When Hyder Ali died in 1782, his son Tipu Sultan deposed the weak Wodeyar, proclaimed himself Sultan. Under Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali the state progressed economically and trade flourished with many foreign nations through the ports of Mangalore. Several attempts by the British to capture Bangalore were repulsed by the Mysorean Army, most notably in 1768 when Hyder Ali forced Colonel Nicholson of the British Army to lift his siege of Bangalore. The French under Napoleon had promised to drive the British from India. Tipu successfully stalled the British in the first, second and third Anglo-Mysore Wars.