View source for Second Anglo-Mysore War

{{short description|War in south India from 1780 to 1784}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Second Anglo-Mysore War
| partof            = the [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]],  [[American Revolutionary War]] and the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]]
| image             = Second Anglo-Mysore War Horizontal Collage.jpg
| caption           = Above: [[Siege of Cuddalore]]<br>Below: [[Battle of Pollilur]]
| date              = 1780–1784
| place             = [[South India]]
| casus             = 
| territory         = 
| result            = [[Status quo ante bellum]]
* [[Treaty of Mangalore]]
| combatant1        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Mysore}}<br>{{flagicon image|Arakkal flag 1.png}} [[Arakkal Kingdom]]<br>[[Savanur State]]<br>{{flagicon image|Drapeau Banganapalle.png}} [[Banganapalle State]]<br>{{flagcountry|Kingdom of France}}<br>{{flag|Dutch Republic}}
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
* {{flag|Electorate of Hanover|1692}}
* {{flag|East India Company|1707}}<br>{{flag|Travancore}}
| commander1        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} '''[[Hyder Ali]]'''
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} '''[[Tipu Sultan]]'''
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} Karim Khan Sahib
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} Sayed Sahib
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} Sardar Ali Khan Sahib
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} Makdum Ali
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Mysore}} Kamaluddin
* {{flagicon image|Drapeau Banganapalle.png}} [[Husain Ali Khan Bahadur]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Pierre André de Suffren]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau]]}}
| commander2        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|George Macartney]]
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)|Eyre Coote]]
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[Hector Munro, 8th laird of Novar|Hector Munro]]
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[Richard Matthews (soldier)|Richard Matthews]]
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[William Baillie (East India Company officer)|William Baillie]]{{POW}}
* {{flagdeco|East India Company|1707}} [[George Emptage]]
* {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain|naval}} [[Edward Hughes (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Hughes]]}}
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| casualties1       = 
| casualties2       = 
| notes             = 
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Second Anglo-Mysore War}}{{Campaignbox Anglo-Mysore Wars}}
}}

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 the [[American Revolutionary War]] influenced Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India. The great majority of soldiers on the company side were raised, trained, paid and commanded by the company, not the British government. However, the company's operations were also bolstered by Crown troops sent from Great Britain, and by troops from [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tzoref-Ashkenazi|first=Chen |date=June 2010|title=Hanoverians, Germans, and Europeans: Colonial Identity in Early British India |journal=[[Central European History]] |volume=43|issue=2 |page=222 |doi=10.1017/S0008938910000014 |jstor=27856182 |s2cid=145511813}}</ref> which was also ruled by Great Britain's King [[George III]].

Following the British seizure of the French port of [[Mahé, India|Mahé]] in 1779, Mysorean ruler [[Hyder Ali]] opened hostilities against the British in 1780, with significant success in early campaigns. As the war progressed, the British recovered some territorial losses. Both France and Britain sent troops and naval squadrons from Europe to assist in the war effort, which widened later in 1780 when Britain declared war on the [[Dutch Republic]]. In 1783 news of a preliminary peace between France and Great Britain reached India, resulting in the withdrawal of French support from the Mysorean war effort. The British consequently also sought to end the conflict, and the British government ordered the Company to secure peace with Mysore. This resulted in the 1784 [[Treaty of Mangalore]], restoring the [[status quo ante bellum]] under terms that company officials, such as [[Warren Hastings]], found extremely unfavourable.

==Background==
[[Hyder Ali]] ruled Mysore (though he did not have the title of king). Stung by what he considered a British breach of faith during an earlier war against the [[Maratha]]s, Hyder Ali committed himself to a French alliance to seek revenge against the British. Upon the French declaration of [[Anglo-French War (1778–1783)|war against Britain in 1778]], aided by the popularity of ambassador [[Benjamin Franklin]], the British East India Company resolved to drive the French out of India by taking the few enclaves of French possessions left on the subcontinent.{{sfnp|Barua|2005|p=79}} The company began by [[Siege of Pondicherry (1778)|capturing Pondicherry]] and other French outposts in 1778. They then captured the French-controlled port at [[Mahé, India|Mahé]] on the [[Malabar Coast]] in 1779. Mahé was of great strategic importance to Hyder, who received French-supplied arms and munitions through the port, and Hyder had not only told the British that it was under his protection, he had also provided troops for its defence. Hyder set about forming a confederacy against the British, which, in addition to the French, included the Marathas and the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]].

