The two powers that almost stopped the British: Mysore's rockets and the Maratha confederacy

Two Indian powers came closest to stopping the British: Mysore, with its French-trained army and war rockets, and the Maratha confederacy, the subcontinent's last indigenous empire. Between 1767 and 1818 the Company fought seven wars against them, and perfected, along the way, the diplomatic weapons of the Ring Fence and the Subsidiary Alliance that would subdue the rest of India without firing a shot.

Mysore under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan

Haider Ali rose to become the de facto ruler of Mysore in 1761, and he understood something few Indian rulers did: that European-style infantry, artillery and drill could beat traditional cavalry armies. With French assistance he set up an arms factory at Dindigul, drilled his troops on the European model, and played the Marathas, the Nizam and the British against one another with rare diplomatic skill.

His son Tipu Sultan inherited both the army and the enmity. Tipu modernized further, his iron-cased war rockets were so effective that the British later copied them as the Congreve rocket, expanded Mysore's trade, and refused every British demand to accept a subsidiary alliance or break with the French. Mysore was, in effect, the one Indian state trying to industrialize its military before the British could finish their conquest, which is exactly why the Company treated it as an existential threat.

The four Anglo-Mysore Wars

The First War (1767-69) began when the Company, allied with the Nizam, tried to crush Haider; Haider's generalship instead brought his cavalry to the gates of Madras. The Treaty of Madras (1769) restored conquests on both sides and promised mutual aid, a promise the British broke in 1771 when the Marathas invaded Mysore, teaching Haider never to trust them again.

The Second War (1780-84) was triggered by the British seizure of the French port of Mahe, Tipu's supply lifeline. Haider swept into the Carnatic, destroyed Colonel Baillie's force in 1780, and was only checked when Eyre Coote defeated him at Porto Novo (1781). Haider died in 1782; Tipu fought on until the Treaty of Mangalore (1784) restored the status quo.

The Third War (1790-92) began over Travancore, a British ally whose purchase of Dutch forts Tipu treated as a violation of his sovereignty. Cornwallis led two campaigns against Seringapatam, this time with the Marathas and the Nizam as British allies. The Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) was brutal: Mysore surrendered half its territory, paid Rs 3 crore as indemnity, and Tipu's two young sons went to the British as hostages.

The Fourth War (1799) was Wellesley's war of annihilation. A grand British army under Generals Harris and Stuart, with Arthur Wellesley in a key role, stormed Seringapatam; Tipu died fighting on 4 May 1799. The Company annexed Kanara, Coimbatore and Seringapatam itself, restored the Wodeyars under the child Krishnaraja III, bound by a subsidiary alliance, and divided the spoils with the Nizam. (Mysore would pass under direct British administration in 1831 for alleged misgovernance and be restored to Wodeyar rule by Ripon in 1881.)

The Maratha confederacy after Panipat

The Marathas never recovered their imperial dream after the Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761), where Ahmad Shah Abdali shattered their army. What survived was a confederacy of great chiefs, the Sindhia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore, the Gaekwad of Baroda and the Bhonsle of Nagpur, loosely united under the Peshwa at Pune. Leaders of real ability remained, above all Mahadji Sindhia and the statesman Nana Phadnavis, but the confederacy's chronic disease was disunity: each chief pursued his own ambitions while the British negotiated with them one by one.

The three Anglo-Maratha Wars

The First War (1775-82) grew from a succession dispute: after Madhavrao I's death, Raghunath Rao (Raghoba) sought British help against the infant Peshwa's regents, ceding Salsette and Bassein by the Treaty of Surat (1775). British forces were humiliated at Wadgaon (1779) and forced to surrender, the Company's worst reverse in India, but the war ended in a stalemate peace, the Treaty of Salbai (1782), mediated by Mahadji Sindhia.

