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Chapter 63: 1761 part 12
Indian Theatre Part II
Bussy’s victory over the British at Wandiwash and Pondicherry, and d’Ache arrival with the French East India fleet was a much needed relief to the French forces stationed in India. The British presently were holding back from any further offensives, momentarily content to stay in Bengal, and hold Madras and Masilpatum. With Lally dead, Bussy was firmly re-established as the acting commander of French forces in India. News of events in India returned to France with some company ships which departed in January, and arrived in Paris in April.
The French East India company factories, ports, or settlements that had been in India at the start of the war consisted of the following: Karaikal and Pondicherry in the south Carnatic coast region. French held Yanam was in the north Carnatic coast and had been lost to the British after their victory at the battle of Rajahmudry and Masilpatum. Chandernagar in Bengal had also been lost to the British. Factories in Surat, on the Marathan northwest coast, had been sacked and occupied by the British with little resistance. Mahe on the Mysore west coast was still held by the French. While Madras was briefly held by the French it was recaptured by the British. The only sustained French conquest was of Fort St. David and Cuddelore, which was taken from the British in 1758. [1] Plans to abandon the town were cancelled due to French victories in defending Wandiwash and Pondicherry from British attack. Bussy instead ordered the French presence at Cuddelore and Mahe to be strengthened and reinforced.
Fort Vijf Sennen and Nagapattinum and other Dutch East India company holdings on the south Carnatic coast, were largely left alone as a neutral party.
After his victories Bussy had spent considerable time engaging in diplomacy with the Nizam of Hyderabad: Salabat Jung (Mir Sa’id Muhammad Khan), and the Prince of Mysore: Hyder Ali. To this end Bussy was largely successful, establishing expanded alliances with both Mughal states and encouraging them to ally with each other in the face of British and Maratha aggression.
The main conflicting points Bussy had with Salabat Jung was his prior parley with the British in which he had recognized their conquest at Masulipatum and had granted the British East India company tracts of coastal land to operate from, which the areas that were once French rule or French influence. It would require a whole hearted defeat of the British in the north Carnatic in order to reverse that and Bussy did not think that such a task could presently be managed.
Jung however, was at least recalcitrant toward the British. The French had originally helped to bring him into power in Hyderabad, and he certainly had not approved of the initial British attacks and seizures of the northern French company assets in the preceding years, but was forced to reconcile with them after Clive’s victories.
After the death of the Nawab of the Carnatic, Anwarrudin Khan in 1749 the French had backed Chanda Shahib, while the British had backed Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah. In the various battles this contest of power provoked, Shahib had died in battle in 1752, leaving the French without an immediate contender for the position. Wallajah had received a firman from the Mughal Emperor, Alamgir II, confirming his possession of the Carnatic and the title of Viceroy in 1751. However Jung had still not acknowledged this and after the emperor’s death in 1759 was even less likely to because of the rivalries between the Khan, Jung and Ali. Hyder Ali was especially incensed at Khan and the British because of Khan’s refusal to honor his promise of surrendering Tiruchirappalli to him in 1751.
To this end Bussy, Ali, and Jung proposed a partition of the southern and central Carnatic. The French East India Company, in exchange for their aid, would gain new factories, forts and collection rights from the conquered areas, and those previously taken by the British would be restored if they were recaptured.
Lally’s prior failed raids against Tanjore three years prior in order to gain revenue had not been entirely unsound as a strategy, and it did lead to the brief capture of Madras. The main difference was that Bussy recognized the need for greater allied support among the Indian princes, and did not treat them or their Sepoy forces so badly. [2]
The Hindu were in control of the Tanjore region, which was a nominal Maratha ally. Hyder Ali coveted that area, in addition to opposing the British backed Nawab of the Carnatic. Salabat Jung was also urged on by the French, to accept the proposition of Raja Shahib, the eldest son of Chanda Shahib as a contender against Wallajah, and a figure from which to rally his father’s supporters around.]
Battle of Tiruchirappalli
Bussy’s European forces in India had been reinforced by the arrival of troops, supplies, and monies with de Ache’s fleet the prior December. But in order to execute a sustained campaign, he needed to deliver on his promises of aid to Hyder Ali and Salabat Jung to maintain their continued support.
