WEBVTT

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- All of Congress listened
with rapt attention

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to a letter written by John Adams.

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His message provided a play by play

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of how the British were
holding up in the war,

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but not the war in America.

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The conflict that Congress
desperately wanted news of

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was happening in Southern India.

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The Americans understood that
they couldn't beat the British

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in the Revolutionary War
without international support.

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And when the founding fathers
needed to close the deal

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against the most powerful
empire on the planet,

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they got an unexpected
assist from Tipu Sultan,

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the legendary Tiger of Mysore.

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I'm Joel Cook, and this is Rogue History.

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So what exactly would unite
a group of American rebels

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with a Muslim ruler on the
other side of the world?

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The same thing that
unites millions of people

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to this very day- British imperialism.

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But more specifically, British tea.

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Let me spill a little for you.

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Most of us know about the Boston Tea Party

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where Americans dressed in
highly problematic disguises

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tossed 342 chests of
tea into Boston Harbor.

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The colonists were
furious about the Tea Act,

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a piece of legislation intended to rescue

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the struggling British East India Company

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by selling its massive stock
of tea at much cheaper rates

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than anything else on the American market.

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The only problem was that this monopoly

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risked putting American tea
sellers out of business,

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hence the whole throwing company tea

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into the harbor situation.

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But what was the British
East India Company

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and where did they get all this tea from?

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The company was founded in December 1600

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and served as the merchant arm

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of British imperialism in Asia.

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Imagine Amazon being in
charge of America's economy

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and you'd have the right idea.

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The company's dealings
with India, China, Persia,

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and Indonesia provided
Britain with tea, textiles,

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and piles of unused spices.

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But all those deals
they managed to pull off

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were because of a unique negotiating tool

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most corporations didn't have,

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a private army.

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If the company couldn't talk Asian powers

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into negotiating with them,

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they were all too willing
to march troops in

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to change their minds.

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That is until they ran
into the Kingdom of Mysore.

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You see, Mysore wasn't some young upstart

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like the Americans.

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When the company started
probing Mysore's borders

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in the 1760s,

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they were met by a brilliant Muslim leader

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named Hyder Ali.

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Hyder had recently taken control
of the South Indian Kingdom

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from a Hindu dynasty
established around 1399.

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As the newly crown sultan of Mysore,

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Hyder led a sophisticated economy

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and an army numbering in
the tens of thousands.

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The Mysoreans were one
of the biggest obstacles

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the British faced in South Asia.

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And Hyder was smart enough to
amplify his kingdom's power

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by forming an alliance with the French.

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But his most effective
weapon against the British

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wasn't his army or his alliances.

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It was his tiger-obsessed son Tipu.

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(tiger roaring)
The story behind the whole

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Tiger of Mysore thing isn't
completely locked down.

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Oral traditions and a
heck of a lot of murals

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commissioned by Tipu

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say that he was on a
wartime mission for his dad

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when he fought and killed
an attacking Bengal tiger

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with just a dagger.

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Now, I wasn't there, so I can't say

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whether Tipu exaggerated
the situation or not,

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but for a 15-year-old
trying to build street cred

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with his dad's veteran army,

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a tiger fighting story
is awfully convenient.

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Either way, Hyder's leadership

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and Tipu's eye of the tiger
mentality on the battlefield

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were catching the eye of a suitor

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on the other side of the world.

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By 1777,

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that little tea incident in Boston

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had spiraled into an all-out war

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against the mighty British Empire.

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The Americans knew they
needed allies in order to win,

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and they sent diplomats across the map

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in search of assistance.

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The French, of course, were
ready to support anything

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that stuck it to the British,

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so they offered the Americans
an intimate correspondence

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with a tall, dark, and handsome
friend from South Asia.

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Though the Americans were excited

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about building a relationship
with the Mysoreans,

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things didn't exactly take off.

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We all know how long
distance relationships are.

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You're both busy. You
can't agree on date night.

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There's a massive empire
trying to destroy you both.

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And to be honest,

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America didn't have much to
bring to the table anyway.

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Sure, they were keeping a large portion

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of the British military
occupied in North America,

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which definitely helped Mysore,

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but nobody, not even the
American rebels themselves,

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was sure they'd be able to keep it up.

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Prior to their victory
at Trenton, New Jersey

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in December 1776,

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the Americans hadn't won
a single major battle

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against the British.

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They thought about sending
their troops to help Mysore,

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but they realized they didn't
even have enough troops

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to fight their own war.

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The best they could do was
instruct their privateers

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and tiny Navy to attack
East India Company shipping

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out of solidarity.

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As much as I hate to admit it,

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for Mysore, Revolutionary
America truly was the guy

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sitting on the passenger side
of his best friend's ride.

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But for the time being,

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Tipu and Hyder didn't really need them.

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Throughout the 1770s,

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father and son built an army

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nearly a hundred thousand strong.

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And when the British threatened

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their French homies in India,

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the Tiger of Mysore showed everyone

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what a ride or die really looks like.

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On September 10th, 1780,

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Tipu wiped out one of
the East India Company's

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private armies at the Battle of Pollilur,

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killing 3,000 men

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and capturing hundreds
of British officers.

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It was an incredible victory for Mysore,

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but it also showed a side of Tipu

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that would cause problems for him.

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Many of the hired guns in
the East India Company's army

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were natives of rival kingdoms in India.

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And when a British officer
tried to surrender to save them,

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Tipu took scattered
gunfire from a few holdouts

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as an excuse to massacre those
who had already surrendered.

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Sometimes a tiger can become a man-eater.

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And the Tiger of Mysore

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was showing early signs of that behavior

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when it came to his political rivals.

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Still, the victory at Pollilur

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convinced the French to send
major military assistance

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to help Mysore,

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and that, along with wins Tipu
and Hyder kept delivering,

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had the domino effect
of forcing the British

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to send Royal Army and Navy units

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to help the East India Company.

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But more troops in India meant
less fighting the Americans.

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And that was a problem for the British

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because that scrub we talked about earlier

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was looking a lot more genuine.

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The glow up started in 1778

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when the American Army
fought the British to a draw

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at the Battle of Monmouth.

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The following year,

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a little known American
officer named John Paul Jones

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put the US Navy on the map

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when he defeated HMS
Serapis in British waters.

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If you'd like to know more about that,

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check out our episode on Jones.

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By July of 1780, French
troops arrived in the colonies

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and the Americans'
chances of winning the war

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were looking pretty good.

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But the Founding Fathers
still wanted to know

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what was happening in Mysore.

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John Adams' letter to Congress

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regaled the Founders with the exploits

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of the famous Hyder Ali in September 1780.

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All throughout the following
year of the Revolutionary War,

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a who's who of famous Americans

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chattered back and forth
across the Atlantic

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about the second Anglo-Mysore war.

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Even in 1782, when American
diplomats traveled to the Hague

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for peace negotiations,

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they were still checking

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the Britain versus Mysore scoreboard,

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the way we check Carolina
Panthers scores in church.

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The Americans understood that
though their war was over,

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their negotiating
leverage relied on Mysore

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continuing to wear the British down.

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But for the brave and sometimes
brutal Tiger of Mysore,

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things were about to
change in a major way.

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In December 1782,

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the French reinforcements
finally arrived in Mysore

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to assist Hyder and Tipu
in defeating the British.

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But by the time they got there,

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the dynamic duo was down to one.

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Hyder Ali died just six days
after Tipu's 31st birthday.

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For the newly crowned Tipu Sultan,

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it seems that his method for processing

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involved leaning very heavily
into his special interest.

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That is to say Tipu got way more tigery.

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After taking over his father's palace,

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Tipu upgraded the home decor
by adding a tiger throne

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with a life-sized tiger head,

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pillars capped with engraved tigers,

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oh, and how could I forget,
actual Bengal tigers.

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And it didn't stop there.

