Anglo-Mysore War (1766–1769) in India was fought by the Sultanate of Mysore and the East India Company. The English were confident in their military power after their facile victory in Bengal. They signed a pact with the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1766, promising to grant them the Northern Circars (area) in exchange for protecting the Nizam from Haidar Ali. This article will explain to you about the First Anglo-Mysore War (1766-69) which will be helpful in Modern Indian History preparation for the UPSC Civil service exam.

First Anglo-Mysore War (1766-69) - Background

• By the Third Carnatic War (1757–1763), the British had not only established reasonably strong footholds in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, but they had also marginalised but not destroyed the dominance of other colonial powers.
• Treaties with the Nawab of Carnatic, Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah, whose domain surrounding Madras, had a significant impact on their eastern possessions at Madras.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad, formerly a viceroyalty of the Mughal Empire but declared independent in the 1720s and held by Asaf JahII in the 1760s and the Sultanate of Mysore
• Which occupied the high plains between the Eastern and Western Ghats, the mountain ranges separating India's coastal plains from the interior, were the other major powers in the east.
• The English were confident in their military power after their easy triumph in Bengal.
• They signed a deal with the Nizam of Hyderabad (1766), convincing him to give them the Northern Circars (area), in exchange for which they promised to protect the Nizam from Haidar Ali.
• Haidar already had territorial disagreements with the Nawab of Arcot, as well as disagreements with the Marathas.
• The Nizam, the Marathas, and the English joined forces to oppose Haidar Ali. Haidar acted with great delicacy and diplomacy.
• Haidar Ali bribed the Marathas to neutralise them and, by offering to split seized territory with the Nizam, he gained the Nizam's support.
• He then joined the Nizam in his assault on the Nawab of Arcot.

Course of the War

• The conflict began in January 1767, when the Marathas attacked northern Mysore, probably expecting nizam operations.
• They advanced as far south as the Tungabhadra River when Haider agreed to cease the attack.
• The Marathas then turned around. The Nizam then launched an assault on Mysore with the assistance of an English force. However, the attack was not entirely successful.
• In September 1767, the Nizam defected from the English side and joined forces with Haider Ali.
• Smith, the English commander, was unable to fight their combined troops and was forced to retire to Trichinopoly, where Colonel Wood joined him.
• The Nizam and Haider Ali had no success in the war at Trichinopoly, and Haider Ali was defeated elsewhere in December 1767.
• The English plotted an invasion on Hyderabad, which destroyed the Nizam's morale in March 1768.
• So Nizam granted the English Diwani of Mysore.
• This pact turned the English and Haider Ali into everlasting adversaries.
• Haider Ali was likewise left without an ally as a result of the deal.
• He, on the other hand, did not lose his bravery.
• He seized Mangalore after defeating an English force dispatched from Bombay.
• He stormed Madras in March 1769 and compelled the English to sign a treaty on April 4, 1769.

Result of First Anglo - Mysore War

• The battle dragged on for another year and a half with no end in sight.
• Haidar shifted his strategy and arrived in front of Madras' gates.
• On April 4, 1769, there was full disorder and fear in Madras, compelling the English to sign the Treaty of Madras, a humiliating treaty with Haidar.
• The treaty included the exchange of captives as well as the reciprocal restoration of conquests.
• In the event that Haidar Ali was attacked by another power, the English agreed to assist him.

Treaty of Madras

• The Treaty of Madras was a peace treaty signed on April 4, 1769, between Mysore and the British East India Company (Lord Harry Verelst), which ended the First Anglo-Mysore War.
• In 1767, fighting erupted, and Hyder Ali's army came dangerously close to seizing Madras.
• A stipulation in the Treaty required the British to help Hyder Ali if he was assaulted by his neighbours.
• When Mysore went to war with the Marathas in 1771, Hyder thought the deal had been breached since he didn't get any assistance.
• The breach of trust caused by the violated clause may have contributed to the beginning of the Second Anglo-Mysore War a decade later.

Haider Ali (1721-1782)

• Haidar Ali was born in a poor household in 1721.
• Haider Ali, a horseman in the Mysore army under the ministers of king Chikka Krishnaraja Wodeyar, began his career as a horseman in the Mysore army.
• He was illiterate, yet he was intelligent, diplomatically and militarily capable.
• With the support of the French army, he became the de facto king of Mysore in 1761 and incorporated western techniques of training into his army.
• In 1761-63, he took over the Nizami army and the Marathas and seized Dod Ballapur, Sera, Bednur, and Hoskote, as well as bringing the troublesome Poligars of South India to surrender.
• They also took money from the growers in the form of taxes.
• Haidar Ali enlisted the support of the French to establish an armaments factory in Dindigul (now Tamil Nadu), as well as to bring Western training methods to his army.
• He also began to employ his vast diplomatic skills to outmanoeuvre his adversaries.
• Haidar Ali had to pay them significant sums of money to purchase peace, but after Madhavrao's death in 1772.
• Haidar Ali invaded the Marathas many times between 1774 and 1776, recovering all of the lands he had previously lost as well as seizing new territory.
• On December 6, 1782, Hyder, who had a malignant tumour on his back, died in his tent.

Haider Ali

Conclusion

The first Anglo-Mysore War came to an end with this. However, there was no peace between them in terms of keeping good connections. It was merely a one-time ceasefire between two adversaries. Haider Ali, on the other hand, was able to demonstrate his abilities as a diplomat and a military leader. The conflict began when three southern political forces banded together against Mysore. Nonetheless, Haider Ali managed to bring it to a decent conclusion. The English were obliged to conclude a settlement on equal terms after the Marathas retreated from the war and the Nizam won nothing.