Hyder Ali takes Madras

The gates were battered down and hordes of soldiers stormed into the city. There followed screams and fighting, but the garrison left behind was quickly overwhelmed. Within hours, the city of Madras had fallen to Hyder Ali and his Mysorean army.

Hyder Ali quickly secured the city, rebuilding its shattered defences and stationing sentries across its walls. Within, he kept his men in a state of alertness, for the East India Company who had held Madras for centuries before this were unlikely to let its loss go without a fight. 

Determined to make use of the British prisoners who had not fled the city in time, Hyder and his son Tipu questioned them relentlessly. They wanted to know everything. How much money was in the city, how many weapons were there and how much food was there. With this information in their hands, Hyder and his son felt secure enough for whatever might get thrown at them.

The loss of Madras sent shockwaves through East India headquarters in Fort William, Calcutta. Plans were drawn up to immediately rectify this situation. However, just as they were preparing to send a relief force trouble arose within Bengal. The zamindars and peasantry, for so long subjected to harsh British terms, had had enough. Inspired by Hyder and his Mysoreans, they wished to throw off the shackles of Company rule.

In the West, the Company found themselves assailed by the Marathas. Bitter fights broke out along these territories, with Surat, the former Mughal port, falling into Maratha hands. 

The British East India Company found itself drowning, assailed on all sides, all as a result of Hyder Ali taking decisive action after his son’s victory at Pollilur in 1780.

If only.

In reality, after Tipu’s victory at Pollilur, Hyder Ali decided to take the hostages from that battle back to the Mysorean capital and preserve his forces. It would prove to be a fatal mistake, for the Company quickly recovered. Men were sent from Bengal and under the stewardship of Eyre Coote, they were able to force a stalemate in the Anglo-Mysore war.

The greatest chance that existed to drive the Company out of India was lost.