There has
been lot of talk on air especially about ‘War’ – a war is never a great option;
it will have many disastrous consequences !!
Here is an iconic photo of Lieutenant General A. A. K. Niazi, the
Pakistani commander, signing the surrender document in Dhaka on December 16,
1971. This event marked the official end of the war and the creation of
Bangladesh.
Unlike
border States, city of Chennai has not experienced a war for the past many
centuries. Here is some history – ever
heard of ‘1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, sometimes called the Treaty of
Aachen, and how it resonated on Madras !!
Ever read about the woman in pic - Maria Theresa – and its relevance !!
By Martin van Meytens - Buchscan, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68471
The
last major war fought in Madras was
during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and the Carnatic Wars (1744-1763)
between the British East India Company and the French East India Company, along
with their local allies.
The Indo-Pak War of
1971 was a significant conflict that took place from December 3 to December
16, 1971. It was primarily fought over the independence movement in East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh), which sought to break away from West Pakistan
(present-day Pakistan). Tensions
escalated due to political and ethnic tensions in East Pakistan, where the
Bengali population demanded autonomy and independence. The situation worsened
after the Pakistani military's crackdown on Dhaka in March 1971, known as
Operation Searchlight, which led to widespread atrocities. India supported the Bengali independence
movement and provided military assistance to the Mukti Bahini (Bengali
guerrilla resistance). On December 3, 1971, Pakistan launched preemptive air
strikes on Indian airbases, prompting India to officially enter the war. The conflict involved land, air, and naval
battles. India and the Mukti Bahini achieved significant victories, culminating
in the surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka on December 16, 1971. The war
resulted in the creation of the independent state of Bangladesh. Pakistan
suffered a decisive defeat. The 1971 war reshaped the geopolitical landscape of
South Asia, leading to the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation and
altering Pakistan's political landscape.
The
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, sometimes called the Treaty of Aachen, ended
the War of the Austrian Succession, following a congress assembled on 24 April
1748 at the Free Imperial City of Aachen. The two main
antagonists in the war, Britain and France, opened peace talks in the Dutch
city of Breda in 1746. Agreement was delayed by British hopes of improving
their position; when this failed to occur, a draft treaty was agreed on 30
April 1748. A final version was signed on 18 October 1748 by Britain, France,
and the Dutch Republic. The terms were
then presented to the other belligerents, who could either accept them or
continue the war on their own. Austria, Spain, and Sardinia had little choice
but to comply, though the terms were favorable for Spain who took land from
Austria, and signed separately. Modena and Genoa joined on 21 January 1749.
The treaty largely
failed to resolve the issues that caused the war, while most of the signatories
were unhappy with the terms. Maria Theresa
resented Austria's exclusion from the talks, and blamed Britain for forcing her
to accept concessions, while British politicians felt they had received little
benefit for the financial subsidies paid to her. These issues, combined with
other factors, led to the strategic realignment known as the Diplomatic
Revolution, and the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756.
Maria
Theresa (1717 – 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from
1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure
(in her own right). She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia,
Bohemia, Transylvania, Slavonia, Mantua, Milan, Moravia, Galicia and Lodomeria,
Dalmatia, the Austrian Netherlands, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca,
Austrian Silesia, Tyrol, Styria and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of
Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Holy Roman Empress.
The Habsburg
monarchy was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other
polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From
the 18th century it is also referred to as the Austrian monarchy, the Austrian
Empire.
Reading
back the annals of History, the Battle of Madras (also the Siege of Madras)
took place in 1746 - when French forces
captured the city from the British. The British later recaptured it in 1748,
following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Since then, Madras/Chennai has
not been a major battlefield in any significant wars.
In 1746,
Dupleix's deputy, La Bordannais laid siege to Madras and captured the city. For
the next three years, Madras remained under French Governors, until 1749, when
Madras was handed to the British as per the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappele. The
Battle of Madras or Fall of Madras took place in September 1746 during the War
of the Austrian Succession when a French force attacked and captured the city
of Madras from its British garrison. French forces occupied Madras until the
end of hostilities when it was exchanged for the British conquest of Louisbourg
in North America as part of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. One of the British
defenders, Robert Clive made his name by escaping from the French captors and
carrying news of the city's fall to his superiors at Fort St David.
