(Second of a two-part series on Tipu Sultan’s invasion of Travancore) It was 1788 C.E. and the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, was ready for another war. Four years ago, a weary Tipu and the equally battered British agreed to… Continue Reading
(First of a two-part series on Tipu Sultan’s invasion of Travancore) Once upon a time there was a wall that spanned the narrow breadth of Kerala from the Arabian Sea to the Western Ghats. It was not as tall or… Continue Reading
In India, one can scarcely travel a hundred miles without encountering a clump of ancient or medieval ruins. Except historians or the odd local enthusiast, few cares about these monuments. Most of the monuments maintained by the Archaeological Survey of… Continue Reading
About a century ago, Captain T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, turned a middling revolt deep in the Arabian desert into a whirlwind that swept away Ottoman power in the First World War. Lawrence was a multi-talented junior… Continue Reading
The search and rescue operations for the missing Indian Air Force An-32 aircraft lasted eight days but the crash site was found, and our dead have been laid to rest. The tragedy and ensuing operations unfolded amidst discussions on geopolitics,… Continue Reading
This is the final part of a three-part series on the unfortunate Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. It was self-preservation that made Emperor Shah Alam II choose the Maratha general as the regent. Shah Alam’s best and loyal officers were… Continue Reading
This is the second part of a three-part series on the unfortunate Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. It was 1760 and Prince Ali Gauhar was now Emperor Shah Alam II, but he was not entirely out of danger. His Rohila… Continue Reading
This is the first part of a three-part series on the unfortunate Mughal Emperor Shah Alam-II When Aurangzeb died a weary and broken man in Ahmednagar in 1707, the Mughal Empire had reached its greatest territorial extent. However, the financial… Continue Reading
When the British rose in power in India they faced an increasingly difficult situation – there were too many young British men in their colony. India was a land of opportunity for many Britishers and thousands scrambled to India, keen… Continue Reading
It is a bitter fact that tea became a popular beverage on the back of colossal human suffering. This author had previously written about the triangular Atlantic slave trade, in which Indian textiles and gunpowder were very essential components. Today,… Continue Reading
The sack of Vijayanagar, following the Battle of Talikota in 1565 CE, greatly enriched the victorious Bahmani Sultanates. Out of the five Bahmani kingdoms the one which gained the most was the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur. Besides annexing the… Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, the Indian Air Force’s Balakot airstrike using French-built Mirage-2000s bought India and Pakistan to the brink of war, and perhaps changed the regional dynamics forever. Balakot has a history which has been a subject of much… Continue Reading
The mighty Maratha Confederacy was brought to its knees due to disunity and intense infighting. After Shivaji passed away, the ambitions of individual leaders caused irreparable damage to the Maratha cause, even at the apex of Maratha glory. This led… Continue Reading
The “Great Game” was an Anglo-Russian conflict over the control of Tibet, East Turkestan, and Central Asia. In the 19th century, this vast region was a patchwork of backward states and tribal confederacies. The Russians feared British inroads into this… Continue Reading
The Great Indian Rebellion, lasting from May 1857 to July 1859, was not uniform in scope or strength. A dozen rebellions erupted at different regions at points of time, with varying levels of vigor and efficacy. The rebellion in Central… Continue Reading