or over two hundred years, the exotic products and lucrative trade in spices and textiles had attracted the European powers to India. By the 18th century, the major players were Britain and France, although Clive's victories at Plassey in 1757 and Wandiwash in 1760 had crushed any realistic aspirations of French supremacy in India. In south India, rival powers took advantage of the disintegration of the Mughal Empire to extend their own territories: - to the east, Nawab Mohammad Ali of the Carnatic; in the centre, Haidar Ali, ruler of Mysore; northwards, the Nizam's Dominions, ruled from Hyderabad; and the powerful threat of the great Mahratta empire, stretching towards Delhi.

Until Pitt's India Act of 1784 centralized control under a single Government appointment at the capital, Calcutta, British policy in India was determined by the East India Company's officials in the three Presidencies of Madras, Bengal and Bombay. Mysore was initially regarded as a useful buffer between Madras and the Mahrattas, but Haidar Ali, an officer with the Mysore army, gradually rose to power, overthrew the ancient Hindu dynasty of Mysore, and challenged the British in two Mysore Wars. Both he, and his son, Tipu Sultan, who continued this campaign, welcomed the French as their allies. Increasingly, military strategy in India was determined by politics in Europe - despite the immense distances separating governments from their servants in India. Two Scottish regiments were specifically raised for the Mysore Wars.

In the fourth and final Mysore War, the British attacked the island capital of Mysore, Seringapatam, on the River Cauvery. Tipu, the fearless 'Tiger of Mysore' was killed on 4th May 1799, and British power was confirmed in Mysore. Two hundred years later, Tipu's name has not been forgotten in Scotland, where the 'Tiger and the Thistle' were jointly celebrated in the National Galleries of Scotland bi-centennial exhibition.