Hyder Ali wanted the return of Tiruchirappali from Wallajah, and chose to take it by force. On February 20th, 500 French India Company soldiers, led by Claude-François Depardieu [3] and several guns would joined 2,000 Mysore forces against the city. A company of about 120 British East Indian forces and around 1000 of Wallajah’s Carnatic forces met them in battle in an attempt to stop the invasion.
Battle Results:
French-Mysore Forces: ~200 Indian casualties
British-Carnatic (Wallajah faction) Forces: ~350 Indian, 0 British casualties. 120 British captured. Unknown number of Carnatic forces captured. All guns captured.
Clear French-Mysore Victory.
Sympathizers to Raja Shahib had aided in the approach of the French-Mysore forces and disrupted effective resistance in the city, which fell after a short battle between the Mysore and Wallajah’s Carnatic forces. The British force which had only been there mostly as a show of force and assistive administration soon surrender after being surrounded.
With the fall of Tiruchirappalli, the way was opened for Hyder Ali to campaign across the southern Carnatic pushing toward the coast by the end of spring. In exchange for the their support, Hyder Ali granted factories to the French East India Company in the city of Tiruchirappali, and the coastal villages of Vedaranyam and eventually Thoothukudi.
Battle of Vellore
While Depardieu and Hyder Ali took Tiruchirappalli, Bussy and Raja Shahib themselves along with additional Mysore Indian allies as well as the French East India Company Sepoys matched against Vellore from multiple directions. The Mysore came from the west and the French and Sepoy forces from the south. During this time, Pondicherry had been reinforced, and d’Ache sailed north to harass and blockade the British in Madras. Although the French did not pursue a formal siege, their presence made the British hesitate in sending much in the way of relief forces westward once they became aware of the French and Mysore actions.
Administrators in Vellore paid the French 15,000 rupees to avoid a major battle in the town, just like they had paid 30,000 to the British mere month ago to Coote before his loss at Wandiwash. A 150 strong British East Indian Company force which had been in the fort were not so willing to be bribed.
On February 22nd, a 6000 strong combined French-Mysore-Carnatic (Shahib faction) force surrounded the fort of Vellore, and engaged in a brief artillery dual with the British and some Indian defenders.
The fast attack and unexpected assistance from the Mysore took the defenders by surprise. Though with also the town itself having effectively capitulated, there was little the defenders could do once a wall section had been breached and they surrendered after at least putting up some resistance.
For sparing the town the French also demanded the fort be turned over.
Siege of Arcot
After Coote’s loos at Wandiwash his forces retreated back to Arcot whom they had taken from the French the prior year only weeks before their defeat. Bussy had been unable to pursue and retake the city because of the British attacks on Pondicherry. By the time Pondicherry had been successfully defended, the British had reinforced and fortified Arcot, which was the administrative capitol of the Carnatic, and where the (de jure) Nawab of the Carnatic, Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah was presently residing. The reinforcement of Arcot had (temporarily) placed it out of reach of recapture until the arrival of d’Ache in late December, but soon after that Bussy was occupied with critical negotiations with Ali and Jung.
Now with the British facing potential pressure from Pondicherry, the sea, as well as moves by Jung to the northwest of Madras, Bussy moved against Arcot swiftly after taking Vellore. The siege of Arcot began in full on February 23rd.
Battle of Ranipet
Clive could not ignore the renewed French advances on the Carnatic, and despite facing pressures in Bengal against the Mughal Prince Ali Gauhar, and in the Carnatic. Pocock’s fleet was in repair near Calcutta after their most recent defeat by d’Ache, and some of the ships had even sailed for England. While the French fleet blockaded Madras, the forces in Pondicherry had not mustered out to besiege the fort, so supplies and communications were still coming in by land to the north. Sending out too large of a force to lift the French siege of Arcot would risk and invasion by French forces in Pondicherry. However, losing Arcot and risking the capture of Wallajah was too much of a risk, so Clive went forth with 600 British forces and over a thousand Indian Sepoys to face Bussy in battle again. Clive’s forces arrived in Ranipet north of Arcot on March 6th, while picking up nearly 400 of Wallajah’s Carnatic forces along the way. There they engaged the French-Mysore-Carnatic forces led by Bussy.
The 2000 strong British allied forces may have been a match for the 6000 strong French allied forces, but they were forced to divert and take on increasing casualties because Walljah, fearing execution if he were to be captured, sallied forth from the siege when Robert Clive arrived. While Wallajah succeeded in escaping, he did so at the cost of a losing Arcot, causing higher casualties and the capture of a few hundred British East Indian Company forces. Clive and Wallajah the retreated with the remaining forces back toward Madras. The siege of Arcot ended after the victory falling to French allied hands on March 6th.
