1849
Battle of Gujrat
The setting
Gujrat, between the Chenab and the Jhelum in modern Punjab, Pakistan
Open plain with clear fields of fire in every direction - the exact opposite of Chillianwala, and chosen with that in mind.
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideSikh forces with an Afghan contingent
Recorded resultdefeated; the army dispersed and surrendered on 12 March 1849
Decisive British victory. The Punjab was annexed on 29 March 1849.
How the atlas explains it
Because Gough was finally made to fight the battle his army was equipped for. Under pressure after Chillianwala he opened with a two-and-a-half-hour artillery bombardment and did not send the infantry in until the Sikh guns had been beaten down. The casualty ratio between Chillianwala and Gujrat - 757 British dead against 96, five weeks apart, same general, same enemy - is the whole argument about his tactics, settled by his own two battles.
What followed
The end of the Sikh Empire and of independent Punjab. ⚠ It is also the atlas's cleanest natural experiment in command: one general, one army, one enemy, five weeks, and the only variable changed is whether the guns were used first. Nothing else in the atlas isolates a tactical choice that cleanly.