First Anglo-Sikh War
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire from 1845 to 1846 around the Firozpur district of Punjab. It resulted in the defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh Empire and cession of Jammu & Kashmir as a separate princely state under British suzerainty.
Background
The Sikh kingdom of Punjab was expanded and consolidated by Maharajah Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century, about the same time as the British-controlled territories were advanced by conquest or annexation to the borders of the Punjab.When shown the map of India, Ranjit Singh said, "What does the red colour stand for?" The cartographer replied "Your Majesty, red marks the extent of British possessions." The Maharaja scanned the map with his single eye and saw nearly the whole of Hindustan except the Punjab painted red. He turned to his courtiers and remarked . It was said that his prophecy was going to be fulfilled.
Ranjit Singh maintained a policy of wary friendship with the British, ceding some territory south of the Sutlej, while at the same time building up his military forces both to deter aggression by the British and to wage war against the Afghans. He hired American and European mercenary soldiers to train his army, and also incorporated contingents of Hindus and Muslims into his forces.
Events in the Punjab
Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in 1839. After his death, his kingdom began to fall into disorder. Ranjit's unpopular legitimate son, Kharak Singh, was removed from power within a few months, and later died in prison under mysterious circumstances. It was widely believed that he was poisoned. He was replaced by his able but estranged son Kanwar Nau Nihal Singh, who also died within a few months in suspicious circumstances, after being injured by a falling archway at the Lahore Fort while returning from his father's cremation. At the time, two major factions within the Punjab were contending for power and influence; the Sikh Sindhanwalias and the Hindu Dogras. Sher Singh was crowned Maharaja of the Sikh Empire in January 1841, with Dhian Singh Dogra as his prime minister.The army expanded rapidly in the aftermath of Ranjit Singh's death, from 29,000 in 1839 to over 80,000 in 1845 as landlords and their retainers took up arms. It proclaimed itself to be the embodiment of the Sikh nation. Its regimental panchayats formed an alternative power source within the kingdom, declaring that Guru Gobind Singh's ideal of the Sikh commonwealth had been revived, with the Sikhs as a whole assuming all executive, military and civil authority in the state, which British observers decried as a "dangerous military democracy". British representatives and visitors in the Punjab described the regiments as preserving "puritanical" order internally, but also as being in a perpetual state of mutiny or rebellion against the central Durbar.
Maharajah Sher Singh was unable to meet the pay demands of the army, although he reportedly lavished funds on a degenerate court. In September 1843 he was murdered by his cousin, an officer of the army, Ajit Singh Sindhanwalia. The Dogras took their revenge on those responsible, and Jind Kaur, Ranjit Singh's youngest widow, became regent for her infant son Duleep Singh. After the vizier Hira Singh was killed, while attempting to flee the capital with loot from the royal treasury, by troops under Sham Singh Attariwala, Jind Kaur's brother Jawahar Singh became vizier in December 1844. In 1845 he arranged the assassination of Pashaura Singh, who presented a threat to Duleep Singh. For this, he was called to account by the army. Despite attempts to bribe the army he was butchered in September 1845 in the presence of Jind Kaur and Duleep Singh.
Jind Kaur publicly vowed revenge against her brother's murderers. She remained regent. Lal Singh became vizier, and Tej Singh became commander of the army. Sikh historians have stressed that both these men were prominent in the Dogra faction. Originally Hindus from outside of Punjab, both had converted to Sikhism in 1818.
British actions
Immediately after the death of Ranjit Singh, the British East India Company had begun increasing its military strength, particularly in the regions adjacent to the Punjab, establishing a military cantonment at Firozpur, only a few miles from the Sutlej River which marked the frontier between British-ruled India and the Sikh Empire. In 1843, the British conquered and annexed Sindh, located to the south of the Punjab, in a move which many British people regarded as cynical and ignoble. This did not gain the British any respect in the Punjab and instead increased suspicions of British motives.The actions and attitudes of the British, under Governor-General Lord Ellenborough and his successor, Sir Henry Hardinge, are disputed. By most British accounts, their main concern was that the Sikh army, without strong leadership to restrain them, was a serious threat to British territories along the border. Sikh and Indian historians have countered that the military preparations made by these Governor-Generals were offensive in nature and were made with the intention to conquer the Punjab; for example, they prepared bridging trains and siege gun batteries, which would be unlikely to be required in a purely defensive operation.
