Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Tipu Sultan
The second half of the eighteenth century was a period of great confusion in
Indian history, which witnessed the rise of a colonial power. The only state
that offered stiff resistance to their expansion was Mysore, which fought not
one but four wars. Tipu participated in all those four Mysore wars, in two of
which he inflicted serious blows on the English. In fact Tipu's rule starts in
the midst of a war against the English and ends in the midst of war against
them. His short but stormy rule was eventful for his several engagements with
his neighbours, the Marathas and the Nizam, as well, whose shortsighted policy
prompted them to join the colonials against Mysore. Tipu remained fully involved
in warfare from his youth until his fall in the fourth Mysore war. From 1760
when Haidar Ali allied himself with the French against the English to 1799 when
Wellesly destroyed Tipu, Mysore had become "the terror of Leadenhall Street",
the headquarters of the East India Company. These forty years of Tipu both as a
prince and a ruler witnessed continuous warfare.
Having learnt the western technique of warfare, Tipu was not slow in making
use of it. He was himself bold, dashing, and a person of undaunted adventurous
spirit. Under his leadership Mysore army proved a school of military science to
Indian princes. The dread of an European army no longer wrought any magic on
him. Tipu's infliction of serious blows on the English in the first and second
Mysore wars damaged their reputation as an invincible power. Alexander Dow wrote
his history, "We were alarmed, as if his horses had wings to fly over our
walls."
Tipu was a far-sighted ruler, who discerned the danger to the freedom of the
land by the colonial expansion, which necessitated continuous warfare. Apart
from this he had his own agenda to assert his own authority over the neighbours,
the Marathas and the Nizam, who were not reconciled to the rise and growth of
Mysore as an independent powerful state. This weakness of the neighbours was
fully exploited by the English whose shrewd political sense involved them as
allies against Mysore. In all four Mysore wars the Marathas and the Nizam were
willing to support the English rather than either Haider or Tipu. In the third
Mysore war all three formed a powerful confederacy against Tipu, and in the
fourth Mysore war the Nizam was an ally of the English. The third cause for the
continuous warfare was the need to suppress the far too many units of
independent power, the feudatories and small principalities, whose mutual
rivalries and ambition had caused great confusion in Karnataka. It was Tipu's
policy to establish a strong central authority which would serve the people
better.
Thus the English, the Marathas, the Nizam and the feudatories were the
principal causes for Tipu's wars. The most serious wars were against the
English, who had never been confronted with a more formidable foe. In the first
Mysore War Tipu, a lad of 17 years, suddenly surprised the English when he
appeared at the gates of Madras in September 1767. He caused great consternation
to the governor of Madras, to the Nawab of Carnatic, Muhammad Ali, and to almost
all the councillors who "very narrowly escaped being taken in the country house
in the company's garden. Happily for them a small vessel that by accident was
opposite the garden furnished them with the means of escaping. "Thus, it was a
providential escape of the entire Madras government, which were about to be
captured by Tipu, who had been placed in independent command of a body of troops
in the first Mysore war.
Tipu's training in the art of war started as early as 1763, when he was
hardly 13 years old, in Haidar's attack on Malabar where Tipu displayed great
dash and courage. That was his first experience of war. He was present in
Haidar's negotiations with the Nizam in the first Mysore war when the tact and
resourcefulness of the young prince impressed the Nizam and won him over to
Haidar's side. It was Tipu who obtained the ratification of the treaty of
Alliance between the Nizam and Haidar in 1767. Tipu had gone to the Nizam's camp
at the head of 6000 troops and successfully concluded the treaty. This was the
first diplomatic assignment of Tipu, who was well received by the Nizam, who
conferred on him the title of "Nasib-ud-daula" (fortune of the state) and also
"Fateh Ali Khan."
Tipu had taken great interest in the Mysore-Maratha war of 1769-72. After the
death of Peshwa Madhava Rao in 1772, he was sent to the northern part of the
Mysore to recover the territories which the Marathas had occupied. By the time
of second Mysore war he had gained great experience both of warfare and
diplomacy. In September 1780 he inflicted a crushing defeat on Colonel Baillie
near Polilur. This was the first and the most serious blow the English had
suffered in India. The whole detachment was either cut or taken prisoners. Of
the 86 European officers 36 were killed, and 3820 were taken prisoners of whom
508 were Europeans. The English had lost the flower of their army. Baillie
himself was taken prisoner. This defeat caused so much consternation in Madras
that half of its Black Town was deserted. Sir Hector Munroe, the hero of Buxar,
who had defeated three rulers of India (Mughal Emperor Shah Alam, Oudh Nawab
Shuja-ud-daulah, and the Bengal Nawab Mir Qasim) in a single battle, would not
face Tipu. He ran for his life to Madras throwing all his cannons in the tank of
conjeevaram.