==War==
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Anglo-Mysore War 1 and 2.png|200px|thumb|Theater map for the [[First Anglo-Mysore War|First]] and the Second Anglo-Mysore Wars]]
[[File:Rocket warfare.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[Battle of Pollilur (1780)|Battle of Pollilur]], where the forces of [[Hyder Ali]] effectively used [[Mysorean rockets]] and [[rocket artillery]] against closely massed British forces.]]
In July 1780, Hyder Ali invaded the [[Carnatic region|Carnatic]] with an army of 80,000. He descended through the passes of the [[Eastern Ghats]], burning villages as he went, before laying siege to British forts in northern [[Arcot]]. The British responded by sending a force of 5,000 to lift the sieges. From his camp at Arcot, Hyder Ali sent part of his army under the command of his eldest son, [[Tipu Sultan]], to intercept a British force from [[Guntur]], under the command of Colonel [[William Baillie (East India Company officer)|William Baillie]], which had been sent to reinforce Colonel [[Hector Munro, 8th laird of Novar|Hector Munro]]'s army {{convert|145|mi|km|disp=flip}} to the north at Madras.{{sfnp|Barua|2005|p=79}} On the morning of 10 September 1780, Baillie's force came under heavy fire from Tipu's guns near [[Battle of Pollilur (1780)|Pollilur]]. Baillie formed his force into a long square formation and began to move slowly forward. However, Hyder Ali's cavalry broke through the formation's front, inflicting many casualties and forcing Baillie to surrender. Out of the British force of 3,820 men, 336 were killed. The defeat was considered to be the East India Company's most crushing loss in India up to that time. Munro reacted to the defeat by retreating to Madras, abandoning his baggage and dumping his cannons in the water tank at [[Kanchipuram]], a small town some {{convert|50|km|mi}} south of Madras.{{sfnp|Barua|2005|p=80}} Naravane states in fact that it was a massacre with only 50 officers and 200 men taken prisoner, including Baille.<ref name=Naravane>{{Cite book |last=Naravane|first=M. S.|title=Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj |place=New Delhi|publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |year=2014 |isbn=978-81-313-0034-3 |pages=173–175}}</ref>

Instead of following up the victory and pressing on for a decisive victory at Madras, Hyder Ali renewed the siege at Arcot, which he captured on 3 November. This decision gave the British time to shore up their defences in the south, and to despatch reinforcements under the command of Sir [[Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)|Eyre Coote]] to Madras.{{sfnp|Barua|2005|p=80}}
[[File:The British Army encamped below the rock of Sholingarh.jpg|200px|thumb|The British Army encamped below the rock of Sholingarh]]

Coote, though repulsed at [[Chidambaram]], defeated Hyder Ali in succession in the battles of [[Battle of Porto Novo|Porto Novo]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malleson |first1=G. B. (George Bruce) |title=The decisive battles of India : from 1746 to 1849 inclusive |date=1914 |publisher=London : Reeves & Turner |page=254 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023646528/page/254/mode/2up?view=theater&q=porto+novo |access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref> and [[Battle of Sholinghur|Sholinghur]], while Tipu was forced to raise the siege of [[Vandavasi|Wandiwash]], and besieged [[Vellore]] instead. The arrival of Lord [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|Macartney]] as governor of Madras in the summer of 1781 included news of [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War|war]] with the [[Dutch Republic]]. Macartney ordered the seizure of Dutch outposts in India, and the British captured the main Dutch outpost at [[Nagapattinam|Negapatam]] after [[Siege of Negapatam|three weeks of siege]] in November 1781 against defenses that included 2,000 of Hyder Ali's men. This forced Hyder Ali to realize that he could never completely defeat a power that had command of the sea, since British naval support contributed to the victory.

