The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the 18th century between the

Sultanate of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary alliance with Brit ...

on the one hand, and the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

(represented chiefly by the neighbouring

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including th ...

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of S ...

Kingdom of Travancore The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

, and the

Kingdom of Hyderabad Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...

on the other.

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the at ...

and his succeeding son Tipu fought the wars on four fronts: with the British attacking from the west, south and east and the

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

's forces attacking from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu (the latter was killed in the fourth war, in 1799), and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which took control of much of the Indian subcontinent.

The four wars

Haidar Ali commandant en chef des Mahrattes gravure 1762

First Anglo-Mysore War

The

First Anglo-Mysore War The First Anglo-Mysore War (1766–1769) was a conflict in India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the East India Company. The war was instigated in part by the machinations of Asaf Jah II, the Nizam of Hyderabad, who sought to divert the ...

(1767 – 1769) saw Hyder Ali enjoy some measure of success against the British, almost capturing Madras. The British convinced Nizam Mir Nizam Ali Khan to attack Ali. That was temporary, however, and the Nizam signed a new treaty with the British in February 1768. Ali had to contend with a

British Bombay The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

army attacking on the west and a Madras army attacking from the northeast. However, Hyder's attack towards Madras resulted in the Madras government suing for peace, and the resultant

Treaty of Madras The Treaty of Madras was a peace agreement signed on 4 April 1769 between Mysore and the British (Lord Harry Verelst) East India Company which brought an end to the First Anglo-Mysore War. Fighting had broken out in 1767 and the forces of Hyder ...

Second Anglo-Mysore War

The

Second Anglo-Mysore War The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in t ...

(1780 – 1784) witnessed bloodier battles with fortunes fluctuating between the contesting powers. Tipu defeated William Baillie at the Battle of Pollilur in September 1780, and John Braithwaite at Kumbakonam in February 1782, both of whom were taken prisoners to

Seringapatam Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated at around 984 CE. Later, under the British rule the city ...

. This war saw the comeback of Sir Eyre Coote, the British commander who defeated Ali at the

Battle of Porto Novo The Battle of Porto Novo was fought on 1 July 1781 between forces of the Kingdom of Mysore and British East India Company in the place called Porto Novo (now known as Parangipettai) on the Indian subcontinent, during the Second Anglo-Mysore ...

and Arni. Tipu continued the war following his father's death. Finally, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore on 11 March 1784, which restored the ''

status quo ante bellum The term ''status quo ante bellum'' is a Latin phrase meaning "the situation as it existed before the war". The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used ...

''. The Treaty of Gajendragad in April 1787 ended the conflict with the Marathas.

Third Anglo-Mysore War

In the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Ang ...

(1790 – 1792), Tipu, now an ally of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, invaded in 1789 the nearby

, a British ally. British forces were commanded by

Charles Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United ...

. The resultant war lasted three years and was a resounding defeat for Mysore. The war ended after the 1792 Siege of Seringapatam and the signing of the Treaty of Seringapatam, according to which Tipu had to surrender half of his kingdom to the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and its allies.

Fourth Anglo-Mysore war

The

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

(1798 – 1799) saw the death of Tipu and further reductions in Mysorean territory. Mysore's alliance with the French was seen as a threat to the East India Company and Mysore was attacked from all four sides. Mysore had 35,000 soldiers, whereas the British commanded 60,000 troops. Nizam Akbar Ali Khan and the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

launched an invasion from the north. The British won a decisive victory at the

Siege of Seringapatam (1799) A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...

. Tipu was executed during the defence of the city. Much of the remaining Mysorean territory was annexed by the British, the nizam, and the Marathas. The remaining core, around

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

and

, was restored to the Indian prince Yuvaraja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (later Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III) under his grandmother's regency; members of the

Wodeyar dynasty The Wadiyar dynasty (formerly spelt Wodeyer or Odeyer, also referred to as the Wadiyars of Mysore), is a late-medieval/ early-modern South Indian Hindu royal family of former kings of Mysore from the Urs clan originally based in Mysore city ...

had been in power before Ali became the de facto ruler. The Wodeyars ruled the remnant

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary alliance with Brit ...

until 1947, when it joined the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

Aftermath

After the Battles of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), which established British dominion over East India, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, the Anglo–Maratha Wars (1767 – 1799), and finally the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849), consolidated the British claim over

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

, resulting in the British Empire in India, though resistance among various groups such as the

Afghans Afghans ( ps, افغانان, translit=afghanan; Persian/ prs, افغان ها, translit=afghānhā; Persian: افغانستانی, romanized: ''Afghanistani'') or Afghan people are nationals or citizens of Afghanistan, or people with ancestry ...

and the

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

would last well into the 1880s. File:Anglo-Mysore War 1 and 2.png, The

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

and the

. File:Anglo-Mysore War 3.png, The

File:Anglo-Mysore War 4.png, The

File:1793 Faden Wall Map of India - Geographicus - India-faden-1793.jpg, 1793 map File:1800 Map of Peninsular India-1795.jpg , 1800 map

Rockets

The Mysorean rockets used by Tipu during the Battle of Pollilur were much more advanced than any that the

had previously seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant. This enabled higher thrust and a longer range for the missile (up to ). After Tipu's eventual defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and the capture of a number of Mysorean iron rockets, they were influential in British rocket development, inspiring the

Congreve rocket The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808. The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third ...

, which was soon put into use in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...