Editing Warren Hastings (section)

===War in India===
In 1777, during the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] (1775–1783), the Americans had captured a British field army at the [[Battle of Saratoga]] during the [[Saratoga campaign]]. This emboldened the French to sign a military alliance with the new United States of America and declare war on Great Britain. The French concentrated in the Caribbean islands, and in India.

The presidencies of Madras and Bombay became involved in serious quarrels with the greatest of the native states. Madras with the formidable [[Hyder Ali]] of Mysore and with the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Bombay with the [[First Anglo-Maratha War|Marathas]]. France sent a fleet under Admiral [[Pierre André de Suffren]]. The combination meant Hastings faced a formidable challenge, with only Oudh as an ally.<ref>[[Penderel Moon]], ''Warren Hastings and British India''; (1947) pp 201–243.</ref> In six years of intense and confused fighting, from 1779 to 1784, Hastings sent one army marching across India to help Bombay, and another to Madras. His greatest achievement was in breaking up the hostile coalition. By 1782 he made peace with the Marathas. The French fleet had been repeatedly delayed. Suffren finally arrived in 1782 to discover that the Indian coalition had fallen apart, that Hastings had captured all the French ports, and Suffren could achieve nothing. When the wars ended in 1784, British rule in India had not changed, but the French position was now much weaker. The East India Company now had an efficient system in operation. However, Hastings's multiple wartime operations needed large sums of money and London sent nothing. His methods of using the local treasuries later became the main line of attack in the impeachment brought against him.<ref>[[Ramsay Muir]], ''British History'', 1930, pp. 441–442.</ref><ref>Henry Dodwell, "Warren Hastings and the Assignment of the Carnatic." ''English Historical Review'' 40.159, 1925, pp. 375–396 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/551858 online].</ref><ref>Kumar Badri Narain Singh, "The War of American Independence and India" ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'' Vol. 38, 1977 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44139119 online].</ref>