Tipu Sultan pioneered iron-cased rockets against the East India Company
Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, turned iron-cased rockets into a battlefield weapon, firing them at British forces in the Anglo-Mysore Wars. He also commissioned a military manual, introduced a new calendar and coinage, and backed a land revenue system that helped the Mysore silk industry grow.
Tipu was born on 1 December 1751 in Devanahalli, about 33 kilometres north of Bangalore, and named after the saint Tipu Mastan Aulia of Arcot. His father, Hyder Ali, an army officer who had become de facto ruler of Mysore in 1761, could not read, and made sure his eldest son studied Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Kannada and Islamic law alongside riding, shooting and fencing. French officers in Hyder's employ taught him tactics.
At 15 he rode with his father in the First Anglo-Mysore War of 1766, and at 16 he led a cavalry corps into the Carnatic. From 17 he handled diplomatic and military missions. In 1767 the Maratha Peshwa Madhavrao I beat father and son and entered their capital, Srirangapatna, after which Hyder accepted Maratha authority.
When the British seized the French port of Mahé in 1779, which Mysore had taken under its protection, Hyder invaded the Carnatic. In September 1780 Hyder sent Tipu with 10,000 troops and 18 cannon to cut off Colonel William Baillie, whom he beat at Pollilur, prompting Sir Hector Munro to retreat to Madras. In February 1782 he captured Colonel Braithwaite's whole detachment at Annagudi near Tanjore. Hyder died of cancer that December, and Tipu took the throne, ending the war with the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784.
He halted the tribute his father had promised the Marathas, which led to war with them. His 1789 attack on Travancore, a British ally, triggered the Third Anglo-Mysore War, and the Treaty of Seringapatam cost him Malabar and Mangalore. In the Fourth war, East India Company troops backed by the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated him, and he was killed defending Seringapatam on 4 May 1799. He is also remembered as a patron of Channapatna toys.
Source: Tipu Sultan
