Transcription
[Music] Study IQ IAS now preparation became affordable. Welcome to Study IQ. My name is Adesh Singh. Friends, after discussing the Carnatic Wars, the Battle of Plassey, and Buxar in the previous videos, today we will talk about the Mysore region of South India. And when the name of Mysore is taken, it's impossible not to talk about the Tiger of Mysore, i.e., Tipu Sultan. So today we are going to discuss Tipu Sultan and his rivalry with the British. But before that, we will also talk about his father, Hyder Ali, and understand the Anglo-Mysore Wars in detail. Before discussing the Anglo-Mysore Wars, let's understand the background of the Mysore Kingdom. So let's start with the Kingdom of Mysore. Friends, between the 14th century and the 17th century, Mysore was a subordinate state of the Vijayanagara Empire. When the Vijayanagara Empire declined, many small kingdoms emerged in this region. One such independent Hindu kingdom emerged in Mysore in 1612 under the Wodeyar dynasty. In the 17th century, during the rule of Narasaraja Wodeyar and Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar, the territory of Mysore expanded considerably. After this expansion, the territory of Mysore included the area from the Western Ghats to the western boundaries of the Coromandel plains. This kingdom grew larger, and then in 1734, Krishnaraja Wodeyar II became the king here. He was not interested in running the state, so all powers were in the hands of his two ministers, Nanjaraja and Devaraja. This meant that Krishnaraja Wodeyar II remained merely a titular head or a puppet. At this time, Hyder Ali joined the Mysore army as a horse rider. Hyder Ali was not educated but was quite talented. Due to qualities like his intelligence, bravery, and determination, he kept getting promoted in the Mysore army and later became the Commander-in-Chief. Hyder Ali understood the benefits of Western military training and also trained his soldiers in it. With the help of experts from the French company, Hyder Ali also set up a cannon factory in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, in 1755. From here, good relations between Hyder Ali and the French company also began. Even during the Carnatic Wars, Hyder Ali and his battalions served under French commanders like Dupleix, Count Lally, and d'Ache. But due to a weak ruler in Mysore, the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad were constantly attacking Mysore, due to which Mysore began to weaken politically and financially. In this situation, Mysore needed a strong leader. At such a time, Hyder Ali staged a coup in 1761 and became the Sultan of Mysore. Then, between 1761 and 1763, Hyder Ali captured Bednur, Sira, and Malabar. He also established control over the Poligars, i.e., the zamindars and feudatories of South India. After this, the Poligars started paying revenue on time. Due to all these reasons, Mysore began to become a prosperous state again. Friends, this was about Mysore and its Sultan, Hyder Ali. Let's now find out how their clash with the British happened. Let's talk about the First Anglo-Mysore War. The First Anglo-Mysore War, 1766-1769. The good relations of Mysore with the French company and Hyder Ali's control over the rich trade of Malabar began to seem like a threat to the English East India Company's political and commercial interests. After the success achieved in the Battle of Buxar against the Nawab of Bengal, the British signed a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad, according to which, in return for protecting the Nizam from Hyder Ali, the British got the Northern Circars district. After this, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Marathas, and the British formed an alliance against Hyder Ali and waged war. But Hyder used his diplomatic ability to neutralize the Marathas in the war and made the Nizam his ally. The war continued between Hyder Ali and the East India Company and went on for about one and a half years without any conclusion. Then Hyder changed his strategy and suddenly appeared in front of Madras. This caused complete chaos and panic in Madras, due to which the British were forced to sign a treaty with Hyder Ali on April 4, 1769, which is called the Treaty of Madras. According to the provisions of the treaty, the prisoners taken during the war were to be exchanged, and the conquered territories were also to be returned to each other. Along with this, the British also promised Hyder Ali that if anyone else attacked Mysore, they would provide help to Hyder Ali. This provision later became the reason for the Second Anglo-Mysore War. So let's understand why this happened. The Second Anglo-Mysore War, 1780-1784. Friends, the First Anglo-Mysore War ended in 1769, and just 11 years later, in 1780, Mysore and the East India Company were once again face to face. One reason for this was the violation of the Treaty of Madras by the British. What happened was that in 1771, the Marathas attacked Mysore, and