The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province. The Sikh Empire was forced to cede some valuable territory to the Company.
About Second Anglo-Sikh War in brief
The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company. The British were unwilling to incur the financial and manpower costs of using large numbers of British Army units for this task. The Sikh Empire was forced to cede some valuable territory to the Company, and Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu, was allowed to acquire entire Jammu and Kashmir from the Singh Empire by a large cash payment to the company. Some of the Singh Army were forced to make an expedition to oust the Governor of Kashmir in favour of Gulab Singh. The Sikhs also had to reduce their territorial control leaving only four Sardars in charge of the judiciary, with Sardar Singh Atari controlling the area between the Jhelus and the Indwallus, and Doab Singh Mann controlling Lahore and Chajna Singh Majitha controlling the hills and down to Kasur. Some Sikh generals and courtiers welcomed her dismissal, others resented Lawrence’s action. The infant Maharaja Duleep Singh of the Sikhs retained his throne, but a British Resident, Sir Henry Lawrence, controlled the policy of the Durbar. The war ended in defeat for the Sikh Army, with the Sikh army being pursued to Rawalpindi, where it laid down its arms, and their Afghan allies retreated from the Punjab. The East India company began to build up its military strength on the borders of Punjab.
Eventually, the increasing tension goaded the SikhArmy to invade British territory, under weak and possibly treacherous leaders. The hard-fought First Anglo-sikh War ended in Defeat for the Singh army, and at the end of the war, the Sikh empire was reduced to just four provinces. The Second Anglo Sikh War was fought between 1848 and 1849, and ended in victory for the British East India Company in Punjab and what subsequently became the North West Frontier Province. It was won by the Earl of Dalhousie, who received the thanks of the British parliament and a step in the peerage, as marquess. The East India Company’s territories had been expanded until they were adjacent to the Punjab, including the Majithia region of Kashmir and the Jammu region of India in the early years of the nineteenth century. It was also at the same time that the Sikh Khalsa Army, which also saw itself as the embodiment of the state and religion, expanded Sikh territory to north and north west, capturing territory from Afghanistan and Kashmir. When Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the Sikh Empire began to fall into disorder. There was a succession of short-lived rulers at the central Durbar, and increasing tension between the Army and theDurbar. In 1849, General Whish, who was set at liberty to join Gough’s army, won a complete victory at the Battle of Gujrat.
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This page is based on the article Second Anglo-Sikh War published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