Nevertheless, the unconcealed and seemingly aggressive British military build-up at the borders had the effect of increasing tension within the Punjab and the Sikh Khalsa Army.
Combatants
Khalsa Army
The army under Ranjit Singh had expanded from around 35,000 troops in the 1820s to over 100,000 by 1845. In 1822 Ranjit Singh decided to base his army on the French model and this process was complete by the time of his death in 1839.The first brigade of the army was the Fauj-i-Khas, which contained 3,176 infantry, 1,667 cavalry and 34 guns. The brigades of the Fauj-i-ain were modelled on that of the Khas and this force had grown from 35,000 in 1838 to 70,000 by 1845 with seven divisions being created in 1844–1845 from the existing troops.
The Sikh cavalry, though no longer the preferred branch, remained a well-disciplined force with 6,235 cavalrymen in 1845 with 2 regiments of lancers, 2 of cuirassiers, and 6 dragoon regiments. There was also 22,000 Fauj-i-sowar which consisted of irregular cavalry deemed unsuitable for fighting an organised enemy but well-suited for chasing a routed enemy and conducting guerrilla warfare.
The artillery was large though unstandardised, increasing from 40 guns in 1808 to 381 by 1845, with an additional 388 swivel guns. Some of the artillery units had been organised and trained by European mercenaries. The British unwisely underestimated the Khalsa artillery prior to the outbreak of war.
There also existed the Jargirdar Fauj. This component of the Khalsa Army was the feudal army provided by the nobility of the state. It numbered 55,000. Gulab Singh's army in particular contained between 12,000 and 17,000 infantry and cavalry as well as 94 guns. Additionally, there were 1,000 Nihangs, religious warriors who fought primarily as mounted infantry.
Although the leaders and principal units of the army were Sikhs, there were also Punjabi, Pashtun and Kashmiri infantry units. In total the Khalsa army could count on approximately 153,000 regular and irregular soldiers. It was however led by Lal Singh who, with Tej Singh, betrayed the Sikhs during the course of the war. The two generals were regularly supplying information and even receiving instructions from British officers.
An alternative estimate of the troops is given by Amarpal Singh who states it contained in 1845 on the eve of war 53,576 regular infantry, 6,235 regular cavalry, 16,292 irregular cavalry and 10,698 gunners this not including the tens of thousands of Jargirdari Fauj.
British Army
The British army in India at the time generally consisted of three types: the regular units of the British Army, who were used as the shock formations of the military in India, which in combination with disease resulted in them being almost permanently understrength; the European troops raised by the East India Company, who represented a tiny proportion of the troops present; the native Indian troops who formed the vast majority. Seventy-four battalions in the Bengal Army alone existed at the commencement of hostilities in addition to 8 light and lancer cavalry regiments and 18 irregular cavalry regiments. The sepoys were often used as garrisons and baggage train guards to leave the fighting to the European soldiers predominantly. In most infantry and cavalry brigades, there was usually one British unit to every three or four Bengal units. The artillery of the Bengal Army contained t brigades and 5 battalions. Most of the artillery which took part in the war consisted of light guns from the elite Bengal Horse Artillery.Despite an overwhelming superiority in overall numbers, the British struggled to assemble an army above 35,000 for the campaign and even at the end of the war, by the Battle of Sobraon, fewer than 20,000 soldiers were actively fighting.
The army was commanded by Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander in Chief of the Bengal Army, who was accompanied by Sir Henry Hardinge, the British Governor General of Bengal, who placed himself beneath Gough in the military chain of command. Gough was an aggressive commander who was unwilling to wait for reinforcements. This almost led to disaster as the Sikh army was consistently able to enter actions against the British with equal or superior numbers, even despite the open treachery of the two Sikh generals.
Outbreak
After mutual demands and accusations between the Sikh Durbar and the East India Company, diplomatic relations were broken. An EIC army began marching towards Firozpur, where a British division was already stationed.In response to the British move, the Sikh army began crossing the Sutlej on 11 December 1845. The Sikhs claimed they were only moving into Sikh possessions on the east side of the river, but the move was regarded by the British as clearly hostile and therefore they declared war.