Battle of Arrakonam
French forces in Pondicherry were indeed waiting for British forces to leave, but not to then besiege Madras, but to make excursions into the British supply lines running from Madras toward Arcot.
While Clive and Wallajah retreated with half the forces Clive had left with, he encountered French Company forces from Pondicherry in wait at Arrakonam, in the midst of raiding his own supply trains. Bussy was already in pursuit from the west after mopping up in Arcot. On March 8th, The British allied forces of just fewer than 1000 faced off against the French East India company forces and their Indian Sepoys of about 1200. With this French force poised to cut off his retreat to Madras, and the risked of getting caught between it and Bussy’s forces, Clive was forced to attack immediately.
Battle Results:
British-Carnatic (Wallajah faction) forces: ~200 casualties
French East Indian Company forces: ~350 casualties
British Victory.
When Bussy plan was indeed to trap Clive between himself and the excursion forces thing do not always go according to plan, and Clive was able to break through after a strong immediate attack against the French who had over relied on less trained freshly recruited Sepoy forces. The French forces fled and Clive and Wallajah made it back to Madras.
Battle of Markapur
While the French and the Mysore were campaigning in the south Carnatic against the British and the Nizam of Hyderabad, Salabat Jung executed his own campaigns against the central Carnatic region.
Jung sent a 5,000 strong force into the central Carnatic as part of the French and Mysore alliance terms, putting pressure on the Wallajah faction’s Carnatic forces, and to drive to the coast to cut off Madras from northern British holdings in the Circars by land. On March 2nd, Jung’s force met in battle against a 3500 strong force loyal to Wallajah near the city of Markapur.
With a victory after the first strong resistance, Jung‘s commanders continue their southeastward push through the central Carnatic region.
Battle of Mahe
While much of the Fighting or proxy fighting between the British and the French occurred on the east coast of India, the British East India company had prepared plans for an attack on French East India Company possessions on the West coast as well. Taking Surat in the north had succeeded, but that left the French presence in Mahe toward the south. British forces set sail from Bombay in the early spring to attack and take Mahe, landing on April 7th.
Unbeknownst to the British expeditionary force, during their transit at sea, Bussy’s reinforcement had arrived at Mahe. This made for a larger, tougher opposition than their intelligence had first determined when they arrived. With several hundred on each side however they were about evenly matched, and the British had went forward with the attack. The French called upon their Mysore allies while they held off the British. When the Mysore forces arrived the next day, the British realized they would not be able to succeed and retreated to their ships, while under fire, and sailed back to Bombay.
French-Mysore Invasion of Tanjore (Thanjavur)
Pratap Singh Bosole was the Hindu ruler of Tanjore and its surrounding district, in nominal alliance to the Maratha. He had supported the British with arms and supplies against the French only a few years earlier, and had defeated, captured and executed Chanda Shahib in 1752. He also helped defeat Lally incursion and raids toward Tanjore in 1758, after which a company of British East India forces were placed in the city to aid in its defense. These were reasons enough for Bussy to press for coordination with Mysore to take Tanjore.
After taking Tiruchirappalli Claude-François Depardieu led the French-Mysore army further into Tanjore to lay siege to the fortress there. Chanda Shahib’s former supporters had also gathered and recruited forces to supplement the French-Mysore army, swelling their ranks by several hudred to around 3000.
Battle of Alakudi
Bhonsle send a 6000 strong Tanjore army out to meet the French-Mysore threat, wher they did battle on February 26th near the village of Alakudi.
Despite being out numbered, the better trained French-Mysore forces ambushed the approaching Tanjore forces, assailing them with well placed artillery fire, and cutting off routes of retreat putting the Tanjore army into a rout. The way was now open to the siege of Tanjore itself.
Siege of Tanjore
The siege began a few days later on March 1st, against Tanjore and British forces number around 700. Likewise another thousand French forces had marched from Kariakal (this time with sufficient provisions) to take the countryside and approach form the east, reinforcing the French-Mysore Army, a few days after the siege began, and harassing and repulsing what few Tanjore forces Bosole had tried to send their way. D’Ache also had his fleet patrolling from Madras to the southern tip of the Coromandel Coast, preventing British relief and communication to the area. Word did finally reach Clive in Madras in late March, but he was in little position to help at the time. Though he sent word to Pocock and force in Bengal to move south as soon as possible and put an end the French Fleet.
