This 4 May marks 207 years of Tipu Sultan’s martyrdom in the fourth Mysore war in 1799. The Sultan fell fighting till the last drop of blood and his sword was discovered firmly gripped in his hand hours later upon discovery of his cold body. He had to be shot in the temple; fatally wounded on the chest he refused to drop.
A painting of Tipu Sultan in his last battle.
And the British whose greatest enemy of the time in India was Tipu, admitted he fought like a tiger in his last battle. The grandeur of this fallen hero can be best felt at the V&A Museum in London where among other things from his palace a pocket watch is on display which is said to have been taken from his body.
He had spent his entire life, and had seen his father Hyder Ali make great efforts, to push the British away and undermine their rapidly increasing influence over the subcontinent. He (and his father) had been remarkeably farsighted and fathomed the consequences of allowing the British to spread out over all of India. Therefore he worked constantly to make sure the British couldnt put their feet firmly on ground.
Now 207 years later all inhabitants of the subcontinent respect him for his farsightedness, firm stance, ideologies and valour. All know that his fall played a significant role in establishment of British rule over India-elements of which shall remain forever.
Do the people of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh also realize that had the various princes that Tipu wanted to ally with against the British not fallen prey to the ‘divide & rule’ or ‘bribe & rule’ doctrines, the fall of one man may not have mattered as much and perhaps if there had been unity among various states the British might not have been able to rule…?
Now speaking in current terms. Given Pakistan’s present situation where a foreign power, the US, bosses around the entire world and hence Pakistan too. Could (and should) Pakistan afford to follow the examples of the highly regarded hero in today’s world under the present conditions? Could a mighty alien power, now the US instead of the British of Tipu’s time, posing a different sort of threat to the nation but a threat nonetheless, be made to stay away and not interfere in or influence matters concerning Pakistan? Could Pakistan be bold enough to challenge the present alien power which is definitely endangering internal harmony, stability and harming peace and prosperity within the country for its own agendas? All which seems a modern foreign rule of sorts. Obviously in modern times oppposing or resisiting the designs of a large power like the US means inviting armed conflict as well as economic chaos.
pakistan could give it a shot. musharraf knows the warfare structures, and he could possibly get the people to agree with him too. look a the general population in pakistan? who likes america? cough cough
as much as america is a threat to pakistan, it is also a key ally. they are even criticizing the pak education system, and come to think of it - we can not afford to put our foot down.
tipu sultan ruled at a time when our G.I joes fought in dresses. currently, our country lacks the capital to deal roughly with the us. meaning, we're pretty broke.
Tipu's fall served only to secure British control over predominantly hindu south india. North India was already rapidly into free-fall into British control by that time, the damage had been done. Even if he had avoided defeat, Britain and Indians allied to Britain wstill commanded vastly greater numbers of troops, whilst Tipu Sultan had no navy to counter a naval blockade of his ports.
Going down fighting was his sacrifice for the future - he laid down the inspiration for later generations.
Tipu was also in one very different position to Pakistan. His army was technologically on par with the British Army; arguably more advanced due to his use of rockets (which inspired Britain to use rockets in war against the USA 13 years later)
Do the people of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh also realize that had the various princes that Tipu wanted to ally with against the British not fallen prey to the 'divide & rule' or 'bribe & rule' doctrines, the fall of one man may not have mattered as much and perhaps if there had been unity among various states the British might not have been able to rule...?
Tipu fought for his kingdom, that is true. And, it's more than any other mughal or Indian prince/king did. But the reason no one wanted to ally with him was because of his own ruthless war effort. Tipu lead campaigns and invasions against all his neighbors, that is why no one stood with him. In that respect he was like all the other idiotic rulers.
Oh Palllllease! Give it a rest to this rocket-bazi bait-bazi claims.
Had Tipu been superior to Brits, it would have been his army knocking at London's door. When British sailed all the way to Tipu's ports, they had won 85% of the battle already. The rest was just "paper work".
Let's give all the "nasim Hijazi" style hi-$hit-ry (history) a little break.
p.s. What we all really need to learn from Tipu's experience is to not do anything that he had done. That means following the West in learning and seeking knowledge in every aspect of our lives. And making alliances with the West instead of challenging it, with half cooked half baked rocket-bazi bait-bazi.
p.s. What we all really need to learn from Tipu's experience is to not do anything that he had done. That means following the West in learning and seeking knowledge in every aspect of our lives. And making alliances with the West instead of challenging it, with half cooked half baked rocket-bazi bait-bazi.
you are contradicting yourself as Tipu did
1) learn from the west(french)
2) sought knowledge from them
3) and atleast tried to make alliances with the west
Aah the French! You know French may be "West", but they have been the "Chota West" (Little-West). Time and again, it has been proven that siding with French means utter defeat at the hands of UK (and later US). Will a name like "Iraq" ring a bell?
While Tipu may have allied with French, he wasn't ready to face UK.
As I said, If Tipu was really ready, it would be his army knocking at the doors of London. Got it?
Americans won their independence with french help fighting against the british
firstly why would tipu want to invade england?
secondly how can his army reach london without naval vessels? Tipu didnt have a navy but he was not alone none of the indian sultans thruout history ever had a strong fleet.
Who said that he was superior? He simply had technical superiority. That has never guaranteed victory. History is full of technically well equipped soldiers being beaten by their foes when circumstances did not favour them.
Tipu Sultan was outnumbered at Seringapatam and forced to fight with his back literally to the wall. Add to that the fact that his army was not as well drilled as the British Redcoats, being trained along the French model, and you have a man in a lose-lose situation.
I’ll address point 2 first. The traitors amongst the American colonists did not have the capacity to invade England, yet they picked a fight and won it. Indeed, that showed to Tipu that you could defeat Britain abroad without threatening Britain at home.
#1 ) The Americans lacked an industrial and knowledge base. They were reliant on French supplies of ammunition and gunpowder throughout the war. Tipu Sultan never wanted for arms or knowledge. His weapons, on french advice, were the equal of what the british had and were manufactured in his workshops.
Anyway.. I probably shouldn’t backup Tipu Sultan too much. He was the enemy of Hyderabad, where my family came from. Indeed, it was Hyderabadi gunners and not british artillery that finally blasted down the walls of Seringapatam to make a breach that British infantry were sent through.
American revolution is quite different from Tipu's struggle. America was already a colony, but George W. and Thomas Jefferson type leaders had established a governmental framework within the bounds of British empire. That allowed them to organize people and industry. Ports of New England and NY were buzzing with trade and business. And Brits were not going to destroy those ports and factories.
So we can't say Mysoor was at the same industrial and business strength as that of Americans.
Poor fellow Tipu stood no chance against the better trained, and better equipped British army.
As I said earlier, we should study Tipu's life to make sure, we don't do what he ended up doing. This is the only way to avoid utter defeats in the future.
That is what we call geo-strategic isolation of Tipu's state. Once that gets coupled with lack of industrial strength, you are doomed.
You give Britain too much credit. At the time of the siege of Seringapatam, the Industrial Revolution had not begun and Europe was far from being the industrial heartland of the world.
India's nations were economically more powerful than European countries. However, the immense political and military mismanagement of the Indian states created a sick man. A sick rich man which made all too tempting picking for Britain and France which fought over it.
India's nations were economically more powerful than European countries. However, the immense political and military mismanagement of the Indian states created a sick man. A sick rich man which made all too tempting picking for Britain and France which fought over it.
Credit should be given where it is due. Our fantasies should not stop us from recognizing the fact that Europeans in general, and British in particular had spent decades if not centuries learning the art of conquest and superior military.
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Guess what? British learned this art from the masters! The Ottomans.
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South Asia may have been a sick rich man as you say, and so were the Middle East, East Asia, and the American continent.
Europeans simply swept through the whole world. So little princes like Tipu were no match for Brits (either in firepower, or brainpower).
Nasim Hijazi type historians mis-guide Pakistani youth by giving them lullabies based on made up fancy shmancy rocket-bazi bait-bazi, and sharo-shairi.
p.s. The credit however goes to South East Asia (Pakistan and Bharat) and East Asia (China) who learned quickly form the masters (Brits) some very specific traits. Chinese used their 1000 year silky silk skills and became *Mistri *(factory worker) for the West, Bharatis became *Munshi *(accountants, backoffice support), and Pakistanis became *Sipahis *(soldiers) for the British. OTOH Middle East, Africa, and Latin America remain stuck in petty old tribalism.
^err…seems I’m a year late. But better late than never they say!
**Another 4th May here. Tipu Sultan’s 208th martyrdom anniversary.
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The Tiger of Mysore and legendary hero of Muslims in the subcontinent fell this day on 4 May 1799, and with him fell the sultanate of Mysrore and Seringapatam/Seringapatnam.
was the greatest General in the history of Islam and Tipu Sultan for me in the modern era.