Third Anglo-Mysore War

01Travancore and the alliance

In December 1789 Tipu attacked the Nedumkotta, the wall Travancore had built across the plain north of Kochi. Travancore was under Company protection, and Cornwallis declared war. In 1790 General Medows advanced from the south and took Coimbatore, but Tipu outmarched him and swept the Carnatic. Meanwhile Pune and Hyderabad joined the Company, and Maratha armies under Parashuram Bhau and Haripant began taking Mysore’s northern forts, Dharwar first.

02Cornwallis takes command

Cornwallis came himself in 1791. He stormed Bangalore in March and pushed to Srirangapatna, beat Tipu at Arakere in May, and then had to burn his siege train and retreat for want of food. That autumn the allies cleared the hill forts on the road, Nandidurg, Savandurga and others, while Tipu retook Coimbatore. In February 1792 the allied armies returned to the island capital, and a night attack broke Tipu’s lines.

Dynasty · 1399 (traditional)–1950 CEWodeyars of MysoreThe Wodeyars began as chiefs around Mysore under Vijayanagara and became kings when Raja Wodeyar took Srirangapatna in 1610. Apart from the decades of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, they ruled Mysore until Indian independence, and kept the Vijayanagara Navaratri alive as the Mysore Dasara.Read →

03The price of peace

Tipu sued for terms before the island itself was stormed. The Treaty of Seringapatam stripped him of about half his territory. The Company took Malabar, Coorg’s protection, Dindigul and the Baramahal. The Marathas recovered the land up to the Tungabhadra, and the Nizam took the country around Kadapa and Ballari. Two of Tipu’s young sons went to Madras as hostages for the payment of the indemnity.