Siege Results:
French-Mysore-Carnatic (Shahib faction) Forces: ~200 casualties
British-Tanjore Forces: ~100 Tanjore casualties, ~100 British forces captured, 500 Tanjore captured. Pratap Singh Bosole and the royal family of Tanjore captured.
French-Mysore Victory
The siege lasted a little over a month before the threat of starvation and desertion among the Tanjore forces resulted in a surrender on April 3rd.
After his capture, Pratap Singh Bhonsle would be sent north in chains to Arcot, where Raja Shahib would have him executed on May 31st, in revenge for ordering the execution of of his father. He had tried to arrange for his survival in exchange for his surrender, but only succeeded in obtain the promise of safety for his family. The Mysore and the French looted the region of much of its wealth to pay for the current and future expeditions.
Thuljali II, the eldest son of Pratap Singh, was allowed to remain as governer of the city in a much reduced region of Tanjore, subject to being a vassal of Raja Shahib. By the years end, Thuljali signed treaties which effectively ended the Tanjore dynasty, and made him subordinate to the French East India Company and the Carnatic region held by Raja Shahib (Which was in turn propped up by the French India, Mysore and Nizam states.)
Hyder Ali would annex the western parts of the Tanjore region, which included Tiruchirappalli. The French East India Company obtained factory rights in Tanjore and some additional coastal villages. Coiladdy, a trading post-fort taken by Bhonsle in 1758 was also returned to the French.
Polygar Revolts
Polygars were various governors in southern India who traditionally ruled with autonomy and had rights to collect taces of their subjects. South India was placed under the overlordship of the Nawab of the Carnatic which was the British backed Muhhamad Ali Khan Wallajah. His initial attempts to collect taxes from the region in the early 1750s frequently resulted in small wars with the local polygars, which resulted in his increasing dependence on the British East India Company for support. In 1755 Wallajah and the British sent a significant army to the region to force compliance. Significant destruction was wrought on the area by the British and Nawab’s force before the British were recalled from the area due to the outbreak of the war with France. In 1756 Muhhamad Yusef Khan was sent to the area again to collect revenue, but was unsuccessful and only resulted in stirring up significant additional rebellion and animosity with the polygars, until he too was recalled to Madras. He was killed by Lally’s forces during the Siege of Madras in 1758.
Puli Thevar, one of the leading polygars of the area, had formed a grand alliance among the polygars and declared effective Independence from the Nawab of the Carnatic in 1757. With the incursion of French-Mysore forces against Wallajah control and after their victories in Tiruchirappalli, Alakudi, and Tanjore; Puli Tuvar emerged further as a principal leader in the area, by taking further advantage of the war to evict Carnatic control. It was during the siege of Tanjore that communications were established between the French-Mysore forces and Puli Tuvar.
After the fall of Tanjore, emissaries from Hyder Ali and the French approached Puli Tuvar, who was know to be an enemy of Wallajah and opposed the British. He also wanted to thank the French for putting an end to Yusef Khan outside Madras. A tentative alliance was formed, in which the Polygars now backed by the Mysore and the French revolted in mass. By early summer, before the monsoons, they wrested all of Southern India south of Madras away from Carnatic control.
With numerous conditions of relative autonomy, the right to collect taxes themselves, and fair taxation levels, most of the polygars decided to accept over lordship from the Mysore instead of the Carnatic. The French Company thereupon also obtained their factory and coastal right in Thoothukudi.
Hyder Ali, had no strong objections to this arrangement, made formal by the end of the year, as he wanted to bring his forces back north to take advantage of Marathan weakness on his northern border using the plunder received from Tanjore. As part of the arrangement, Puli Tuvar would later be made direct administrator over the Madurai region and the areas to the south and west of it.
Additionally, Puli Tuvar, wanting to seek additional triumph against Wallajah and the British, accompanied the French-Mysore forces northwards, with a sizable contingent of his own forces.
[1] Fort St. David and Cuddelore was taken by the French from the British in 1758 as in OTL. I accidentally omitted this from my prior updates.
[2] The French East India Company failed to take Tanjore in OTL 1758. TTL the raid attempts were less extensive, and thus less of a failure but still a failure. This was another omission from prior updates.
[3] Claude-François Depardieu is a new name/personality for TTL.