Editing Hyder Ali (section)

==Second Anglo-Mysore War==
{{main|Second Anglo-Mysore War}}
[[File:Anglo-Mysore War 1 and 2.png|thumb|Theater map for the [[First Anglo-Mysore War|First]] and the Second Anglo-Mysore Wars]]

During the lengthy conflict with the Marathas, Hyder had several times requested the assistance of the East India Company, and it had each time been refused, in part due to the influence at Madras, of Hyder's enemy, the Nawab of Arcot.<ref>Bowring, p. 82</ref> The British had also angered the Marathas by repudiating treaties, with whom they [[First Anglo-Maratha War|were at war]] for much of the 1770s,<ref name="Bowring, p. 80">Bowring, p. 80</ref> and they had also upset the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] [[Ali Khan Asaf Jah II|Asaf Jah II]] over their occupation of [[Guntur district|Guntur]].<ref>Bowring, p. 81</ref>

In 1771, Maratha envoys had approached Hyder with a proposal to ally against the company, with the goal of wresting control of eastern India from [[Company rule in India|their rule]]. Since Hyder was at the time still attempting alliance with the British, he informed them of this offer, noting that he thought the Marathas would gain too much power and even threaten his own position under those circumstances.<ref name=Bow83>Bowring, p. 83</ref> The Marathas, still at war with the British, renewed an offer of alliance in 1779. In this case, the alliance was to include the Nizam.<ref name="Bowring, p. 80"/> His decision to join this alliance was prompted by two British actions. The first was the British capture by capitulation of the west-coast port of [[Mahé, India|Mahé]], part of a concerted effort by the British to capture all French outposts after the 1778 French entry into the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Hyder received much of his French-supplied equipment through this French-controlled port, and had provided troops for its defence.<ref>Bowring, p. 84</ref> Furthermore, the action had provoked the Nairs on the Malabar coast to rise in rebellion again, although Hyder had quickly put this down. The second offence was the movement of British troops through territory under his control (and also other territory controlled by the Nizam) from Madras to Guntur. There was a skirmish in the hills, and the British detachment ended up retreating to Madras.<ref>Bowring, p. 85</ref>

Hyder Ali began rebuilding his navy in 1778. Employing Joze Azelars, a Dutchman, he had built eight [[ketch]]es with masts and 40 [[cannons]] and eight smaller [[dhow]]s. When the war broke out in 1779, Azelars noted that the [[Brahman]]s and their allies made every possible effort to halt progress of the newly rebuilt navy based at [[Bhatkal]].<ref>Kaushik Roy. ''War, Culture, Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=zp0FbTniNaYC&pg=PA22 pg. 22] Retrieved on 4 March 2012.</ref>

The alliance planned to make virtually simultaneous attacks on British holdings all throughout India, while the Marathas agreed to honour Hyder's claims to territories he currently held north of the Tungabhadra River and reduced the amount of tribute he was required to pay under earlier agreements. Hyder expected to receive assistance from the French, especially in the Carnatic, the territory he sought to conquer.<ref>Bowring, p. 87</ref> However, diplomatic actions by Governor [[Warren Hastings]] and the Company successfully convinced both the Nizam and the Marathas not to take up arms, and Hyder ended up fighting the war on his own.<ref name=Bow100>Bowring, p. 100</ref>

He successfully gained alliances with [[Ali Raja|Ali Raja Bibi Junumabe II]] of Cannanore [[Arakkal Kingdom]] and the Muslim [[Mappila]] community and later even met with Muslim [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]] from [[Malacca]], who were in [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] service.

<gallery>
File:SiegeOfCuddalore1783.jpg|A [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] illustration of Sayed Sahib leading Hyder Ali's forces during the [[Siege of Cuddalore]].
File:Rocket warfare.jpg|The [[Battle of Pollilur]], where the forces of Hyder Ali effectively used [[Mysorean rockets]] and [[Rocket artillery]] against closely massed East India Company troops.
File:Admiral Suffrein gravure anglaise.jpeg|[[Pierre André de Suffren]] ally of Hyder Ali.
File:Charles de Bussy de Castelnau.jpg|[[Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau]] ally of Hyder Ali.
File:Battaille Gondelour 1783 gravure hollandaise imaginaire 1783.jpg|French Admiral Suffren (with the support of Hyder Ali) comes to the aid of [[Reynier van Vlissingen]]'s [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] forces against the Admiral [[Edward Hughes (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Hughes]].
</gallery>

===Descent upon the Carnatic===

The army Hyder assembled was one of the largest seen in southern India, estimated to number 83,000.<ref name=Bow88>Bowring, p. 88</ref> Carefully co-ordinating the actions of his subordinate commanders, he swept down the [[Eastern Ghats]] onto the coastal plain in July 1780, laying waste the countryside.<ref name=Bow88/> Due to Hyder's secrecy and poor British intelligence, officials in Madras were unaware of his movements until the fires of burning villages just {{convert|9|mi|km}} away were seen in Madras.<ref>Bowring, pp. 88–89</ref> Hyder himself organised the Siege of Arcot, while detaching his son ''Karim Khan Sahib'' to take [[Parangipettai|Porto Novo]]. The movement in August of [[Hector Munro, 8th of Novar|Sir Hector Munro]] with a force of over 5,000 from Madras to [[Kanchipuram]] (Conjeevaram) prompted Hyder to lift the siege of Arcot and move to confront him. Word then arrived that Munro was awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Guntur under Colonel William Baillie, so he sent a detachment under Tipu to intercept them, and eventually followed in strength himself, when Munro sent a force from his army to meet Baillie.<ref>Bowring, pp. 90–91</ref> Tipu and Hyder surrounded Baillie's force, and compelled the surrender of about 3,000 men in the [[Battle of Pollilur]] on 10 September; it was the first effective use of rocket artillery and made a strong impression upon the British.<ref name=Bow92>Bowring, p. 92</ref> Hyder then renewed the siege of Arcot, which fell in November.<ref name=Bow93/>

Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, Governor Hastings had sent General [[Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)|Sir Eyre Coote]] south from Bengal to take charge of British forces opposing Hyder. He arrived at Madras in November to take command from Munro.<ref name=Bow93>Bowring, p. 93</ref> Coote marched into the Carnatic, and eventually occupied [[Cuddalore]].<ref>Wilks pp. 470–474</ref> After being re-supplied there, he besieged [[Chidambram]], where an assault on the fort was repulsed.<ref>Wilks, p. 475</ref>

[[File:Surrender of Baillie to Hyder Ali.jpg|thumb|left|Baillie surrenders to Hyder Ali.]]

Hyder had in the mean-time descended into [[Tanjore]], with severe consequences. After extracting the allegiance of the Maratha king [[Thuljaji]], Hyder plundered the country, destroying cattle and crops.<ref name="Subramanianp64">Subramanian, p. 64</ref> The economic output of Tanjore is estimated to have fallen by 90% between 1780 and 1782.<ref name="Subramanianp65">Subramanian, p. 65</ref> The economic devastation wrought by these attacks was so severe that Tanjore's economy did not recover until the start of the 19th century; the era is referred to in local folklore as the ''Hyderakalam''.<ref name="Subramanianp64"/>

With General Coote at Cuddalore, Hyder then made a forced march to interpose his army between Chidambram and Cuddalore, cutting Coote's supply line. Coote marched to face him, and won a decisive victory in the [[Battle of Porto Novo]] on 1 July 1781; Coote estimated that Hyder lost 10,000 men in the battle.<ref>Bowring, pp. 94–95</ref> Hyder then dispatched Tipu in an attempt to prevent the junction of Coote's army with reinforcements from Bengal.<ref>Wilks, p. 482</ref> This failed, and in late August the two armies [[Battle of Pollilur (1781)|met again at Pollilur]], chosen by Hyder as a place to make a stand, because it was the site of his victory over Baillie the previous year.<ref>Bowring, p. 96</ref> Hyder was defeated this time, although the battle was not decisive.<ref>Wilks, pp. 488</ref> While Coote re-grouped and searched for provisions, Hyder took the opportunity to besiege [[Vellore]].<ref>Bowring, p. 97</ref> Madras authorities convinced the ageing Coote to put off his retirement and relieve the fortress there.<ref>Wilks, pp. 489–490</ref> Hyder and Coote [[Battle of Sholinghur|met in battle]] at [[Sholinghur]], near Vellore. Hyder's artillery was ineffective, and the re-provisioned Vellore, which had been on the brink of surrender.<ref>Bowring, pp. 97–98</ref>

[[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|Lord Macartney]], who had recently arrived to take the Governorship of Madras, also brought news that [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War|Britain was at war with the Dutch]].<ref>Bowring, p. 99</ref> Consequent to this, the company was instructed to seize Dutch holdings in India, and Macartney had ordered a detachment from Tanjore, under Colonel Braithwaite, to capture the main Dutch post at [[Negapatam]]. Hyder made an agreement with the Dutch to provide troops for its defence, but was himself forced away from Negapatam by Braithwaite.<ref>Wilks, p. 501</ref> The British took Negapatam after a [[Siege of Negapatam|three-week siege]] in October and November 1781.<ref>Wilks, pp. 501–502</ref> This setback forced Hyder to withdraw from most of Tanjore.<ref>Wilks, p. 502</ref>

In January 1782, General Coote, his health failing, again set out to re-provision Vellore. Hyder did not prevent the re-supply, but shadowed the British back toward [[Tirupati (city)|Tripassore]], offering battle near Sholinghur. Coote successfully manoeuvred away from Hyder without battle.<ref>Wilks, p. 504</ref> In February, Hyder detached Tipu with a sizeable force to recover Tanjore. Intelligence failures led the main British garrison to become surrounded by this superior force; Colonel Brathwaite and 2,000 men surrendered. Hyder was also pre-occupied by bad news from the west. A Mysorean force that had been besieging [[Tellicherry]] was broken, with its commander and his siege guns captured, and Coorg and Malabar were also descending into open rebellion. Hyder consequently sent forces west to deal with these matters, and was preparing to follow himself when word arrived on 10 March that a French force had landed at Porto Novo. Hyder immediately sent Tipu from Tanjore to meet with them, and followed himself from Arcot. At this time he had a celebrated meeting with the French Admiral [[Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez|Suffren]], and the allies agreed on a plan to establish Cuddalore as a French base. Cuddalore was occupied without resistance on 8 April, and Hyder's army, joined by the French, marched toward Permacoil, which fell in May. Coote responded by marching toward [[Arani, Tiruvannamalai District|Arni]], where Hyder had a major supply depot. Hyder and the French had been considering an assault on Wandiwash, but abandoned that idea and marched to face Coote. They [[Battle of Arni|skirmished there]] on 2 June. In August the British landed a force on the Malabar coast, to which Hyder responded by sending additional troops under Tipu to the west. The onset of the monsoon season then suspended most military activity on the eastern plain, and Hyder established his camp near [[Chittoor]].<ref name="Bowring">{{cite book |last1=Bowring |first1=Lewin Bentham |title=Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and the struggle with the Musalman powers of the South |date=1893 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/haidaralitipusul00bowriala/page/n5/mode/2up |access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref>