ANGLO-MYSORE WARS April 17, 1799 - Siege of Srirangapatnam by British troops began The Anglo–Mysore Wars were a series of wars fought in South India over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company, and Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad on the other.   The First Anglo-Mysore War (1767–69) saw Hyder Ali gain some measure of success against the British, almost capturing Madras.   The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–84) witnessed bloodier battles with fortunes fluctuating between the contesting powers. Tipu Sultan continued the war following his father's death. Finally, the war ended with the last British-Indian treaty with an Indian ruler on equal footing, the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore, which restored the status quo ante bellum. The Treaty of Gajendragad in April 1787 ended the conflict with the Marathas.   In the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789–92), Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore and an ally of France, invaded the nearby state of Travancore in 1789, which was a British ally. The resultant war lasted three years and was a resounding defeat for Mysore. The war ended after the 1792 siege of Seringapatam and the signing of the Treaty of Seringapatam, according to which Tipu had to surrender half of his kingdom to the British East India Company and its allies.   In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799),  the siege of Srirangapatnam by British troops began on April 17, 1799. Finally  Tipu Sultan died on the 4th May in 1799. All this resulted into the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which won and took control of much of India.   The Mysorean rockets used by Hyder Ali were much more advanced than those used by the British, mainly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant, which increased the range for the missile up to 2 kilometres.   The British captured many of such rockets and developed them further for subsequent battles and wars.   Click on the following links to see further details: PROFILE     CROSSWORD     QUIZ     VIDEOS