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The new Sultan ordered tiger stripes

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added to the Mysorean military uniform

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and engraved tigers on his guns, swords,

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and other possessions,

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but Tipu's best work
as an interior designer

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was a clear warning to the British

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that things weren't gonna
get any easier for them.

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Sometime after becoming Sultan,

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Tipu commissioned a nearly
life-sized automaton

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of a tiger eating a British soldier.

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The automaton included a
crank attached to a mechanism

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inside the tiger's body

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that simultaneously
lifted the dying man's arm

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and produced noises
imitating his final cries.

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Help me!

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Help me! Talk about committing to the bit.

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But fulfilling his special interests

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didn't distract Tipu from the war.

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He continued to attack the British

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and their native allies in Southern India,

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but with less success against the British

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and more brutal suppression
of his Indian rivals.

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And just when it seemed
things couldn't get any worse,

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France and America hit Mysore

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with the it's not you, it's me.

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In early 1783,

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both France and the United States

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signed peace treaties with Britain.

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But for Tipu and Mysore,
it was a harbinger of doom.

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Without the Americans
distracting the British

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and the French sending troops,

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Mysore now stood alone

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against the most powerful
empire in the world.

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Lord Charles Cornwallis,

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the very General George
Washington defeated

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to win the Revolutionary
War, was reassigned to India

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with instructions to destroy the Tiger

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and his kingdom once and for all.

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Now, before you get upset,

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you have to remember,

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America was a young country at this point.

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It managed to stand up to the
British and win absolutely,

00:09:26.070 --> 00:09:29.040
but holding onto their
freedom wasn't a guarantee.

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The revolutionaries who won the war

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were now the government officials

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nearly three million people
we're looking to for safety.

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Still, Tipu had to have been a little hurt

00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:40.080
when Washington's administration

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opened two consulates in India

00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.850
to foster goodwill and
trade with the British.

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Tipu once said that he would
rather live two days as a tiger

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than two centuries as a sheep.

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And when the British stormed

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the Mysorean capital in May 1799,

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he stayed true to his word,

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standing and fighting until the very end.

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The Kingdom of Mysore survived,

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but remained under British control

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until India gained its independence
nearly 150 years later.

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Though the American
Revolution is often told

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as a story of plucky colonists

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standing on their own against
the mighty British empire,

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that's only a fraction of the story.

00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:16.950
All across the world,

00:10:16.950 --> 00:10:19.710
various peoples worked
together as best they could

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to stop an imperial juggernaut

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from destroying their way of life.

00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.529
For some, like the Americans,

00:10:25.529 --> 00:10:28.110
this global revolution brought
them the time they needed

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to strengthen their resistance
and earn their freedom.

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And for others, like Tipu Sultan
and the Kingdom of Mysore,

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their revolution continued
on for over a century.

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When we think about the
American Revolution,

00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:41.339
what it means and who contributed,

00:10:41.340 --> 00:10:43.740
it's good to remember more
than just the big names

00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:47.190
like George Washington and
famous allies like the French.

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Beyond those icons
stand many lesser known,

00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:52.259
but equally impactful contributors,

00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:54.629
like the tiger-obsessed Sultan

00:10:54.629 --> 00:10:57.029
who gave America a chance
to win its freedom.

00:10:57.029 --> 00:10:58.919
Are there any other surprising influences

00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:00.779
on American history that come to mind?

00:11:00.779 --> 00:11:02.850
Tell us in the comments. Till next time.

00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:04.050
Before you go,

00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:07.169
we're excited to tell you
about PBS Documentaries,

00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:08.639
our newest YouTube channel.

00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.250
We're rebranding and expanding PBS Voices

00:11:11.250 --> 00:11:12.539
to now include everything

00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:15.329
from digital original series like "Ritual"

00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:16.530
to independent films

00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:20.159
to the best of PBS's
extensive documentary archive.

00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.289
This will be the best
place on the internet

00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:23.579
for documentary lovers.

00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:26.603
Check out the link in
the description. Thanks.

00:11:26.602 --> 00:11:29.352
(dramatic music)