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The Siege of Pondicherry was a colonial military operation in the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. Britain and France both controlled colonies on the Indian Subcontinent and when the French National Convention declared war on Britain on 1 February 1793, both sides were prepared for conflict in India. British India was centred on the principal ports of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, administered by the East India Company. French India was governed from Pondicherry (modern Puducherry) on the Coromandel Coast. British forces in India were considerably stronger than the French, with the British Indian Army supported by British Army detachments and a Royal Navy squadron under Rear-Admiral William Cornwallis. Pondicherry's defenses were strong, but the garrison was too small to effectively man the walls, and although a French frigate squadron was stationed at the distant Île de France, it was unable to effectively protect the French Indian coast. News of the outbreak of war took five months to reach the Indian Ocean but British forces, recently engaged in the Third Anglo-Mysore War, were mobilised in preparation and immediately seized the ports of French India. Only Pondicherry was able to resist, and a siege was instigated on 1 August 1793 by Colonel John Braithwaite while Cornwallis imposed a naval blockade. British forces constructed trenches and batteries, often under heavy fire, over the following weeks. Twenty days after the city was cut off, Braithwaite began a bombardment of the defences. Within hours the French commander Colonel Prosper de Clermont requested a truce, followed the next morning by an unconditional surrender. ==Background== In the 1790s Great Britain was the largest colonial power on the Indian Subcontinent, its administration based at the port of Calcutta in Bengal, supported by the cities of Madras and Bombay and a network of subsidiary coastal trading stations. The administration of British India was largely delegated to the East India Company, which maintained the standing British Indian Army supported by detachments from the regular British Army. This force had been heavily engaged in the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1789 to 1792. Naval support was provided by a squadron under Rear-Admiral William Cornwallis in the frigate HMS ''Minerva'', which had blockaded Tellicherry during the Mysore War. The French military position in India was considerably weaker than the British, with no significant investment in the colonies since the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1754. The French held a number of small trading ports, including Karaikal, Yanam, Mahé and Chandernagore but the most important colony was at Pondicherry, close to Madras. Pondicherry was formidably fortified, the extensive and modern defences designed by Camille Charles Leclerc, Chevalier de Fresne, but the garrison was far too small to effectively man the walls in the face of a determined siege. The French Navy presence in the Indian Ocean at the outbreak of war comprised the two frigates ''Cybèle'' and ''Prudente'' under Contre-amiral but were not based in India at all, but on the distant Île de France (modern Mauritius). Tensions in Europe had been steadily mounting since the French Revolution of 1789 and in 1792 the French Revolutionary Wars began with war between the new French Republic and the Austrian and Prussian Empires. Great Britain was not initially engaged in this conflict, but diplomatic relations with France were rapidly deteriorating. On 1 February 1793, shortly after the execution of the deposed King Louis XVI, the French National Convention declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic. Due to the long distances involved, it took five months for news of the outbreak of war to reach India, passing through the British consul at Alexandria, George Baldwin. On 2 June the news arrived at Madras and passed to Calcutta on 11 June. The Governor-General of India Lord Cornwallis issued instructions for operations against the territories of French India. Lord Cornwallis, brother to William, originally intended to participate in the surrender of Pondicherry himself in the seized French merchant ship ''Bien Aimé'', but was eventually dissuaded. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Siege of Pondicherry (1793)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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