Modern History / British Conquest of India
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Subsidiary Alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley in 1798. According to Subsidiary Alliance System, every Indian ruler, who is signatory to the system, had to pay a subsidy amount to the British for maintaining its army in his territory. Reciprocally, the British would protect him from his enemies. The system helped the British to enormously exapand their empire in India.
The main features of subsidiary alliance system are
In reality, the system of Subsidiary Alliance made the Indian rulers to lose their sovereignty over their territories, which means they have
lost their rights of self defence, could not employ foreign experts, could not maintain diplomatic relations and not able settle their disputes
with their neighbours.
In 1798, the Nizam of Hyderabad signed on the document of Subsidiary Alliance and hence Hyderabad became the first state under Subsidiary
Alliance. In 1800, the territories of Hyderabad that were given to the British under this system were Cuddapah, Anantapur, Kurnool and Bellary.
The second one to sign was Mysore state after completion of the fourth Anglo Mysore war in 1799. In 1801, Awadh king Saadat Ali Khan signed on
the document and the entire Rohilkhand area was given to the British.
Anglo Mysore Wars were fought between the British and Hyder Ali and later continued by his son Tipu Sultan. After the death
of Tipu Sultan in the last war, Mysore was made to sign the Subsidiary Alliance System.
Four wars were fought between the British and
Mysore kingdom, known as Anglo-Mysore wars.
The first Anglo Mysore war period was from 1766 to 1769. It was fought between Hyder Ali and Lord Macartney, the then governor of Madras. There was no result from this war. A status quo treaty was concluded at Madras, known as Treaty of Madras.
The second Anglo Mysore war period was from 1780 to 1784. The British side was fought by Governor General Warren Hastings. Hyder Ali
died because of cancer in 1782.
His son Tipu Sultan went forward with the second Mysore war. There was no result from this war. The
Treaty of Mangalore was concluded in 1784 which was a status quo treaty.
The third Anglo Mysore war period was from 1790 to 1792. The British Governor General Lord Cornwallis formed a tripartite alliance with Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad to pit against Tipu Sultan.
Tipu Sultan has been defeated in this war. In 1792, the Treaty of Srirangapatna was signed between Tipu Sultan and the tripartite alliance. Almost 50% of Mysore was shared among Marathas, Nizam and the British.
Malabar, Dindigul and Baramahal were taken over by the British. Krishna-Tungabhadra doab was taken over by the Marathas and Rayalaseema was taken over by Nizam. Rs 3.3 Crore was the war indemnity imposed on Tipu Sultan. 2 sons of Tipu Sultan were taken to Calcutta as guarantee.
The fourth Anglo Mysore war period was from 1798 to 1799. The British side was fought by Governor General Lord Wellesley. Tipu Sultan died in this war at Srirangapatna. Mysore was occupied with the death of Tipu Sultan.
After 1799, a small state of Mysore was created by Wellesley consisting of Mysore, Srirangapatna and the surrounding areas. It was given to Krishnaraja Wadiyar III and the rest was annexed to British India. For doing this, the Wadiyar dynasty had to sign the Subsidiary Alliance.
Mysore was a province of Vijayanagara empire with Srirangapatna as its capital. In 1610, a Nayak of Vijayanagara kingdom named Raja Wodeyar I declared complete independence and the Wodeyars ruled Mysore until 1947.