Bhutan had successfully developed control over the…

Bhutan had successfully developed control over the principality of Cooch Behar in the early eighteenth century.

The raja of Cooch Behar had sought assistance from Bhutan against the Indian Mughals in 1730, and Bhutanese political influence was not long in following.

By the mid-1760s, Thimphu considered Cooch Behar its dependency, stationing a garrison force there and directing its civil administration.

When the druk desi invades Sikkim in 1770, Cooch Behari forces join their Bhutanese counterparts in the offensive.

In a succession dispute in Cooch Behar two years later, however, the druk desi's nominee for the throne is opposed by a rival who invited British troops, and, in effect, Cooch Behar becomes a dependency of the British East India Company.