THIRD ANGLO-MYSORE WAR – (1790–1792) 

The Third Anglo-Mysore War lasted two years from 1790-1792. Lord Cornwallis himself led the campaign when he found that Meadows, the British commandant, had failed to make any headway. He captured Bangalore in March 1791 but his first attempt to advance to Srirangapatnam failed.

Tipu’s scorched earth policy created a famine in the British camp and Cornwallis had to raise the siege. As he fell back the Marathas joined him with sufficient supplies. The next campaign was more successful. Cornwallis reached the outskirts of Srirangapatnam and compelled Tipu Sultan to sue for peace.

THE TREATY OF SRIRANGAPATNAM

The Treaty of Srirangapatnam concluded on March 19, 1792, Tipu Sultan surrendered half of his territory. The British took Dindigul, the Baramahal, Coorg and Malabar, while the Nizam and the Marathas extended their territories upto Cuddapah and Tungabhadra respectively.

        Sir John Shore (1793-1798) did not deviate from the policy of non-intervention. Like Cornwallis he believed that if the Marathas were left alone, they would quarrel among themselves, and their power would disintegrate.

THE POLICY OF ‘SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCES’

        A series of conquests and annexations began under Lord Wellesley (1798-1805). He formulated the policy of ‘Subsidiary Alliances’ and proceeded to make the British power supreme in India. Shore had not intervened when the Marathas attacked the Nizam in 1795. The Nizam had been defeated by the Martha army at Kharda, but Peswa Madhava Rao Narayana committed suicide which led to disorganization. In these circumstances it was easy for Wellesley to take action.

        Lord Wellesley wanted Tipu Sultan to wind up his friendship with the French. Actually, Tipu’s negotiations with the French could not be dangerous at all to the British with their sea-power. Tipu was also in correspondence with Zaman Shah of Kabul, inducing him to invade the Punjab. With the Marathas and the Nizam to support him in the field of battle, and with his own forces from Madras and Bombay converging, Wellesley declared war on Tipu in February 1799.

BATTLE OF SRIRANGAPATAM

Seringapatam was taken in May 1799. Tipu Sultan died fighting. Wellesley restored the kingdom to the old Hindu Wodeyar dynasty after appropriating large tracts of it for distribution among the Marathas the Nizam and the Company. The new dependent state of Mysore which was now governed by a subsidiary treaty was surrounded on all sides by British territory.

SECOND MARATHA WAR (1803-1805)

The sequence of events that led to the war is very clear. The death of two shrewd Maratha statesmen Mahadaji Sindia in 1794 and Nana Fadnavis in 1800-left a void difficult to fill. There was fierce rivalry for power between Daulat Rao Sindia (successor of Mahadaji Sindia) and Jaswant Rao Holkar (who succeeded Tukoji Holkar in 1797). Both tried to secure ascendancy at Poona. In 1802, Holkar succeeded in defeating the troops of the Peswa and Sindia almost within sight of Poona.

Baji Rao II fled to Bassein and concluded a subsidiary alliance with the British on December 31, 1802. He was to receive a subsidiary force of not less than 6,000 and was to assign districts yielding twenty-six lakhs of rupees for its maintenance.

THE TREATY OF DEOGAON

The Treaty of Deogaon was signed in the following month. Bhonsle ceded the province of Cuttack along with certain other territories and agreed to receive a subsidiary force. Scindia’s French trained army was defeated by Lord Lake at Aligarh and at Delhi and finally at Laswari.

TREATY OF SURJI

The Treaty of Surji Arjungaon ceding to the British the Ganga Yamuna Doab territories as also Ahmadnagar and Broach and giving up all his claims on the Mughal Emperor, the Peswa, the Nizam and Gaikwar. By another treaty concluded in 1804, Sindia agreed to have a subsidiary alliance under the Company’s overlordship.