Michael Roberts
The information and Thoughts presented here have been prompted by PHILIP SANSONI’s excellent book THE LAST STAND (2025,Case ID 1-14944717771) presented earlier in this website: namely, ….. https://thuppahis.com/2026/06/11/philip-sansonis-last-stand-in-kandy-reaches-the-world/ …. & ….. …. https://thuppahis.com/2026/06/12/reflections-on-sansonis-last-stand-in-kandy/
Quite remarkably AI provides a Capsule Sketch of this work
AI Overview
The British invasions of the Kingdom of Kandy ranged from roughly 3,400 to nearly 4,000 troops. While initial 1790s campaigns were logistical, the First Kandyan War (1803) utilized 3,387 men in a two-pronged attack. The decisive 1815 campaign deployed 3,969 men, succeeding largely via political collaboration rather than direct combat. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The scale and composition of British forces evolved throughout these campaigns:
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- 1795–1796 (Initial Conquest): Following the declaration of war against Dutch territories, a force of approximately 3,000 troops captured coastal Ceylon. This force was commanded by Colonel James Stuart and consisted of King’s Regiments (71st, 72nd, 73rd Foot), Madras Native Infantry, and Royal Artillerymen. [1, 2]
- 1803 (First Kandyan War): A two-pronged invasion force of 3,387 soldiers pushed inland. The Colombo Division of 1,900 men was led by Major-General Hay MacDowall, while the Trincomalee Column of 1,434 men was led by Colonel Barbut. These were backed by British regulars (19th and 51st Regiments of Foot) and colonial units, including the 1st and 2nd Ceylon Regiments. [1, 2]
- 1804 (Expeditionary): After the disastrous garrison failure at Kandy, a smaller, punitive strike of only 857 men was routed by Kandyan forces. [1, 2]
- 1815 (Second Kandyan War): Governor Robert Brownrigg dispatched a heavily structured expeditionary force of 3,969 British and colonial troops. This time, the British capitalized on internal rebellions and defecting Kandyan aristocrats to take the capital with virtually no resistance. [1, 2, 4]
- 1818 (Uva Rebellion): To permanently crush the subsequent rebellion, the British escalated their military footprint, mobilizing a force between 15,000 and 24,000 men over the course of the campaign. [1, 2]
Would you like to explore:
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- The specific tactics and weapons used by both armies?
- Details on the Kandyan guerrillas’ ambush capabilities?
- The specific terms of the Kandyan Convention of 1815?
Wikipedia
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The British Conquest of Ceylon and the Massacre at Kandy …
As the British now considered Ceylon their responsibility, an invasion force arrived off Trincomalee on 1 August 1795, comprised o…
The Napoleon Series -
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Kandyan Wars Facts for Kids
17 Oct 2025 — The Kandyan Wars were a series of conflicts between the British and the Kingdom of Kandy in what is now Sri Lanka. These wars took…
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EMAIL MESSGAE From Bernard Van Cuylenburg in Melbourne, 12 July 2026
This is brilliant Michael and provides much food for thought. I shall peruse it in earnest…….
Regards, Bernard.
Just a reminder that AI is an unreliable source of information: the effect it produces is akin to a sycophant that strives to tell its master whatever their ears will find most pleasing, regardless of truth. Anyone who relies on artificial intelligence for an accurate description of any historical event is asking for trouble.
From my slight knowledge of the relevant history, I would say the AI has got its response to your inquiry spectacularly wrong. The four ‘invasions of Kandy’ it describes had nothing in common. The first was actually a war between nations (Britain vs the Netherlands) and had nothing whatsoever to do with Kandy at all; the action involved was confined to the maritime provinces. The second and third were North’s adventures in response to the traitorous urgings of Pilimatalawa and, as is widely known, ended in disaster and disgrace.
The Uva Rebellion of 1818 was actually an expression of buyers’ remorse on the part of the Kandyan chiefs who had sold the kingdom out to the British in 1815. Ehelapola’s disappointment at not being made king was echoed by the other chiefs, who found their new situation as British government officials not very much to their taste. Again, not in any way related to what had occurred earlier. The low-country mudaliyars supported the British for the most part, and were richly rewarded for their efforts.
I am particularly amused by the AI’s offer to discourse upon ‘the specific tactics and weapons used by both armies, the details on the Kandyan guerrillas’ ambush capabilities or the specific terms of the Kandyan Convention of 1815? What can it possibly know about such things? Only what it can draw, vampirically, from the books that you, I and other interested Lankans have already consumed and digested!
AI is a con, Prof. Roberts. Do not fall for it.
Michael, please clarify the situation of the Kandyan Kingdom, which withstood successfully the attempts of the Portuguese and the Dutch to conquer the kingdom. This was partly due to the Kingdom using guerilla tactics rolling stones etc assisted by the Hill country terrain. I believe, The British succeeded due to their cunning diplomacy taking advantage of internal dissensions of the Kandyan chiefs, the Ehelopolas and the Mollegodas.
REX
My aging memory has not retained all the info I had in the past.
WITHIN THESE LIMITS, let me SAY THAT:
A: The British failed to conquer Kandy in 1803 and had to suppress a massive rebellion in 1818
B: Britain’s imperial military power in the 1800s and 1810s was probably of a higher order than that of the Portuguese and Dutch because of the spread-effects of the emerging industrial revolution and, more vitally, the improvements in experience an and capacities secured in the course of the French Revolutionary wars.
I will now circulate this mini debate among Sri Lankan specialists [those still alive] and encourage debate …. So that our analytical stock will profit yet more from your intervention.
Michael