The Second War (1803-05) was Wellesley's masterpiece of divide and conquer. After Yashwantrao Holkar drove Bajirao II from Pune, the desperate Peshwa signed the Treaty of Bassein (1802), accepting a subsidiary alliance and British troops in his capital. Outraged, Sindhia and Bhonsle fought, and lost, at Assaye (1803) to Arthur Wellesley, at Delhi and Laswari (1803) to Lord Lake. The settlements, Deogaon (1803) with Bhonsle, Surji-Anjangaon (1803) with Sindhia, Rajpurghat (1805) with Holkar, stripped the Marathas of the Doab, Cuttack, Gujarat and Bundelkhand.

The Third War (1817-18) finished the job. Under Lord Hastings, pursuing the Policy of Paramountcy, the British crushed the Peshwa at Khirki, Bhonsle at Sitabuldi and Holkar at Mahidpur. The Treaty of Poona (1817), Gwalior (1817) and Mandsaur (1818) annexed the Peshwa's territories outright, abolished the Peshwa's office, and reduced every Maratha chief to a vassal. The last Indian power capable of unifying the subcontinent was gone.

The Sikhs: Ranjit Singh's empire and its fall

The last great indigenous power the British faced was the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh (1780-1839): beginning as chief of the Sukerchakia misl, he united the twelve Sikh misls, captured Lahore in 1799, and built a disciplined state stretching from the Sutlej to the Khyber, its army modernised by French officers. He kept the British at arm's length through the Treaty of Amritsar (1809), which fixed the Sutlej as the boundary between his kingdom and Company territory. He died in 1839 leaving a formidable army but a disputed succession.

What followed was anarchy at Lahore: a child king in Dalip Singh, a regent mother in Rani Jindan, and a Khalsa army that had become the real power in the state. The army's crossing of the Sutlej in December 1845 gave the British the pretext for war.

• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46): fought at Mudki, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon; ended by the Treaty of Lahore (1846). The war indemnity of Rs 1.5 crore could not be paid, so the Sikhs ceded the Jalandhar Doab and the hill country between the Beas and the Indus. Kashmir was then sold to Gulab Singh for Rs 75 lakh under the separate Treaty of Amritsar (1846), creating the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Interlude: the Treaty of Bhairowal (1846) placed a British Resident at Lahore and let the British meddle in the darbar's affairs, which Sikh opinion bitterly resented.
• Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49): sparked by Mulraj's revolt at Multan and Sikh anger at British interference; decided at Ramnagar, Chillianwala and Gujrat. It ended with the annexation of Punjab in March 1849 under Lord Dalhousie, administered by a three-man Board of Administration (Henry Lawrence, John Lawrence, Charles Mansel). The last major independent Indian state was gone, and its soldiers would stay loyal to the British in 1857.

The instruments of British paramountcy

Ring Fence (Warren Hastings era)

• Defensive buffer states, Awadh shielding Bengal from Marathas and Afghans, kept at arm's length as nominal equals.

Subsidiary Alliance (Wellesley, 1798-1805)

• The accepting ruler kept a British subsidiary force at his own expense, accepted a British Resident, dismissed other Europeans, and surrendered his foreign policy. Hyderabad (1798) signed first; Mysore (1799), Awadh (1801) and the Peshwa via Bassein (1802) followed.

Policy of Paramountcy (Lord Hastings, 1813-23)

• No more pretence of equality: Indian states were declared subordinate, residents interfered in successions, and the Marathas were destroyed as an independent power.

The genius of the Subsidiary Alliance was that it disarmed states without conquest: the subsidy bankrupted rulers, bankruptcy forced territorial cessions, and the Resident hollowed out sovereignty from within, all at the Indian ruler's expense.

Doctrine of Lapse (Dalhousie, 1848-56)

• The rule: if an Indian ruler died without a natural (biological) heir, his state would 'lapse' to the Company instead of passing to an adopted son. Adoption, a recognised Hindu custom, was simply not recognised by Dalhousie.
• The annexations: Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur in Chhattisgarh (1852), Nagpur (1853), Jhansi (1854). Awadh was taken separately in 1856 on the pretext of misgovernance.
• Why it matters: Dalhousie's eight years added more territory than any previous Governor-General, and the policy humiliated the old aristocracy while disbanding their armies. It is the single most-cited political cause of 1857, and the Queen's Proclamation of 1858 formally ended it.

