Battle of Nalapani 1814
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 31 October 1814 – 30 November 1814 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1814 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | India | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Anglo-Nepalese War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 30.3929, 78.0854 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Nalapani was the first battle of the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816, fought between the forces of the British East India Company and Nepal, then ruled by the House of Gorkha. The battle took place around the Nalapani fort, near Dehradun, which was placed under a month-long siege by the British, between 31 October and 30 November 1814. The fort's garrison was commanded by Captain Balbhadra Kunwar, while Major-General Robert Rollo Gillespie, who had previously fought in the Battle of Java, was in charge of the attacking British troops. Gillespie was killed on the first day of the siege while rallying his men. Despite considerable odds, both in terms of numbers and firepower, Balbhadra and his 600-strong garrison successfully held out against more than 5,000 British troops for over a month.
After two costly and unsuccessful attempts to seize the fort by direct attack, the British changed their approach and sought to force the garrison to surrender by cutting off the fort's external water supply. Having suffered three days of thirst, on the last day of the siege, Balbhadra, refusing to surrender, led the 70 surviving members of the garrison in a charge against the besieging force. Fighting their way out of the fort, the survivors escaped into the nearby hills.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Nalapani (revision 1379666095), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Anglo-Nepalese War
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All 3 battles of the Anglo-Nepalese War →
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