Purpose of
the Mysore Wars
The purpose of the Mysore wars was to eliminate the colonials from
the native land. It was to establish a new order based on equity and justice, economic
prosperity and welfare, and to strength and unify the state. Tipu was a far-sighted ruler,
who discerned the danger to the freedom of the land by the colonial expansion, which
necessitated continuous warfare. Apart from this he had his own agenda to assert his own
authority over the neighbour the Marathas and the Nizam, who were reconciled to the rise
and growth of Mysore as an independent powerful State, This weakness of the neighbors was
fully exploited by the English whose shrewd political sense involved them as their allies
against Mysore war all three formed a powerful confederacy against Tipu, and in the Fourth
Mysore war the Nizam was an ally of the English. Another cause for the
continuos warfare was the need to suppress the far too many units of independent power,
the feudatories and small principalities, whose mutual rivalries and ambition had caused
great confusion in Karnataka. It was Tipu's policy to establish a strong Central authority
which would serve the people better.
Thus the English, the Marathas, the Nizam and the feudatories were the
principal causes for Tipu's wars & the most serious wars were against the English, who
had never been confronted with a more formidable foe.
A Natural Warrior
In the First Mysore war Tipu, a lad of 17 years, suddenly surprised the
English when he appeared at the gates of Madras in September 1767.
He caused great consternation to the Governor of Madras, to the Nawab of Carnatic,
Muhammed Ali, and to almost all Councilors who very narrowly escaped being taken in the
country-house in the Company's garden. Happily for them a small vessel that by accident
was opposite the garden furnished them with the means of escaping. Thus, it was a
providential escape of the entire Madras government, which were about to be captured by
Tipu, who had been in independent command of a body of troops in the First Mysore war. |
