The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

Read the manifesto →
PUNJAB WIKIਪੰਜਾਬپنجابKingdoms & Wars
Punjab WikiKingdoms & WarsWars & BattlesThe British conquest: the Anglo-Sikh Wars
Battle of Gujrat
Unknown · Wikimedia
Second Anglo-Sikh War

Battle of Gujrat

Overwhelming British artillery broke the Sikh army. On 29 March 1849 Punjab was annexed and the boy Maharaja Duleep Singh deposed.

SideSher Singh Attariwala, Chattar Singh
VS
OpponentGough

On 21 February 1849 Gough met Sher Singh and Chattar Singh Attariwala at Gujrat, near the Chenab, with an army that had been reinforced after the fall of Multan.

This time Gough used his overwhelming artillery, nearly a hundred guns, in a long bombardment before the infantry advanced. The Sikh army, outgunned, was broken; its Afghan allies under Dost Mohammad's son fled. It is called the battle of the guns.

Sher Singh surrendered at Rawalpindi on 14 March 1849, his soldiers laying down their arms one by one, some weeping, saying 'today Ranjit Singh has died'. On 29 March 1849 Lord Dalhousie annexed the Punjab.

Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan

The two Anglo-Sikh Wars

1845 – 1849
  1. 1
    Battle of Mudki 18 December 1845

    British victory

  2. 2
    Battle of Ferozeshah 21 – 22 December 1845

    British victory, at heavy cost

  3. 3
    Battle of Aliwal 28 January 1846

    British victory

  4. 4
    Battle of Sobraon 10 February 1846

    Decisive British victory; Treaty of Lahore

  5. 5
    Battle of Ramnagar 22 November 1848

    Sikh tactical success

  6. 6
    Siege of Multan April 1848 – January 1849

    Multan falls after a magazine explosion

  7. 7
    Battle of Chillianwala 13 January 1849

    Inconclusive, with heavy British losses

  8. 8
    Battle of Gujrat 21 February 1849

    Decisive British victory; Punjab annexed 29 March 1849

After Sobraon the Treaty of Lahore (March 1846) took the Jalandhar Doab and the hills, and Kashmir went to Gulab Singh. After Gujrat the Kingdom of Lahore was annexed, on 29 March 1849.

Same era

The British conquest: the Anglo-Sikh Wars
Spot a mistake, a wrong picture or something missing? Help maintain this page →