The only
resistance to the British
The second half of the eighteen century was a period of great confusion in Indian history
which witnessed the rise of the Colonial power. The only State which offered stiff
resistance to their expansion was Mysore, which fought not one but four wars. Tipu
participated in all those four Mysore wars, in two of which he inflicted serious blows on
the English. In fact Tipu's rule starts in the midst of a war against the English and ends
in the midst of a war against them. His short but stormy rule was eventful for his several
engagements with his neighbors, the Marathas and the Nizam, as well. whose shortsighted
policy promoted them to join the colonials against Mysore.
Continuos warfare
Tipu remained fully involved in warfare from his youthhood until his fall in the Fourth
Mysore war. From 1760 when Haider Ali allied himself with the French against the English
to 1799 when Wellesely destroyed Tipu, Mysore had become "the
terror of Leaden Street", the headquarters of the East India
Company. These forty years of Tipu both as a prince and a ruler witnessed continuous
warfare's.
Great Self belief & Results
Having learnt the western techniques of warfare, Tipu was not slow in making use of it. He
was himself bold, dashing, and a person of undaunted adventurous spirit. Under his
leadership Mysore army "proved a school of military science"
to Indian princes. The dread of an European army no longer wrought any magic on him.
Tipu's infliction of serious blows on the English in the First and Second Mysore wars
damaged their reputation as an invincible power. Grant wrote to Shelburne, "An
English army much superior to one which under a Lawrence, or a Clive, five and twenty
years ago made Hindoostan, nay some of the powers of Europe tremble at the bare recital of
its Victories, now for the first time was retreating in the face of an Indian army".
This was a reference to Colonel Bailey's capture and General Munnro's flight in the Second
Mysore war. Alexander Dow wrote his history, "we were alarmed, as
if his horses had wings to fly over our walls". |
