The Story of a Treaty: The Gurkha War (1814-1816)

Affairs in Nepal demanded the first attention of Lord Hastings after his arrival in India. In December 1813, after receiving an unsatisfactory Gurkha reply, he firmly demanded evacuation of disputed districts and ordered local authorities to occupy them if they were not surrendered within twenty-five days.

When the deadline passed, British forces occupied the districts and the Gurkhas withdrew without resistance. Police posts were set up and troops withdrawn, leading many to believe the dispute had ended.

However, the Nepalese had already decided on war, though some wiser chiefs opposed it. In May, they suddenly attacked the occupied districts and expelled the police.

Hastings then resolved to settle the frontier question permanently. After careful preparation, he chose offensive action, though he delayed the formal proclamation explaining the war until 1 November.

His strategy was to invade Nepal through four columns from east and west. In the west, General Ochterlony with 6,000 native troops and 16 guns advanced near the Sutlej.

On Ochterlony’s right, General Gillespie with 1,000 Europeans, 2,500 natives, and 11 guns moved from Meerut toward the lower Himalayan spurs between the upper Ganges and Jumna, with plans to support Ochterlony and detach troops toward Srinagar.

In the east, General J. S. Wood with 1,000 Europeans, 3,000 natives, and 11 guns advanced from Gorakhpur into Palpa, while General Marley with 1,000 Europeans, 7,000 natives, and 26 guns marched from Patna toward Kathmandu.

Additional frontier troops were deployed elsewhere, and Major Latter with 2,000 men was assigned defensive operations toward Sikkim and support of its Raja. Hastings directed the campaign from Lucknow.

The Gurkhas had only about 12,000 regular troops with some poorly armed levies, but they held great natural advantages. They fought in rugged mountain terrain full of narrow passes, whose geography was little known to the British.