Why Mysore and the Marathas lost

Both powers suffered the same structural disadvantages against the Company: divided counsels (the Maratha chiefs fought each other; Mysore fought alone against triple alliances), inferior finances (Bengal's revenues bankrolled British armies), and the British talent for turning Indian allies into instruments, the Nizam and the Marathas both helped destroy Mysore before being destroyed themselves. Superior British artillery, discipline and leadership did the rest.

Why the Marathas could not replace the Mughals

At their peak the Marathas, not the British, looked like the Mughals' successors. Five weaknesses from the booklet explain why that never happened:

• Succession wars: after Shivaji, his sons Sambhaji and Rajaram fought for the throne, and contested successions kept returning to haunt the empire.

• A confederacy, not a kingdom: power was shared among sardars such as the Bhonsle, Holkar, Scindia and Gaekwad, so the empire rarely moved as one body.

• A raider's treasury: the state lived on chauth, sardeshmukhi and plunder instead of building a productive revenue administration.

• Weak diplomacy: the Marathas never built durable alliances, misreading both Indian rivals and the British.

• The Bassein trap: in 1802 Peshwa Baji Rao II signed the Treaty of Bassein, accepting a subsidiary alliance that made British supremacy formal.

1761: the Third Battle of Panipat

On 14 January 1761 the Marathas met Ahmad Shah Abdali at Panipat. The defeat ended the Marathas' bid to rule India from Delhi, and cleared the field for the British advance in the decades that followed.

Why did so many empire-shaking battles happen at Panipat? (UPSC 2014)

• The Yamuna highway: the river's banks moved troops and supplies smoothly toward the prize, Delhi.

• The invasion gateway: Panipat sat on the route every army from the north and northwest, down the Khyber Pass, had to cross to take the northern plains.

• Cavalry ground: flat terrain suited mounted cavalry, the arm of decision in those centuries.

• Close to Delhi: proximity to the capital let the winner convert a battlefield victory into a throne within days.

• A short monsoon: the region's briefer rains gave longer campaigning seasons than most of India.

• An armoury on site: local craftsmen excelled at making war equipment, so both armies could resupply at the battlefield's doorstep.

Two doctrines, defined

The Doctrine of Lapse held that if a princely state subject to the company's vassalage fails to produce an heir, the land will be annexed by the British. Dalhousie used it extensively, taking Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, Sambalpur and others.

The Doctrine of Mis-governance meant annexation of the Indian states based on maladministration by the Indian ruler. Awadh was annexed in 1856 on this ground, under its last ruler Wajid Ali Shah.

Wellesley converted the British Empire in India to the British Empire of India. From one of the political powers in India, the Company became the supreme power in India and claimed the whole country as its sole protectorate. From Wellesley's time onwards the defence of India was the Company's responsibility. Sidney J. Owen

