page_title: Sikh period in Lahore
section_title: Arrival of the British Colonial Rule
hierarchical_section_title: Sikh period in Lahore / Arrival of the British Colonial Rule
caption_attribution_description: English: The child Maharajah of Lahore, Duleep Singh enters his palace in Lahore, from the Parade Ground, accompanied by an escort of British troops commanded by Brigadier Cureton, following the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46).
context_page_description: The Sikh Rule in Lahore initiated from the invasion and rule of the Sikh Misls and extended till the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh which ended in 1849. The Sikhs began gaining power following the decline of the Mughal Empire in Punjab and consisted of a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls, which were governed by Misldars, mainly in the Punjab region.
context_section_description: The British occupation of Lahore took place in a protracted but concerted manner. Capitalizing on the disarray surrounding the succession struggles after Ranjit Singh's death and only partially diminished by a war fought against the Sikhs on their eastern frontier, the British rode into Lahore in February 1846 and garrisoned their troops in the citadel. Two unstable years later, they were drawn into a second war with the Sikhs at the southern city of Multan when that city's governor, Diwan Mulraj Singh, encouraged his troops to rebel. After a series of closely fought battles, the Sikh army was finally defeated in the Battle of Gujrat, sixty miles north of Lahore. In March 1848, following the British victory, Dalip Singh, Ranjit Singh's teenage son and heir to the throne, was formally deposed in Lahore. The remaining Sikh regiments in the city were abruptly decommissioned and camped outside the city demanding severance pay. Within a year, the Punjab was formally annexed to the British Empire and military sappers had begun leveling Lahore's city wall.
caption: Maharajah Dalip Singh, entering his palace in Lahore, escorted by British troops after the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46)
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