describe struggle of tipu sultan in East india company
Answers
Answered by
1
TIPU Sultan’s place in history has to be judged primarily in terms of the prolonged contest between Mysore and the East India Company (EIC). The Company had to engage in four large-scale wars (the four Anglo-Mysore wars) for over thirty years, from 1766 to 1799, to subjugate Mysore. Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, Mysore was the main obstacle to British expansion and consolidation in India. The relentless struggle of Haidar Ali, and more so of Tipu Sultan, against the Company assumed epic proportions due to the ability of Mysore to mobilise military resources on a scale that made the contest a real one. The modernisation of the army by Tipu Sultan, the adoption of advances in technology, and the skilful deployment of rockets (two specimens of which are preserved at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolworth), forced the British to update their own military organisation involving a massive financial commitment. The defeat of Tipu Sultan paved the way for the subjugation of the Marathas, and ensured the supremacy of the Company by the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Haidar Ali began his career as a military officer in the Mysore army. He rose to prominence during the struggles of the 1740s in southern India. Having successfully intervened at several critical moments to defend Mysore during various regional conflicts, he emerged as the principal commander of the state’s army by the end of the 1750s, and de facto ruler of the state in 1761. Within the next two decades, Mysore became the leading state of the region with an army that could effectively challenge the EIC. The state’s borders extended to the river Krishna in the north; its territories encompassed much of present-day Karnataka, large portions of Andhra, most of western Tamil Nadu barring the extreme south, and northern Kerala.
The EIC was the main target of Haidar Ali’s military offensive. He inflicted defeat on the British in two successive wars, the first and second Anglo-Mysore wars. The first Anglo-Mysore war began in 1767 and ended in 1769 when Haidar Ali’s forces reached the outskirts of Madras, compelling the company to sue for peace on his terms. This was a severe blow to the company’s prestige. The second Anglo-Mysore war (1780-84) was a fiercely fought military contest ranging over a vast area stretching from Mangalore on the west coast to Arcot in the east. In one of these engagements, the battle of Pollilur (Pullalur, near Kanchipuram) in September 1780, in which the Mysore army was led by Tipu Sultan, the EIC suffered massive losses -- ‘the severest blow’, it was noted at that time, ‘that the English ever sustained in India’.
Haidar Ali passed away in December 1782 while the war was in full swing. He was succeeded by Tipu Sultan who continued the fight against the company with extraordinary vigour and succeeded in checking British expansionist designs in south India for the time being. Tipu Sultan seems to have been much more aware than many of his contemporaries in Asia of trends in global politics. For this reason, he attempted to forge international alliances by sending embassies to Turkey and France. His relationship with France became more cordial after the revolution in which his sympathies lay with the Jacobins. This does not necessarily mean that Tipu Sultan endorsed Jacobin radical ideals (though he did become a member of the ‘Jacobin Club’ that was established in Mysore), but his declarations in favour of the Jacobins should be read as a political move to enlist the support of France in his struggle against the British.
Haidar Ali began his career as a military officer in the Mysore army. He rose to prominence during the struggles of the 1740s in southern India. Having successfully intervened at several critical moments to defend Mysore during various regional conflicts, he emerged as the principal commander of the state’s army by the end of the 1750s, and de facto ruler of the state in 1761. Within the next two decades, Mysore became the leading state of the region with an army that could effectively challenge the EIC. The state’s borders extended to the river Krishna in the north; its territories encompassed much of present-day Karnataka, large portions of Andhra, most of western Tamil Nadu barring the extreme south, and northern Kerala.
The EIC was the main target of Haidar Ali’s military offensive. He inflicted defeat on the British in two successive wars, the first and second Anglo-Mysore wars. The first Anglo-Mysore war began in 1767 and ended in 1769 when Haidar Ali’s forces reached the outskirts of Madras, compelling the company to sue for peace on his terms. This was a severe blow to the company’s prestige. The second Anglo-Mysore war (1780-84) was a fiercely fought military contest ranging over a vast area stretching from Mangalore on the west coast to Arcot in the east. In one of these engagements, the battle of Pollilur (Pullalur, near Kanchipuram) in September 1780, in which the Mysore army was led by Tipu Sultan, the EIC suffered massive losses -- ‘the severest blow’, it was noted at that time, ‘that the English ever sustained in India’.
Haidar Ali passed away in December 1782 while the war was in full swing. He was succeeded by Tipu Sultan who continued the fight against the company with extraordinary vigour and succeeded in checking British expansionist designs in south India for the time being. Tipu Sultan seems to have been much more aware than many of his contemporaries in Asia of trends in global politics. For this reason, he attempted to forge international alliances by sending embassies to Turkey and France. His relationship with France became more cordial after the revolution in which his sympathies lay with the Jacobins. This does not necessarily mean that Tipu Sultan endorsed Jacobin radical ideals (though he did become a member of the ‘Jacobin Club’ that was established in Mysore), but his declarations in favour of the Jacobins should be read as a political move to enlist the support of France in his struggle against the British.
Similar questions