Koh-i-Noor by William Dalrymple

Author:William Dalrymple
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

By the 1840s the British were the undisputed geopolitical masters of much of India. Through a mixture of trade and conquest, their territories expanded rapidly from Madras in the south-east of India all the way up to the Sutlej river, the natural boundary of the Sikh kingdom in the north. Ranjit Singh’s strong army had stopped any further territorial gain, but his death and the years of turbulence which followed greatly weakened fortress Punjab.

In 1843, the very year that Duleep was anointed, East India Company troops began to build up south of the Sutlej. British agents tentatively approached Jindan, offering support to her regency, while at the same time making overtures to the most powerful men in the royal court, offering to help them topple her. Rani Jindan and Maharaja Duleep Singh were surrounded by embittered and ambitious men, and some of the most senior proved remarkably easy to turn.

Three months after the slaying of Duleep’s uncle Jawahar, with resentment between Jindan and the Khalsa still simmering, the British made their move. Mobilising men from as far as West Bengal, they turned their comparatively small encampments by the Sutlej into an army. The Sikhs interpreted the unconcealed troop build-up as an act of aggression, and on 11 December 1845, Sikh cavalry crossed south over the Sutlej in order to push back the British encroachment. Two days later, claiming that his territory had been violated, the British governor general Sir Henry Hardinge declared war.

While the battles of the first Anglo-Sikh War raged, neither Duleep nor Jindan knew that two of the most powerful men in their court had already betrayed them. Lal Singh, who had replaced the slain Jawahar Singh as vizier, disclosed the position of Duleep’s gun batteries to British spies and told them how many soldiers were in play and what they planned to do. Tej Singh, the commander of Duleep’s armies, did far worse. The battle of Ferozeshah, which raged through 21–22 December 1845, was one of the hardest ever fought by the British army and their losses were heavy. Low on ammunition and food, governor general Hardinge found himself caught up on the front line. Continually battered by heavy guns all day, his men got no respite even when the sun went down. The Sikhs continued to pound his position with a ‘terrific cannonade’ that lit up the darkening sky. Hardinge described the long hours before dawn as ‘a night of horrors’.4 Expecting the Sikhs to overrun his position at any moment, he ordered the burning of his official documents: a protocol triggered when defeat was assured. He then presented his most precious personal possession, a sword which had once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, to his aide-de-camp.

This was the moment when the Sikhs ought to have delivered a decisive blow, but, instead of advancing, their general, Tej Singh, ordered a retreat. He would later claim he was trying to outflank his enemy, but most recognised his actions for what they were – a betrayal of his men and his maharaja.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.