Other Conquests: Sindh, Nepal, Burma and Afghanistan

Beyond the three main wars, the British added Sindh, Assam, Lower and Upper Burma, and shaped India's frontiers with Nepal and Afghanistan.

Nepal (Anglo-Gurkha War, 1814 to 1816)

• Cause: border clashes with the expanding Gurkha kingdom. Lord Hastings declared war in 1814.
• Treaty of Sagauli (signed December 1815, ratified March 1816): Nepal gave up Garhwal, Kumaon and the Terai, accepted a British Resident at Kathmandu, and withdrew from Sikkim. The British got hill stations such as Shimla, Mussoorie and Nainital, and began recruiting Gurkha soldiers.

Burma

Sindh

Lord Ellenborough was Governor-General. Charles Napier defeated the Talpur Amirs at Miani (February 1843) and Sindh was annexed (1843). Britain wanted control of the Indus route and its trade.

Afghanistan

• First Afghan War (1839 to 1842): Lord Auckland put Shah Shuja on the throne after removing Dost Mohammad. The Afghans rose in 1841. The British army retreated from Kabul in January 1842, and most were killed. Dost Mohammad returned.
• Second Afghan War (1878 to 1880): Lord Lytton (Viceroy) feared Russian influence. Treaty of Gandamak (1879) with Yakub Khan. The British envoy Cavagnari was killed (September 1879). Abdur Rahman was recognised as Amir.
• Durand Line (1893): the boundary between Afghanistan and British India, drawn by Mortimer Durand under Lord Lansdowne.
• Third Afghan War (1919): Amanullah declared war. By the Treaty of Rawalpindi (August 1919) Afghanistan won freedom in foreign affairs.

Assam

The Ahom kingdom fell after the First Burmese War, and Assam was annexed by the British (Treaty of Yandabo, 1826).