cause of war
After the First Anglo-Sikh War, the then resident ‘Sir Henry Lawrence’ was appointed as the chairman of the patron council of Maharaja Duleep Singh. Rani Zinda Kaur was also included in this council along with other persons. Within the council, soon there was intense dissatisfaction among the Sikh chieftains due to the terms of the treaty and working under the direction of the British. Especially Rani Zinda Kaur did not like this treaty at all. He started a rebellion against the British. As a result, he was expelled from the state and sent to Sheikhpura. This caused anger among the Sikh soldiers.
Discontent against the British continued to grow. This dissatisfaction reached the peak at that time, then Multan’s ruler ‘Mulraj’ resigned, expressing his inability to present the account of income and expenditure. In April, 1848 AD, a Sikh successor, Kahan Singh, was appointed in place of Mulraj. Taking him to Multan accompanied by British officers Van Agnew and Lieutenant William Anderson and a small escort. Mulraj handed over the keys to the fort, but as Van Agneau’s party attempted to capture, Mulraj’s irregular troops and the city mob attacked him. Both officers were injured.
He was taken to a mosque outside the city. Where both the officers were killed by the mob the next day. Taking this incident as his favour, Mulraj took control of Multan and its fort. The British surrounded the fort by raising a local army. Simultaneously, a Sikh army was sent from Lahore under the leadership of Sher Singh, but this army was joined by Mulraj. Thus a local revolt took a major form and the ‘Second Anglo-Sikh War’ began.
heavy losses to the British
Lord Dalhousie was the Governor-General of India during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. Who sent an army under the leadership of his Commander-in-Chief Lord Gough to suppress this rebellion. The initial skirmish between the British and the Sikhs took place at Ramnagar on the banks of the Chenab river, in which the British were badly defeated. Major General Joseph Thackwell moved with the Cavalry Division on 1 December 1848. He crossed Chenab from Ramnagar and had a confrontation with Sher Singh at Sadullapur. In this affair, Sher Singh’s position on Ramnagar weakened, so Thackwell started taking possession of the vacant area. Thackwell felt that by attacking with full force the next day he would drive Sher Singh back.
But Sher Singh cleverly moved north and kept his stronghold near Chenab. The two armies waited for several weeks for each other to move. Some British historians believe that the number of Sikh army in this war was between 23 to 30 thousand, but this is doubtful, because after the first Anglo-Sikh war, the Khalsa army was limited to only 12 thousand. Most historians claim that the number of Sikh army in Chillianwala was not more than 10 thousand. At the same time, the strength of the English army was 15000.
Battle begins in Chillianwala
After waiting for several weeks, Lord Gough ordered his army to advance at 3 o’clock in the evening of 13 January 1849. A fierce battle started from both the sides. The grapeshot attack by the Sikhs caused panic among the British. The Sikhs snatched the Queen’s Color from the brigade of the left flank of the British. Frightened by this, the English Brigadier Pope ordered the army to retreat. Then the Sikh army took the opportunity and launched an all-out attack. Seeing the defeat of the army, the reserve brigade was also called. By then it was night too.
Gough ordered the entire army to retreat. By the end of the fighting, 757 soldiers of Gough’s army had been killed, with 1651 wounded and 104 missing. On the other hand 4000 soldiers of the Sikh army were killed. However, no decision could be reached for this war. The Sikh army had stopped Gough from advancing in the war, so the Sikh army declared it their victory. The next day both the armies remained in their respective positions. After this, Sher Singh moved north with his army. At the same time, the British army withdrew from there after three days. Gough had told the decision of this war in his favor. But Dalhousie said on this success that, “We got victory, but one more such victory will destroy us forever”. Gough was removed from his post within two days of this war.
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The defeat of the Sikhs in the battle of Gujarat
A few days after this battle, on 21 February, one last battle took place between the Sikh and British forces. Which came to be known as the Battle of Gujarat. In this, the British army won and the Sikhs surrendered to the British, after which Lord Dalhousie annexed Punjab to the British state on March 29, 1849, and with this the rule of Duleep Singh and the Sikh Empire came to an end. Gone.