Tipu also defeated Colonel [[Sir John Braithwaite, 1st Baronet|Braithwaite]] at Annagudi near [[Tanjore]] on 18 February 1782.<ref name=Naravane/> This army consisted of 100 Europeans, 300 cavalry, 1400 sepoys and 10 field pieces. Tipu seized all the guns and took the entire detachment as prisoners. In December 1781, Tipu seized Chittur from British hands. These operations gave Tipu valuable military experience. Both Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan gained alliances with [[Ali Raja|Ali Raja Bibi Junumabe II]] and the [[Mappila Muslims|Mappila Muslim]] community and later met with Muslim [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malay]] from [[Dutch Malacca|Malacca]] under Dutch service.

During the summer of 1782, company officials in Bombay sent additional troops to Tellicherry, from whence they began operations against Mysorean holdings in the [[Malabar Coast|Malabar]]. Hyder Ali sent Tipu and a strong force to counter this threat, and the latter had pinned this force at Panianee when he learned of Hyder Ali's sudden death from cancer. Tipu's precipitate departure from the scene provided some relief to the British force, but Bombay officials had sent further reinforcements under General [[Richard Matthews (soldier)|Richard Matthews]] to the Malabar in late December to relieve  it before they learned of Hyder Ali's death. When they received this news, they immediately ordered Matthews to cross the [[Western Ghats]] and take [[Nagara, Karnataka|Bednore]]. He felt compelled to do so despite a lack of sound military footing for the effort. He entered Bednore, which surrendered after Matthews [[Battle of Hyderghur|drove Mysorean]] forces from the Ghats. However, Matthews had so overextended his supply lines that he was soon thereafter [[Siege of Bednore|besieged in Bednore]] by Tipu, and forced to capitulate. Matthews and seventeen other officers were taken to [[Srirangapatna|Seringapatam]], and from there to the remote hilltop prison of Gopal Drooge ([[Kabbaldurga]]) where they were seemingly forced to imbibe a lethal poison.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Willasey-Wilsey|first=Tim |date=Spring 2014|url=https://victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/70.html|title=Searching for Gopal Drooge and the Murder of Captain William Richardson |journal=The Journal of the Families in British India Society |issue=31 |pages=16–15|access-date=2021-10-03}}</ref>

On the east coast, an army led by General [[James Stuart (British Army officer, died 1793)|James Stuart]] marched from Madras to resupply besieged fortifications and to dispute Cuddalore, where French forces had arrived and joined with those of Mysore. Stuart [[Siege of Cuddalore|besieged Cuddalore]] even though the forces were nearly equal in size. The French fleet of the Baillie de Suffren [[Battle of Cuddalore (1783)|drove away]] the British fleet, and landed marines to assist in Cuddalore's defence. However, when word arrived of a preliminary peace between France and Britain, the siege was ended. General Stuart, who was engaged in disputes with Lord Macartney, was eventually recalled and sent back to England.

The British captured Mangalore in March 1783, but Tipu brought his main army, and after recapturing Bednore, [[Siege of Mangalore|besieged and eventually captured]] Mangalore. At the same time, troops from Stuart's army were joined with those of Colonel [[William Fullarton]] in the Tanjore region, where he [[Siege of Palghautcherry|captured]] the [[Palakkad Fort|fortress at Palghautcherry]] in November, and then entered [[Coimbatore]] against little resistance.

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="150px" perrow="4">
File:William Baillie Memorial, Seringapatam.JPG|William Baillie Memorial, Seringapatam
File:Plaque of the William Baillie Memorial, Seringapatam.JPG|Plaque of the William Baillie Memorial, Seringapatam
File:Battle of Porto Novo, 1781.JPG|Memorial for the [[Battle of Porto Novo]], 1781 at [[Parangipettai|Porto Novo]]
</gallery>

==Treaty of Mangalore==
[[File:Suffren meeting with Haider Ali, 26 july 1782 engraved by J B Morret 1789.jpg|200px|thumb|[[Pierre André de Suffren|Suffren]] meeting with [[Hyder Ali]] in 1782, J. B. Morret engraving, 1789.]]

