Battle of Chillianwala

Battle of Chillianwala
Part of the Second Anglo-Sikh war

A c. 1849 painting of the battle by Charles Becher Young
Date13 January 1849
Location
Chillianwala, Punjab
Result Sikh victory Aftermath
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 East India Company		 Sikh Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sir Hugh Gough Sher Singh Attariwalla
Strength
15,000[1]
100 guns		 10,000[2]–20,000[3]
60 guns
Casualties and losses
2,512 (~1,512 Indian, ~1,000 British)[4]
6 guns lost[3]		 4,000[5]

The Battle of Chillianwala (also spelled Chillianwallah) was fought in January 1849 during the Second Anglo-Sikh war in the Chillianwala region (Mandi Bahauddin) of Punjab,[5] now part of Pakistan. The battle was one of the bloodiest fought by the British East India Company. Both armies held their positions at the end of the battle and both sides claimed victory.[6] The battle was a strategic check to immediate British ambitions in India and a shock to British military prestige.[7]

  1. ^ Sadler, p.44
  2. ^ Singh, Patwant; Rai, Jyoti M. (2008). Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Peter Owen. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-7206-1323-0.
  3. ^ a b Roy, Kaushik (2011). War, Culture, and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849. Routledge. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-415-58767-9.
  4. ^ Farwell, p.58
  5. ^ a b "Chillianwalla" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 161–162.
  6. ^ Heath, p.42
  7. ^ Major A. H. Amin (retd.) Orbat.com Archived 7 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine