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| Maratha-Mysore War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Siege of Adoni (1786) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
Supported by: .svg) Hyderabad |  Mysore | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Madhavrao IRaghunath RaoHari PantMurari RaoVyankatrao BhavePadurang Rao (POW)Konher Rao †Asaf Jah IIArastu Jah | Hyder AliTipu Sultan Muhammad AliBurhanudhin | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 60,000[1] 25,000[2] | 35,000[3] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
TheMaratha–Mysore War was an 18th century conflict inIndia fought between theMaratha Empire and theKingdom of Mysore. Though initial hostilities between the sides started in the1760s, the last battle began in February 1785 and ended in 1787.[4]
The 18th century saw a steady decline of the once-dominant power on the whole subcontinent – theMughal Empire. Apart from thedisastrous invasion by theAfsharid ruler of Iran,Nader Shah in 1739, the Mughals were successfully contested by the Marathas. Meanwhile, theBritish East India Company was asserting its influence in India and was engaged in aseries of wars with Mysore which eventually resulted in the region falling underCompany rule near the end of the 18th century.[5]
Mysore was initially a small kingdom at the beginning of the 1700s. However, able rulers such asHyder Ali andTipu Sultan transformed the kingdom andwesternized the army and it soon turned into a military threat both to the British and the Marathas.[6] Upon Hyder Ali's death in 1782, Mysore covered 80,000 sq. miles and had a population of approximately 6 million people.[7]
Starting from 1767, the Kingdom of Mysore overall had four major military confrontations with the British (1767–69;1780–84;1790–92; and1799).[8]
Around 1761, the commander in chief of the state of Mysore, Hyder Ali proclaimed himself absolute ruler of the Kingdom and started military campaigns to expand the territory of the state. In 1766, the British East India Company joined forces with thelocal ruler ofHyderabad against Hyder Ali, but by 1769, the British were left alone in a war with the Mysore Kingdom. In 1769 Hyder Ali made his way toMadras (the location of the Company's government) and demanded apeace treaty.[8]
After theSecond Anglo-Mysore War, the son and successor of Hyder Ali the new ruler of MysoreTipu Sultan, sought to keep offensive moves by the Marathas at bay. The Maratha had established a military alliance with the ruler of Hyderabad with a common purpose of recovering territories both sides had lost to Mysore during previous conflicts. Much of the desired territory was subject to marches, counter-marches, and sieges of fortified points. The Marathas also attempted to draw the British East India Company into the pending conflict, but a neutrality policy implemented by the newgovernor-general,Lord Charles Cornwallis made its participation difficult. While the Maratha would later aid the British in theFourth Anglo-Mysore War, the final conflict between Mysore and the Maratha by themselves happened in January 1787 in the Siege of Bahadur Benda, where Mysore successfully capturedBahadur Fort from the Marathas.
The Maratha-Mysore War ended after the final conflict during Mysore's successful siege of Bahadur Benda in January 1787, and the Marathas settled for peace with the kingdom of Mysore, to which Tipu Sultan obliged with the signing of the treaty of Gajendragad in April 1787. Tipu who was desperate to focus on defending Mysore from the British agreed to pay an annual tribute of 12 lakhs per year to the Marathas, to end hostilities with them, which would allow him to focus on his rivalry with the British.[10][11] In addition to this Tipu agreed to return all territories captured by Hyder Ali from the Marathas.[12][13][14]
Tipu Sultan would release Kalopant and returnAdoni,Kittur, andNargund to their previous rulers. Badami would be ceded to the Marathas. In return, Tipu would get all the places he had captured in the war, including Gajendragarh andDharwar. Tipu would also be addressed by the Marathas by an honorary title of "Nabob Tipu Sultan, Fateh Ali Khan".[15][16]
The Marathas however ultimately betrayed Tipu, during theFourth Anglo-Mysore War the Marathas presented their support to the British East India Company and the British went on to take over Mysore in 1799.[17] However, sometimes after Tipu's death the Marathas themselves would get involved in conflicts with the British who defeated the Marathas by 1819 in theAnglo-Maratha War leading to the annexation of their territories by the British and end of theMaratha Confederacy in India.[18]
