BP Desk
Tipu Sultan (November 20, 1750–May 4, 1799) is a hero of history, a great freedom fighter and a war strategist. He was the last ruler in India strong enough to dictate terms to the British East India Company. Known as the “Tiger of Mysore,” he fought long and hard, although ultimately unsuccessfully, to preserve his country’s independence.
Early Life
Tipu Sultan was born on November 20, 1750, to military officer Hyder Ali of the Kingdom of Mysore and his wife, Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa. They named him Fath Ali but also called him Tipu Sultan after a local Muslim saint, Tipu Mastan Aulia.
While his father rose to fame and prominence, young Tipu Sultan was receiving an education from the finest tutors available. He studied such subjects as riding, swordsmanship, shooting, Koranic studies, Islamic jurisprudence, and languages such as Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. Tipu Sultan also studied military strategy and tactics under French officers from an early age, since his father was allied with the French in southern India.
In 1766 when Tipu Sultan was just 15 years old, he got the chance to apply his military training in battle for the first time when he accompanied his father on an invasion of Malabar.
Hyder Ali was so proud of his son that he gave him command of 500 cavalries and assigned him to rule five districts within Mysore. It was the start of an illustrious military career for the young man.
First Anglo-Mysore War
During the mid-18th century, the British East India Company sought to expand its control of southern India by playing local kingdoms and principalities off one another and off the French. In 1767, the British formed a coalition with the Nizam and the Marathas, and together they attacked Mysore. Hyder Ali managed to make a separate peace with the Marathas, and then in June he sent his 17-year-old son Tipu Sultan to negotiate with the Nizam. In just one week, Tipu charmed the ruler of the Nizam into switching sides and joining the Mysorean fight against the British.
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan then went on a tear up the coast, capturing forts and British-held cities. The Mysoreans were threatening to dislodge the British from their key east coast port of Madras when the British sued for peace in March 1769.
After this humiliating defeat, the British had to sign a 1769 peace agreement with Hyder Ali called the Treaty of Madras. Both sides agreed to return to their pre-war boundaries and to come to each others’ aid in case of attack by any other power. Under the circumstances, the British East India Company got off easy, but it still would not honor the treaty terms.
Interwar Period
In 1771, the Marathas attacked Mysore with an army perhaps as large as 30,000 men. Hyder Ali called upon the British to honor their duty of aid under the Treaty of Madras, but the British East India Company refused to send any troops to assist him. Tipu Sultan played a key role as Mysore fought off the Marathas, but the young commander and his father never trusted the British again.
Second Anglo-Mysore War
The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784), began when Hyder Ali led an army of 90,000 in an attack on the Carnatic, which was allied with Britain. The British governor at Madras decided to send the bulk of his army under Sir Hector Munro against the Mysoreans, and also called for a second British force under Colonel William Baillie to leave Guntur and meet up with the main force. Hyder got word of this and sent Tipu Sultan with 10,000 troops to intercept Baillie.
Tipu Takes the Throne
While the Second Anglo-Mysore War was still raging, the 60-year-old Hyder Ali developed a serious carbuncle. His condition deteriorated throughout the fall and early winter of 1782, and he died on December 7. Tipu Sultan assumed the title of Sultan and took his father’s throne on December 29, 1782.
Settlement Terms
The Second Anglo-Mysore War went on until early 1784, but Tipu Sultan maintained the upper hand throughout most of that time. Finally, on March 11, 1784, the British East India Company formally capitulated with the signing of the Treaty of Mangalore.
Tipu Sultan the Ruler
Despite two victories over the British, Tipu Sultan realized that the British East India Company remained a serious threat to his independent kingdom. He funded continuous military advances, including further development of the famous Mysore rockets—iron tubes that could fire missiles up to two kilometers, terrifying British troops and their allies.
Third Anglo-Mysore War
Tipu Sultan had to face the British for a third time between 1789 and 1792. This time, Mysore would receive no aid from its usual ally France, which was in the throes of the French Revolution. The British were led on this occasion by Lord Cornwallis, one of the major British commanders during the American Revolution.
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
In 1798, a French general named Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt. Unbeknownst to his superiors in the Revolutionary government in Paris, Bonaparte planned to use Egypt as a stepping-stone from which to invade India by land (through the Middle East, Persia, and Afghanistan), and wrest it from the British. With that in mind, the man who would be emperor sought an alliance with Tipu Sultan, Britain’s staunchest foe in southern India. This alliance was not to be, however, for several reasons. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt was a military disaster. Sadly, his would-be ally, Tipu Sultan, also suffered a terrible defeat.
A British-led coalition of nearly 50,000 troops marched toward Tipu Sultan’s capital city of Seringapatam in February 1799. This was no typical colonial army of a handful of European officers and a rabble of ill-trained local recruits; this army was made up of the best and brightest from all of the British East India Company’s client states. Its single goal was the destruction of Mysore.
Death
At the beginning of May 1799, the British and their allies surrounded Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore. Tipu Sultan had just 30,000 defenders matched against 50,000 attackers. On May 4, the British broke through the city walls. Tipu Sultan rushed to the breach and was killed defending his city. After the battle, his body was discovered beneath a pile of defenders. Seringapatam was overrun.
Source: Internet