Second Anglo-Sikh War

The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849, between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company.

Background to the War

The Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was consolidated and expanded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century. During the same period, the British East India Company's territories had been expanded until they were adjacent to the Punjab. Ranjit Singh maintained an uneasy alliance with the East India Company, while increasing the military strength of the Khalsa (the Sikh Army, which also saw itself as the embodiment of the state and religion), to deter British aggression against his state and to expand Sikh territory to the north and north west, capturing territory from Afghanistan and Kashmir.

When Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the Sikh Empire began to fall into disorder. There was a succession of short-lived rulers at the central Durbar (court), and increasing tension between the Army and the Durbar. The East India Company began to build up its military strength on the borders of the Punjab. Eventually, the increasing tension goaded the Sikh Army to invade British territory, under weak and possibly treacherous leaders. The hard-fought First Anglo-Sikh War ended in defeat for the Sikh Army.

Mughal-Rajput War (1525)

The Mughal-Rajput War was a campaign into the Punjab region of India by the force of the Timurid ruler Babur. In 1525, after the conquest of Transoxania, Babur invaded the Punjab several times. To campaign he took the time to furnish his army with gunpowder weapons and to train them in their use, meanwhile preserving the more traditional skills of steppe warfare. Not until the end of the year did he invade Hindustan.

Aftermath

Babur defeated the rajputs in many skirmishes with his army en route to face the Lodis at the Battle of Panipat (1526), where he killed Lodi and his forces seized control of Delhi.

Babur's grandson, Akbar, allied with the Rajputs in 1556. However, he crushed their revolts in the 2nd Mughal-Rajput War. By the later 1700s the Rajputs had lost all of their power.

References