when Hyder Ali asked the East India Company for help, they refused to provide it. Due to this, the Marathas caused a lot of damage to Mysore, and Hyder Ali was forced to pay 66 lakhs to the Marathas for a peace treaty. Because of this, Hyder Ali was very angry with the British East India Company. But the company did not stop there; in 1779, they attacked Mahe, a territory of Mysore. Mahe was located on the Malabar coast, and Hyder Ali had given it to the French company. Through Mahe, Mysore also received advanced war material like guns and ammunition from the French. In return, Hyder Ali had stationed his troops there for the protection of Mahe. After the attack on Mahe, Hyder Ali also started preparing for war. He formed an alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam against the British. But the relations between Mysore and the Marathas and Nizam were not that good, so how did they come together? So, friends, the Marathas came with Hyder Ali because at this time, i.e., in 1775, the First Anglo-Maratha War had also begun, and the British had become common enemies of the Marathas and Hyder Ali. The Marathas are fine, but how did Hyderabad come with Mysore? The first reason was that the Nizam wanted to get the Northern Circars back from the British, and the second was that Hyder Ali promised them that he would attack the Nizam's enemies, the Rakkad, and share the captured territory with the Nizam. Hyder Ali besieged Arcot in July 1780. The Nawab of Arcot asked the East India Company for help. To help Arcot, the company prepared a contingent of its army in Madras under the leadership of Hector Munro, and another troop was prepared in Guntur, which was part of the Northern Circars, under the leadership of Colonel William Baillie. The British plan was that these two troops would meet at Kanchipuram and together attack Hyder Ali's army. But Hyder Ali's son, Tipu, stopped Colonel Baillie at a place called Pollilur, before Kanchipuram, and did not let the two British armies combine. The Battle of Pollilur took place in 1780, in which the English army faced defeat, and Colonel Baillie surrendered. On the other hand, Hyder Ali attacked Hector Munro's army, and Hector Munro fled and returned to Madras with his army. Instead of going to Madras, Hyder Ali went back towards Arcot and strengthened the siege. Just then, news came that the British army had started capturing the Malabar coast of Mysore. To stop them, Tipu went towards Malabar. Meanwhile, a very large British army from Bengal, under the leadership of Sir Eyre Coote, reached Madras. After reaching Madras, Sir Eyre Coote first used his diplomatic skills to separate the Marathas and the Nizam from Hyder Ali, and then in 1781, several battles took place between Hyder Ali and Sir Eyre Coote, out of which three important battles were the Battle of Porto Novo, Pollilur, and Seringapatam, in which Sir Eyre Coote defeated Hyder Ali. But in the meantime, on December 7, 1782, Hyder Ali died of cancer. After that, his son Tipu became the Sultan of Mysore. After Hyder Ali's death, battles continued between Tipu and the company for about another year, with wins and losses. Even after fighting for so long, no conclusion was reached, so finally, both parties decided to make peace, and the Treaty of Bangalore was signed in 1784. According to the treaty, both parties returned the territories won from each other. In this way, the Second Anglo-Mysore War also ended, but the conflict between Mysore and the English Company did not end, and in 1790, war broke out between them once again. But before discussing the Third Anglo-Mysore War, let's learn about Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan, born in November 1750, was the son of Hyder Ali and a great warrior, also known as the Tiger of Mysore. Tipu was well-educated, knowing Arabic, Persian, Canarese, and Urdu. Like his father Hyder Ali, Tipu was also an efficient military general. He organized his army on the basis of the European model. Along with this, he also took the help of French officers to train his soldiers. Tipu understood the importance of naval forces very well, so in 1796, he set up the Board of Admiralty. His plan was to prepare a fleet of 22 battleships and 20 large frigates. Besides this, he also built three dockyards in Mangalore, Vzdabad, and Malidabad. Tipu Sultan was also a patron of science and technology. He is considered the pioneer of rocket technology in India because he wrote a military manual explaining the operation of rockets. Tipu also brought reforms to the land revenue system and promoted sericulture in Mysore. He also commissioned a state commercial corporation to set up factories like the Europeans. We can say that Tipu Sultan was an efficient administrator along with being an able military general. He had a quote: "To live like a lion for a day is far better than to live 100 years like a jackal," and he lived up to this in his life and death. So let's go back to the Third Anglo-Mysore