How a broken debt and a British alliance triggered the First Rohilla War
In 1773, the Nawab of Awadh launched a punitive campaign against the Rohillas, descendants of Afghan highlanders in northern India. Backed by British East India Company troops, the Nawab sought to settle a massive unpaid debt. The resulting conflict reshaped regional power and later haunted British political history in Westminster.
The First Rohilla War, spanning 1773 to 1774, originated from a failed financial agreement. The Rohillas, having previously sought aid from Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh, against the Marathas, refused to pay the agreed sum of 40 rods of gold. Seeking to annex their territory, the Nawab secured military support from Warren Hastings, the British representative, in exchange for forty lakhs of rupees. Hastings justified this intervention by claiming the Rohillas threatened the security of Awadh's flank.
The conflict reached a turning point on 23 April 1774, when Colonel Alexander Champion defeated the Rohilla forces at the Battle of Miranpur Katra, resulting in the death of their leader, Hafiz Rahmat Ali Khan. By August 1774, the campaign shifted into a grueling siege at Lal Dang. Exhausted by the attrition, the Nawab, who was battling leg cancer, sought a diplomatic exit. He skillfully undermined the Rohilla leadership by manipulating the succession, eventually signing the Treaty of Lal Dang with Faizullah Khan on 7 October 1774.
The war's conclusion saw the annexation and plunder of Rohilkhand, forcing many Rohillas to flee or emigrate. Faizullah Khan was granted a smaller, British-protected state at Rampur. However, the legacy of the war extended far beyond the battlefield. In Britain, the campaign became a focal point of intense political scrutiny during the impeachment of Warren Hastings. Critics, most notably Edmund Burke and Thomas Macaulay, leveled severe charges against Hastings, accusing him of the destruction of a nation for financial gain, cementing the war's place in the history of imperial controversy.
Source: First Rohilla War