Likewise, Tipu inflicted a serious defeat on Colonel Braithwaite at Annagudi
near Tanjore on 18 February 1782. This army consisted of 100 Europeans, 300
cavalry, 1400 sepoys and 10 field pieces. Tipu seized all the guns and took the
entire detachment prisoners. One should remember that the total force of a few
hundred Europeans was the standard size of the colonial armies that had caused
havoc in India prior to Haidar and Tipu. In December 1781 Tipu had successfully
seized Chittur from British hands. Thus Tipu had gained sufficient military
experience by the time Haidar died in December 1782.
The second Mysore war came to an end by the treaty of Mangalore. It is an
important document in the history of India. It was the last occasion when an
Indian power dictated terms to the English, who were made to play the role of
humble supplicants for peace. Warren Hastings called it a humiliating
pacification, and appealed to the king and parliament to punish the Madras
government for "the faith and honour of the British nation have been equally
violated." The English would not reconcile to this humiliation, and worked hard
from that day, 11 March 1784, to subvert Tipu's power. The treaty redounds great
credit to the diplomatic skill of Tipu. He had honourably concluded a long-drawn
war. He frustrated the Maratha designs to seize his northern possessions. The
great advantage was psychological, the mode of conclusion was highly
satisfactory to him. The march of the commissioners all the way from Madras to
Mangalore seeking peace made Munro remark that such indignities were throughout
poured upon the British", that united efforts seemed necessary to repudiate the
treaty at the earliest time." Such public opinion in the country highly
gratified Tipu who felt it was his great triumph over the English. That was the
only bright spot in his contest with the English, the only proud event which had
humbled a mighty power.
The treaty of Mangalore carried the seeds of strife with the Marathas,
because they were disappointed in their expectation of acting as the mediators
and of recovering their losses in the north of Mysore. Tipu had emerged with
enhanced prestige whom even the mighty English could not humble. This excited
the jealousy of both the Marathas and the Nizam who fought a war with him for
two years from 1785 to 1787. The Nizam was also not friendly towards Mysore ever
since he had come to power in 1761. He regarded himself as the overlord of the
entire south, and expected Haidar and Tipu to be his tributaries. As he was
militarily imbecile he allied himself either with the Marathas or the English to
distress the Mysore rulers. There was always a pro-British party at Hyderabad
which dissuaded the Nizam from being cordial to Tipu. In the war that followed
Tipu had the upper hand despite the alliance of his two neighbours. The war came
to an end in April 1787 by the treaty of Gajendragadh by which he ceded Badami
to the Marathas hoping to win their support against the English or at least to
prevent them from joining the English.
Tipu was disappointed in his expectations. Far from joining him to remove the
English from India, both of them, the Marathas and the Nizam, joined the English
in a powerful confederacy against Tipu in the third Mysore war. The allies
struggled hard for nearly two years from 1790 to 1792. Lord Cornwallis who had
surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga in the new world assumed the command
and with great difficulty he was successful in a surprise night attack to enter
into the island of Srirangapatana on 6 February 1792. Tipu was made to make
peace by surrendering half of his kingdom, and paying three crores as indemnity,
apart from sending two of his sons as hostages to Madras. This was a serious
blow to Tipu.
Very soon Tipu was able to build up his power again, paid the indemnity, and
got his sons back. He intensified his contacts with the French, the Turks and
the Afghans. The Nizam was also made friendly, who was made to recruit a
contingent of 14000 troops under a French, Raymond, who was friendly to Tipu.
Napoleon was also on the way to India to help Tipu, who had invited Zaman Shah
of Afghanistan as well to help him remove the English from India. When all these
plans were about to mature, destiny willed otherwise. Napoleon was defeated at
Accre in Syria and forced back to France. Zaman Shah was made to beat a hasty
retreat to Kabul because of British machinations that brought about a rear
action from Iran on Afghanistan. Wellesley forced the Nizam to disband Raymond
and accept a British detachment under subsidiary system. Having finished this
task he declared war on Tipu, sending the largest English army ever assembled in
India. The fourth Mysore war was a short affair. Keeping Tipu in false hopes, he
suddenly surprised him by unacceptable demands. When Tipu refused to accept
them, the English breached the fort and in a bloody encounter, fighting against
heavy odds he was killed on 4 May 1799. The last hope for the freedom of the
land was thus extinguished. He died a soldier's death for the defence of the
cherished values of his land under a spontaneous combustion of hostile forces.