During this time, company officials received orders from company headquarters in London to bring an end to the war, and entered negotiations with Tipu Sultan. Pursuant to a preliminary cease fire, Colonel Fullarton was ordered to abandon all of his recent conquests. However, due to allegations that Tipu violated terms of the cease fire at Mangalore, Fullarton remained at Palghautcherry. On 30 January the garrison of Mangalore surrendered to Tipu Sultan.

The war was ended on 11 March 1784 with the signing of the [[Treaty of Mangalore]],<ref name=Naravane/> in which both sides agreed to restore the others' lands to the ''[[status quo ante bellum]]''. The treaty is an important document in the history of India, because it was the last occasion when an Indian power dictated terms to the company.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}}

==Consequences==
It was the second of four [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]], which ultimately ended with British control over most of southern India. Pursuant to the terms of the Treaty of Mangalore, the British did not participate in [[Maratha–Mysore War|the conflict]] between Mysore and its neighbours, the [[Maratha Empire]] and the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], that began in 1785. In [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]], the [[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] administration passed [[Pitt's India Act]] that gave the government control of the East India Company in political matters.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Philips|first=C. H. |date=December 1937|title=The East India Company 'Interest' and the English Government, 1783–4 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|volume=20| pages=83–101|doi=10.2307/3678594 |jstor=3678594 |s2cid=167958985}}</ref>

==Battle honour==
A [[battle honour]], ''Carnatic'' was awarded for two periods: 1780–1784, during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, when [[Hyder Ali]] threatened [[Madras]]; and 1790–1792, during the [[Third Anglo-Mysore War]], up to the siege of [[Mysore]]. Originally awarded to three battalions of [[Bengal Native Infantry]] in 1829, it lapsed after their disbandment due to participation in the 1857 uprising. In 1889, it was awarded to twenty units of the [[Madras Army|Madras Presidency Army]]. The battle honour is considered [[Repugnant battle honours of the Indian Army|repugnant]], an official term of opprobrium used by the Government of India.<ref name='Sarbans'>{{cite book |title=Battle Honours of the Indian Army, 1757–1971 |last=Singh |first=Sarbans |year=1993 |publisher=Vision Books |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7094-115-6 |page=102 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Franco-Indian alliances]]
* [[Mysorean invasion of Malabar]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Barua|first=Pradeep P.|year=2005|title=The State at War in South Asia|place=Lincoln |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|isbn=0-8032-1344-1|lccn=2004021050}}
* {{Cite book |last= Dalrymple |first= William |year= 2019 |title= The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company |location= New York |publisher= Bloomsbury publishing |type= Hardcover |isbn= 978-1-63557-395-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Kaliamurthy|first=G.|year=1987|title=Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84)|place=Delhi |publisher=Mittal Publications|oclc=20970833}}
* {{cite book|last=Roy|first=Kaushik |year=2011|title=War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849|place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-58767-9 |lccn=2010040940}}
* {{cite book|last=Tzoref Ashkenazi |first=Chen |year=2019 |chapter-url=https://www.projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/german-soldiers-in-eighteenth-century-india/ |chapter=German soldiers in eighteenth century India |title=MIDA Archival Reflexicon |pages=1–8}}
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=India |volume=14 |page=414}}
{{s-start}}
{{succession box|title=[[Anglo-Mysore Wars]]|years=|before=[[First Anglo-Mysore War]]|after=[[Third Anglo-Mysore War]]}}
{{succession box|title=Indo-British conflicts|years=|before=[[First Anglo-Maratha War]]|after=[[Third Anglo-Mysore War]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{British colonial campaigns}}
{{Indian Independence Movement}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anglo-Mysore War 02}}
[[Category:1780 in India]]
[[Category:1781 in India]]
[[Category:1782 in India]]
[[Category:1783 in India]]
[[Category:1784 in India]]
[[Category:18th century in India]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1780]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1781]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1782]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1783]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1784]]
[[Category:History of Karnataka]]
[[Category:History of Kerala]]
[[Category:History of Mangalore]]
[[Category:Mysorean invasion of Malabar]]
[[Category:Wars involving British India]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Kingdom of France (987–1792)]]
[[Category:Wars involving Great Britain]]
[[Category:Wars involving the British East India Company]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Kingdom of Mysore]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Netherlands]]