Key Terms

• Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761: The Third Battle of Panipat is the 14 January 1761 clash in which Ahmad Shah Abdali's Afghan forces decisively defeated the Maratha army led by Sadashivrao Bhau. The loss of a generation of Maratha leadership shattered their bid for pan-Indian dominance and cleared the field for British expansion. It is a landmark prelims date and a classic mains turning point in the political disintegration of 18th-century India. Sadashivrao Bhau, the Maratha commander at Panipat
• Wodeyars under the child Krishnaraja III: The Wodeyars under the child Krishnaraja III refers to the restoration of Mysore's Wodeyar dynasty after Tipu Sultan's death in 1799, when the British placed the five-year-old Krishnaraja Wodeyar III on the throne. Real power lay with Dewan Purnaiah and the British Resident under the Subsidiary Alliance of 1799. It matters for UPSC as a classic case of indirect rule and Company-era princely state management. Subsidiary Alliance of Mysore, 1799
• annexation of Punjab in March 1849: The annexation of Punjab in March 1849 is the British East India Company's takeover of the Sikh kingdom after the Second Anglo-Sikh War. On 29 March 1849 Governor-General Lord Dalhousie proclaimed Punjab annexed, deposed the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh, and took the Koh-i-Noor diamond. It ended Sikh sovereignty and completed British control of northwestern India. For UPSC, it is a staple prelims fact and a mains point on Dalhousie's expansionism. Lord Dalhousie's proclamation of 29 March 1849
• Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49: This truncated fragment refers to the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49), fought between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire after the Multan revolt. British victories at Chillianwala and Gujarat led to the annexation of Punjab in 1849 under Lord Dalhousie. It closes the Anglo-Sikh wars sequence and is standard material for modern Indian history questions. the annexation of Punjab, 1849
• abolished the Peshwa's office: After the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-18, the British defeated Peshwa Baji Rao II, exiled him to Bithur with a pension, and abolished the Peshwa's office in 1818. This ended Maratha political supremacy in India and brought most of western and central India under direct British control. It matters for UPSC because the Anglo-Maratha wars and the fall of the Maratha confederacy are central to modern-history questions on British expansion. Baji Rao II's exile to Bithur, 1818
• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46: The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire from December 1845 to March 1846 after Sikh armies crossed the Sutlej. British victories at Mudki, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, and Sobraon forced the Treaty of Lahore (9 March 1846), ceding the Jalandhar Doab, imposing a large indemnity, and installing a British Resident at Lahore. For UPSC it explains Punjab's annexation prelude. The Treaty of Amritsar, signed a week after Lahore, transferred Kashmir to Gulab Singh for 75 lakh rupees.
• Board of Administration: The Board of Administration is the three-member body, comprising Henry Lawrence, John Lawrence and Charles Mansell, that governed Punjab after its annexation by the British in 1849. Ruling until 1853, it combined executive and judicial authority, carrying out land settlements, building canals and roads, and demilitarizing the Sikh sardars. For UPSC, it is a key institution in the history of British expansion and colonial administration in northern India. the administration of Punjab under the Board from its annexation in 1849 to 1853
• Raghunath Rao (Raghoba: Raghunath Rao (Raghoba) was the Peshwa who briefly held office in 1773-74 after the murder of Narayan Rao, and whose appeal for British military help led to the Treaty of Surat (1775) and the First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82). His unpopular regency deepened Maratha factionalism, and the Treaty of Salbai (1782) restored the status quo with Madhav Rao II as Peshwa. He matters for UPSC in GS-1 modern history, where the Anglo-Maratha wars and their treaties are standard prelims material. the Treaty of Surat, 1775
• Treaty of Seringapatam: The Treaty of Seringapatam of 1792 ended the Third Anglo-Mysore War after Cornwallis besieged Tipu Sultan's capital. Tipu ceded half his territories to the British and their allies, paid an indemnity of about 3.3 crore rupees, and surrendered two of his sons as hostages. It halved Mysore's power and is a landmark UPSC prelims treaty in the sequence of Anglo-Mysore conflicts. Tipu's young sons were handed over as hostages to guarantee payment
• Second War (1780-84: This truncated fragment refers to the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84), fought between the British East India Company and Mysore under Hyder Ali and later Tipu Sultan. It ended with the Treaty of Mangalore (1784), which restored the status quo ante and humiliated the British. It is a key war in the Anglo-Mysore sequence for modern Indian history. the Treaty of Mangalore, 1784
• Second War (1803-05: This truncated fragment refers to the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05), fought between the British under Lord Wellesley and the Maratha confederacy. British victories at Assaye and Argaon led to the Treaties of Deogaon and Surji-Anjangaon (1803), establishing Company supremacy in central India. It is central to UPSC questions on the Maratha decline. the Treaty of Deogaon, 1803
• Treaty of Bhairowal: The Treaty of Bhairowal of December 1846 supplemented the Treaty of Lahore after the First Anglo-Sikh War. It placed a British Resident at Lahore with full authority over every department of the Sikh state, aided by a Council of Regency, while Maharani Jind Kaur was pensioned off. It effectively transferred Punjab's administration to the British and is important for UPSC as the step between the Treaty of Lahore and the annexation of Punjab in 1849. Henry Lawrence became the British Resident at Lahore under its terms

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