The Anglo-Sikh Wars

Who: The Khalsa army and the Lahore Darbar, under the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh and his mother Maharani Jind Kaur, against the East India Company under Governor-General Hardinge and later Dalhousie, with Sir Hugh Gough commanding the army.

What: After Ranjit Singh died in June 1839 the Lahore court fell into near-anarchy, and from 1843 the British prepared for war on the Sutlej frontier. The Sikh army crossed the Sutlej at Harike on 11 December 1845 and Hardinge declared war on 13 December. Four battles followed: Mudki (18 December), Ferozeshah (21 to 22 December), Aliwal (28 January 1846) and Sobraon (10 February). The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records the accusation of treachery against Lal Singh, who left the field at Mudki and Ferozeshah, and Tej Singh, who left it at Ferozeshah and Sobraon. The Treaty of Lahore of 9 March 1846 ceded the Jalandhar Doab, capped the army and imposed an indemnity, which Lahore paid in territory, the hill country between the Beas and the Indus. On 16 March the Treaty of Amritsar sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh Dogra for 75 lakh rupees. The Treaty of Bhyrowal of 16 December 1846 gave a British Resident full authority over every department of the state. Maharani Jind Kaur was removed from the regency and later exiled.

The second war began at Multan. On 18 April 1848 two British officers, Vans Agnew and Anderson, were killed there, and Mulraj rose in revolt. Chattar Singh's son Sher Singh joined him on 14 September, and on 5 October Dalhousie declared that the Sikh nation had called for war. The armies fought at Ramnagar (22 November), Sadullapur (3 December) and Chillianwala (13 January 1849), where two British cavalry brigades were nearly wiped out. Mulraj surrendered at Multan on 22 January, and the Sikhs lost the decisive battle of Gujrat on 21 February 1849. Dalhousie proclaimed the annexation on 29 March.

Where: The Sutlej frontier (Harike, Mudki, Ferozeshah, Sobraon), Multan, and the Chenab and Jhelum country (Ramnagar, Chillianwala, Gujrat).

Why it mattered: The wars ended the Sikh state that Ranjit Singh had built, first by making Lahore a protectorate and then by annexing Punjab. After Ramnagar, Sadullapur and Chillianwala Dalhousie publicly charged Gough with incompetence. The battles, the treaties and the annexation each have their own entries.