War between Tipu Sultan and the English Company. The Third Anglo-Mysore War, 1790-1792. The Treaty of Bangalore was not enough to resolve the conflicts between Tipu Sultan and the British. Both wanted to establish their political supremacy in the Deccan region. The Third Anglo-Mysore War began when Tipu attacked Travancore. Travancore was an ally of the British and also the sole source of pepper for the East India Company. Travancore purchased Jalkot and Cannanore from the Dutch. Both of these were part of the Cochin state, which was a feudatory state of Tipu. Therefore, Tipu considered this act of Travancore a violation of his sovereign rights and attacked it. After this, the British, taking the side of Travancore, attacked Mysore. Along with this, the Nizam and the Marathas, who were jealous of Tipu's growing power, joined the British. In 1790, Tipu Sultan defeated General Medows. Then, in 1791, Lord Cornwallis, leading the army, reached Seringapatam, which was Tipu's capital. With the support of the Marathas and the Nizam, the British attacked Seringapatam. Tipu bravely faced them, but ultimately lost to their combined power. The war concluded with the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792. Almost half of Mysore's territory went into the hands of the British, Nizam, and Marathas. Baramahal, Dindigul, and Malabar went to the British, while the regions around the Tungabhadra and its tributaries went to the Marathas, and the Nizam got the area from the Krishna River to the Penar. Besides this, Tipu was also asked for ₹3 crore as war damages, of which half the amount had to be paid immediately and the rest in installments. And as a guarantee for this, the British took Tipu's two sons as their hostages. The Third Anglo-Mysore War destroyed Tipu's dominant position in the South and established British supremacy there. Tipu Sultan's power was destroyed, but not completely eliminated. The British still felt threatened by him, so in 1799, another war took place. So let's discuss that too. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, 1799. Tipu Sultan had to face great humiliation in the Treaty of Seringapatam, but still, Tipu fulfilled all the conditions of the treaty and got his sons released by paying the remaining amount of war compensation to the British. But Tipu also wanted revenge for his humiliation, so he recovered all his losses between 1792 and 1799. Along with this, he improved his relations with the French East India Company. For this, he also supported the establishment of the Jacobin Club in Mysore in 1794 by French officers. The Jacobin Club was a revolutionary organization in France that wanted a republican government instead of a monarchy in France. Tipu himself became a member of the Jacobin Club and planted the Tree of Liberty in Seringapatam. And at this time, Tipu contacted Napoleon Bonaparte of France, who was campaigning in Egypt. He invited him to fight together against the British East India Company. Besides this, Tipu Sultan sent his emissaries to Arabia, Afghanistan, Mauritius, etc. He hoped to get support from here as well, and together they would eliminate the British. But the British came to know about Tipu's plans, and in 1798, the new Governor-General, Lord Wellesley, had arrived in India. Wellesley was very concerned about the growing friendship between Tipu and France. To end Tipu's independence, Wellesley asked him to sign the treaty of Subsidiary Alliance. When Tipu Sultan refused to sign any such treaty, the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War began. In this war too, the Marathas and the Nizam helped the British because the Marathas were promised half of Tipu's territory, and the Nizam had already signed the Subsidiary Alliance with the British in 1798. This war began on April 17, 1799, and ended on May 4, 1799, with the fall of Seringapatam. Tipu fought bravely to save his capital and died in the process. The British captured his entire treasury. Lord Wellesley offered the Sunda and Harpanahalli districts of the Mysore Kingdom to the Marathas, but the Marathas refused to take them. The Nizam was given the districts of Gooty and Gurramkonda, and the British kept Kanara, Wayanad, Coimbatore, Dharapuram, and Seringapatam for themselves. After this, whatever remained of the Mysore state was given to a minor ruler of the old Hindu dynasty, i.e., the Wodeyars, Krishnaraja III. Krishnaraja III also signed the Subsidiary Alliance with the British. Conclusion. So, friends, today we understood how the conflict between Mysore and the English Company lasted for almost 32 years, and there were four wars between them. Along with this, we also saw in the Anglo-Mysore Wars how the British took advantage of the internal rivalries of the Indian states. Without the help of the Marathas and the Nizam, the British might never have conquered Mysore, and we also learned about Tipu Sultan, known as the Tiger of Mysore. Study IQ IAS now preparation became affordable.