Second Sikh War

Second Anglo-Sikh War
Topographical map of The Punjab, "Land of 5 Waters"
Date 18 April 1848 – 30 March 1849 Location Punjab Result East India Company victory. End of the Sikh Empire.
Belligerents
East India Company	Sikh Empire

The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849, between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company.

The Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was consolidated and expanded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century. During the same period, the British East India Company's territories had been expanded until they were adjacent to the Punjab. Ranjit Singh maintained an uneasy alliance with the East India Company, while increasing the military strength of the Sikh Khalsa Army, which also saw itself as the embodiment of the state and religion, to deter British aggression against his state and to expand Sikh territory to the north and north west, capturing territory from Afghanistan and Kashmir.

When Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the Sikh Empire began to fall into disorder. There was a succession of short-lived rulers at the central Durbar (court), and increasing tension between the Army and the Durbar. The East India Company began to build up its military strength on the borders of the Punjab. Eventually, the increasing tension goaded the Sikh Army to invade British territory, under weak and possibly treacherous leaders. The hard-fought First Anglo-Sikh War ended in defeat for the Sikh Army.

At the end of the war, the Sikh Empire was forced to cede some valuable territory (the Jullundur Doab) to the East India Company, and Maharaja Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu, was allowed to acquire Kashmir from the Sikh Empire by a large cash payment to the East India Company. Some of the Sikh Army were forced to make an expedition to oust the ruling Maharajah of Kashmir in favour of Gulab Singh.

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