Battle of Nalapani

Overview

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.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Nalapani opened the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816 and immediately complicated British assumptions about the campaign. A garrison of roughly 600 Nepalese troops under Balbhadra Kunwar held Nalapani fort near Dehradun against a British East India Company force exceeding 5,000 men for over a month. The death of Major-General Robert Rollo Gillespie on the first day of the siege — a senior commander with prior campaign experience — underscored how costly the war would prove. The Nepalese defense demonstrated that the House of Gorkha's forces could withstand sustained pressure from a numerically and materially superior opponent, setting the tone for a conflict that would last until 1816 and ultimately end in a negotiated settlement rather than outright British conquest.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)