the Company. Its defeat removed the biggest obstacle to British power in South India.

Explanation

Background and causes

Rise of Haidar Ali. Haidar Ali was a soldier in the service of the Wodeyar kings of Mysore. By the 1760s (c. 1761) he had become the real ruler, while the Wodeyar king stayed only in name.
Why the Company and Mysore clashed:
Mysore was growing fast in the south. The Company wanted control of the south (the Carnatic and the coast).
Haidar, and later Tipu, were friendly with the French, who were the Company's main European rivals.
Mysore wanted trade on the Malabar coast for itself. This hurt Company trade.
Divide and rule at work. The Company did not fight Mysore alone. It kept making alliances with Mysore's Indian rivals, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas. This was the old method of turning Indian rulers against each other.

The four wars: sequence with dates

First Anglo-Mysore War (1767–1769)
The Company, the Nizam and the Marathas joined against Haidar Ali. Haidar broke up this alliance and won the Nizam over to his side for a time.
Haidar's army came close to Madras.
It ended with the Treaty of Madras (1769). Each side gave back the land it had captured, and both promised to help each other if attacked.
Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784)
Cause: in 1771 the Marathas attacked Haidar, and the Company did not help him as the 1769 treaty had promised. Haidar felt betrayed.
In 1780 Haidar defeated a British force under Colonel Baillie at Pollilur.
In 1781 Sir Eyre Coote defeated Haidar at Porto Novo.
Haidar died during the war (1782). Tipu Sultan carried on the fight.
It ended with the Treaty of Mangalore (1784), which again returned captured land on both sides. Neither side won clearly.
Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792)
Cause: Tipu attacked Travancore (1789), which was a friend of the Company.
Governor-General Lord Cornwallis led the war himself. The Nizam and the Marathas fought on the British side.
The allies reached Seringapatam, Tipu's capital. Tipu had to make peace.
Treaty of Seringapatam (1792):
- Tipu gave up about half of his kingdom. The Company, the Nizam and the Marathas shared it.
- The Company got areas such as Malabar, Dindigul and Baramahal.
- Tipu had to pay a large war fine. Two of his sons were held as hostages until it was paid.
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799)
Background: Lord Wellesley became Governor-General in 1798. He wanted Indian rulers to sign the subsidiary alliance. Under it the ruler kept British troops at his own cost and let the Company handle his defence and dealings with other powers [1].
Tipu refused. He also kept up his links with the French. Wellesley used this as the reason for war.
The British, helped by the Nizam, attacked Seringapatam. On 4 May 1799 the fort fell, and Tipu died fighting while defending his capital.

Results

Mysore broken up. The Company took large areas, including Kanara, Coimbatore and Wynad. The Nizam also got a share.
Wodeyars put back. A small part of Mysore was handed to a child of the old Wodeyar family, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.
Mysore became a subsidiary state. The new ruler had to accept the subsidiary alliance:
British troops stayed in the state, and the state paid for them.
A British Resident (a British officer posted permanently at the ruler's court) watched over the government.
The ruler could not deal with other powers on his own.
The south was secured. With Tipu gone, no Indian power in South India could stand up to the Company. The Marathas were now its main remaining rival.

Time, place and evidence

Period: 1767–1799, the second half of the 18th century, when the Company was growing from a trading body into a ruling power.
Region: South India, mainly the kingdom of Mysore (in today's Karnataka) and nearby Carnatic, Malabar and Travancore.
Named sites:
Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), Tipu's island-fort capital on the Kaveri. It fell in 1799.
Pollilur (1780) and Porto Novo (1781), both battles of the Second War.
Madras, threatened by Haidar in the First War.
Key people:
Mysore side: Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.
Company side: Sir Eyre Coote, Lord Cornwallis (Third War) and Lord Wellesley (Fourth War).
Indian powers who switched sides: the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas.
How we know:
Each war ended in a written treaty (Madras 1769, Mangalore 1784, Seringapatam 1792). These treaties and the official records of the East India Company are the main evidence.
Much of the story was written by British officials and soldiers. Their accounts often show Tipu as a cruel tyrant, so historians read them with care.

Don't confuse with

Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) vs Fall of Seringapatam (1799): the 1792 treaty ended the Third War, and Tipu lost half his kingdom but lived. In 1799 (the Fourth War) the fort was stormed and Tipu was killed.
Treaty of Madras (1769) vs Treaty of Mangalore (1784): Madras ended the First War and was made with Haidar Ali. Mangalore ended the Second War and was made with Tipu Sultan. Both returned captured land on both sides.
Anglo-Maratha wars: these were fought against the Marathas in western and central India. In the Mysore wars the Marathas mostly fought on the British side, especially in the Third War.
Carnatic Wars: these were mainly fought between the English and the French (with Indian allies) for control of the Carnatic coast. The Mysore wars were fought between the Company and Mysore.

Prelims Hooks

Treaties in order: Madras (1769) → Mangalore (1784) → Seringapatam (1792). Each one ended the First, Second and Third War in turn.
Second War: Haidar Ali defeated Colonel Baillie at Pollilur (1780). Eyre Coote defeated Haidar at Porto Novo (1781). Haidar died during this war, and Tipu ended it.
Third War: led by Lord Cornwallis. It started with Tipu's attack on Travancore, and the Nizam and Marathas helped the British.
Fourth War (1799): led by Lord Wellesley, Governor-General 1798–1805, who is linked with the subsidiary alliance [1]. Tipu died defending Seringapatam.
After 1799 the Wodeyar dynasty was restored in a smaller Mysore under a subsidiary alliance. Trap: Mysore was not fully annexed in 1799.
Trap: Hyderabad (1798), not Mysore, was among the first states to accept the subsidiary alliance. Mysore came under it only after Tipu's defeat.

Mains Points

Divide and rule decided the result. Mysore was not beaten by the Company alone.
The Nizam and the Marathas kept joining the British against Mysore.
Indian powers never formed a lasting united front. So the Company could defeat them one at a time, as it had done in Bengal after Plassey.
From war to the subsidiary alliance. The wars show how British methods changed.
The first two wars ended in draws. The Third took away territory. The Fourth removed the ruler.
Restored Mysore then became a model subsidiary state: Indian rulers on the throne, real power with the Company, and the state paying for the British troops inside it [1].
How Tipu is remembered is a debate. British writers of the time painted him as a fanatic and a tyrant. Many Indian historians see him as a ruler who modernised his state (his army, trade and links with France) and refused to give in to the Company. A good answer presents both views and notes that much of the evidence comes from his enemies.

Related concepts

Instruments of conquest: divide and rule, Plassey, subsidiary alliance, Doctrine of Lapse

Sources

1India — The ascent to paramountcybritannica.com · tier 3