Battle of Miani

Part of the conquest of Sindh

Date	February 17, 1843
Location	Miani
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Talpur Emirs of Sindh

Commanders and leaders

Charles Napier

Mir Nasir Khan Talpur

Strength

2,800

30,000

Casualties and losses

39 dead, 231 wounded

~2000 dead

The Battle of Miani (or Battle of Meeanee) was a battle between British East India company forces under Charles Napier and the Talpur Amirs of Sindh led by Mir Nasir Khan Talpur, of today's Pakistan. The Battle took place on 17 February 1843 at Miani, Sindh in what is now Pakistan. This battle eventually led to the capture of parts of Sindh region, first territorial possession by British East India company in what is the modern-day country of Pakistan.

According to Nadeem Wagan (a Sindh writer), the primary causes of the battle were the British East India company's desire to expand their possession in south Asia and the British General Charles Napier's ambitions. The General had held previous position as Governor of the Greek island of Kefalonia with very limited scope for glory. The Talpur kingdom of Sindh was inefficiently and loosely governed by the Amirs and a relatively easy target as opposed to the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab. Napier moved his army aggressively from the East India Company's Bombay presidency area and entered the Sindh border. Negotiations ensued between the Talpur Amir in Hyderabad and Napier. An agreement was reached after the Amir gave significant concessions. Napier then started to move his army back towards Bombay and the Amir disbanded his army that had been mobilised. However, Napier was firmly determined in conquering Sindh and Hyderabad. Whilst moving towards Bombay and giving the impression of keeping the agreement that had been reached, he suddenly turned back towards Hyderabad on the pretext of hostile intentions by the Amir and marched with great speed towards the capital.

The Talpur were forced to quickly re-mobilise their army but could not do so effectively as the army was mostly raised on a voluntary basis in times of war and most of the Talpur Sardars (Lords) had returned home. Nevertheless, an army of around 8,000 - mostly cavalry - was raised and assembled at the battle ground of Miani. Disastrously for the Talpur another 8,000 troops under Mir Sher Muhammad Talpur (Sher-e-Sindh or "Lion of Sindh") failed to reach the battle ground in time. Napier had already successfully isolated the Amir of Khairpur (thereafter known as the great traitor by the Sindhi) by bribery and title. Thus the Talpur army assembled at Miani represented approximately a ⅓ of the Talpur military strength in Sindh. Although the East India Company later gave its troops numbered in the battle as around 2,800, contemporary Talpur records indicated the armies were approximately equal in numbers (around 8–10 thousand each) with the British having around 2,500 European officers and soldiers and the balance comprising Indian sepoys.

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