Fall of Seringapatam, death of Tipu Sultan and the end of the Anglo-Mysore Wars
- Date
- 4 May 1799
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Mysore, southern India
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
On 4 May 1799 a British East India Company army and its allies stormed the island fortress of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), capital of the Kingdom of Mysore, ending the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War. The ruler Tipu Sultan, the 'Tiger of Mysore', was killed in the fighting near the Water Gate.
Over three decades Tipu and his father Hyder Ali had built Mysore into the most formidable indigenous opponent of British expansion in southern India, deploying rocket artillery, modernised forces and overtures to Revolutionary France. The allied storming force of over 50,000, including the Nizam of Hyderabad and Maratha contingents, breached the walls after a month-long siege. Tipu's death removed the last major military obstacle to British supremacy in the south; Mysore was partitioned, a subsidiary alliance imposed and the Wodeyar dynasty restored as British clients. Seringapatam confirmed the Company's emergence as the paramount power in the Indian subcontinent.
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Empires active in 4 May 1799
- British Empire1583 CE to 1997 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE to 1917 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE to 1912 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE to 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE to 1999 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE to 1857 CE
Related military & conflict events
- The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War3 September 1783
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- Battle of Plassey and the rise of British power in Bengal23 June 1757
- Qing conquest of the Dzungars and the creation of Xinjiang1755 to 1759
- Nadir Shah sacks Delhi and shatters Mughal powerMarch 1739
Essential reading
- Qing conquest of the Dzungars and the creation of Xinjiang1755 to 1759
- The Great Irish Famine1845 to 1852
- Emancipation of the serfs in Russia3 March 1861 (19 February O.S.)
- The Franco-Prussian War, German unification and the Paris Commune19 July 1870 to 10 May 1871; German Empire proclaimed 18 January 1871
Further reading
The wider story
The Mughal Empire
The standard scholarly survey (New Cambridge History of India).
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