The Storming of Seringapatam
The storming of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799 killed Tipu Sultan and ended the only Indian state that had repeatedly beaten the East India Company in the field. Mysore under Haidar Ali and then his son had been rebuilt for war on European lines: infantry drilled by French officers, a state monopoly on trade, a modernised revenue system, and iron-cased rockets fired in volleys that were taken back to Woolwich afterwards and copied. Four wars were fought between 1767 and 1799. In the second, Haidar's cavalry overran the Carnatic and destroyed a Company force at Pollilur. The third war cost Tipu half his territory and an indemnity, and two of his sons went to Madras as hostages for it. He spent the following years looking for allies against Britain - corresponding with revolutionary France, receiving a French delegation, planting a tree of liberty, and sending embassies to Kabul and Istanbul. Those letters were the pretext. Richard Wellesley, newly arrived as governor-general, declared the French connection an unacceptable threat and invaded with Company armies and the forces of Hyderabad and the Marathas, both of whom had reason to want Mysore reduced. The siege lasted a month and the breach was stormed in an afternoon. Tipu was found among the dead at a gateway, having fought rather than negotiated. His capital was looted for days, his library and workshops were carried to Britain, and Mysore was returned to the Wadiyar dynasty as a subsidiary ally with its territory divided among the victors. His brother-officer's brother, Arthur Wellesley, was left as governor of the captured city.
- Year: 1799 CE
- Category: Military