Following the
French decision to join the War of the Austrian Succession on the opposing side
to Britain, the British despatched a Royal Navy squadron under Commodore Curtis
Barnett to raid and harass French settlements in India. During 1745 this force attacked a number of
French ships, disrupting commerce, and ruining several leading French
merchants. In response the French despatched a similarly-sized fleet under the
Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais. After fighting an inconclusive battle
the two fleets withdrew to repair, with the British retreating to Ceylon and
the French using their base at Pondicherry. Wary of fighting another major
naval battle – the British commander, Edward Peyton, chose to stay away from
the Coramandel coast and withdrew to the safety of Bengal, leaving the British
settlements on the Coramandel badly exposed to the French. The French Governor
of Pondicherry Dupleix authorised an attack on Madras. To gain local Indian
approval for this he promised the Nawab of the Carnatic that he would hand over
Madras to him once he had captured it from the British.
On 7 September 1746
the inhabitants of Madras woke to find a French fleet sitting offshore – and an
expedition of soldiers being landed on the shore. The French ships opened fire
on the town – but with little effect, struggling to find the correct range and
by nightfall a large portion of the garrison had been lulled into a false sense
of security. The following morning the
French resumed their bombardment from both land and shore, this time with much
more accuracy. The fortifications of Madras had been poorly constructed and
were largely unable to resist such an attack. As the number of British
casualties grew, the morale of the discipline of the troops collapsed. After a
direct strike on the liquor stores, a number of soldiers abandoned their posts
and drank themselves into a stupor.
On 9 September the
Governor of Madras, Nicholas Morse sued for peace. The terms offered to him by
La Bourdonnais were surprisingly generous – the French were to take over the
fort and warehouses, but the rest of the town would remain under British
control. The British troops who had surrendered would be petitioned. This
caused a dispute with his superior Joseph François Dupleix who favoured total
French annexation of Madras. La Bourdonnais insisted on honouring the peace
terms – and for a month the peace agreement he had signed held.
The French occupied
the town for the duration of the war. Despite Dupleix's promise earlier to hand
the territory over to the Nawab of the Carnatic, Dupleix refused to do so. A force of 10,000 sent by the Nawab to enforce
the agreement was routed by a small French force led by Captain Louis Paradis
at the battle of Adyar on 24 October 1746
Clive was one of
the most controversial figures in all British military history. His
achievements included establishing control over much of India, and laying the
foundation of the entire British Raj, though he worked only as an agent of the
East India Company, not the British government. For his methods and his self
aggrandisement he was vilified by his contemporaries in Britain, and put on
trial before Parliament. Of special concern was that he amassed a personal
fortune in India.
Before concluding –
something more on Paki defeat in 1971. Agha
Muhammad Yahya Khan, a Pakistani military dictator, served as the third president of Pakistan from
1969 to 1971. He also served as the fifth commander-in-chief of the Pakistan
Army from 1966 to 1971. Khan had been commissioned
into the British Indian Army in 1939 and fought in the Second World War in the
Mediterranean theatre. Following the Partition of British India, he joined the
Pakistan Army and organized the Staff College, Quetta.
Khan's presidency
oversaw martial law by suspending the constitution in 1969. Holding the
country's first general election in 1970, he barred power transition to the
victorious Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from East Pakistan, leading to mass protests
in the provincial wing and a call for sovereignty. On 25 March 1971, Khan
ordered Operation Searchlight in an effort to suppress Bengali nationalism,
which led to the Bangladesh Liberation War. Khan is considered a chief
architect of the Bangladesh genocide along with his deputies Hamid Khan and
Tikka Khan. After the defest, Yahya
Khan resigned from the army command and transferred the presidency to Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto. Khan remained under house surveillance prior to 1979 when he was
released by Fazle Haq. Khan died the following year in Rawalpindi and was
buried in Peshawar. Khan is viewed negatively in both Bangladesh, where he is
seen as the architect of the genocide, and Pakistan, where his failure to
prevent the country's disintegration is considered a national tragedy.
Regards – S
Sampathkumar
6th May
2025.
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