Nuwakot Prithvi Narayan Shah's annexation campaign began with the nearby kingdom of
Nuwakot. Nuwakot marked the eastern boundary of the Gorkha Kingdom and was part of the trade route between Tibet and Kathmandu. It was also the western gateway to the Kathmandu Valley.
Nara Bhupal Shah, Prithvi Narayan Shah's father, had attempted to invade
Nuwakot in 1700, but failed. At that time, Nuwakot was under the administrative control of
Kantipur (known today as
Kathmandu). Kantipur supported Nuwakot against the invasion. Following his defeat, Nara Bhupal Shah gave up his efforts and handed administrative power over to his eldest son,
Prithvi Narayan Shah and Chandraprabhawati, his eldest queen. In the very year of his coronation, Prithvi Narayan Shah sent Gorkhali troops under Kaji
Biraj Thapa Magar to attack Nuwakot. The campaign failed. wearing
Khukuri, a
Pande Chhetri aristocrat;
Kaji (Prime Minister and Army Chief) of
Gorkha Kingdom.
Kalu Pande was then made Commander-in-Chief of the Gorkhali Army.
Jayant Rana Magar (former
Kaji of Gorkha) was made General of the kingdom of Kantipur by Jaya Prakash Malla to defend Nuwakot against Gorkha. Kalu Pande advised Prithvi Narayan Shah to raise a standing army by conscripting men from other regions. A newly fortified Gorkhali force again attacked Nuwakot in 1744 from three sides and managed to capture the hill fort on September 26, 1744. However, the next year, King
Jaya Prakash Malla of Kantipur sent a force under
Kashiram Thapa to retake the fort, after defeating the Gorkhali forces at Naldum. Kashiram was repelled and the Gorkhali seized permanent control of Nuwakot.
Tanahun While Prithvi Narayan Shah was occupied with Nuwakot, Tanahun, a small kingdom to the west, took advantage of the king's absence to invade the Gorkha kingdom. Tanahun troops crossed the Chepe river and captured Sirhanchowk. But reinforcements from both Nuwakot and Gorkha managed to rout the invaders and considerably weaken Lamjung. Prithvi Narayan Shah wanted to use the occasion to invade Tanahun and annex it. However, he was advised against an open attack as King Tribikram Sen of Tanahun was an old friend of his father's. Prithvi Narayan Shah thus invited Tribikram Sen to the banks of the Trishuli river on the pretext of a friendly visit and then took him into custody. Tribikram Sen was imprisoned in Nuwakot and Tanahun was officially annexed to the burgeoning Gorkha Empire.
Makwanpur and Hariharpur As part of his goal of taking the Kathmandu Valley, Prithvi Narayan had planned to first conquer all of the kingdoms and principalities surrounding the Kathmandu Valley. Sensing danger, King Digbardhan Sen and his minister Kanak Singh Baniya of
Makwanpur sent their families to safer grounds before they were encircled by the Gorkhalis, who launched an attack on 17 August 1762. The battle lasted for around eight hours and while Makwanpur was annexed, King Digbardhan and Kanak Singh escaped to Hariharpur Gadhi. After occupying the Makwanpur, the Gorkhali forces planned to take Hariharpur Gadhi, a strategic fort on a mountain ridge of the Mahabharat range, also south of Kathmandu. It controlled another route to the Kathmandu valley. On 4 October 1762, the Gorkhalis launched Hariharpur. The soldiers there fought valiantly against the Gorkha forces, but were ultimately forced to vacate the fort. About 500 soldiers from Hariharpur died in the battle. Mir Qasim's forces arrived in Makwanpur in January 1763 and launched an attack on Dadhuwa Gadhi, one of three defensive positions the Gorkhalis had set up around Makwanpur fort. Gurgin Khan's 3,500 soldiers managed to capture Dadhuwa Gadhi from 400 or so Gorkha soldiers. The two forces fought on the plain of Tyangla Phant in the northwest of
Kirtipur. Kalu Pande was killed in the battle while Prithvi Narayan himself narrowly escaped with his life into the surrounding hills disguised as a
saint. In 1764, Prithvi Narayan assaulted Kirtipur a second time. The attacking forces were under the command of Surapratap Shah, Prithvi Narayan's brother. The Gorkhalis were defeated once again and Surapratap lost his right eye to an arrow while scaling the city. A noble of Lalitpur named Danuvanta crossed over to Shah's side and let the Gorkhalis into the town.''
Ram Krishna Kunwar, senior military commander of Gorkhali forces The victory in the Battle of Kirtipur made Shah's two-decade-long effort to take possession of the Kathmandu Valley possible. After the fall of Kirtipur, Shah took the city-state of
Kathmandu in 1768. That same year he also took possession of Lalitpur. In 1769 he took possession of
Bhaktapur, completing his conquest of the Nepal Valley. In a letter to
Ram Krishna Kunwar, King Prithvi Narayan Shah was unhappy at the death of Kaji
Kalu Pande in
Kirtipur and thought it was impossible to conquer
Kathmandu Valley after the death of Kalu Pande. After the annexation of Kathmandu Valley, King
Prithvi Narayan Shah praised in his letter about the valour and wisdom shown by Ramkrishna in the annexation of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur (i.e. the Nepal valley at the time) in 1768-69 A.D. Similarly,
Vamsharaj Pande, Kalu Pande's eldest son, was the army commander who led attack of Gorkhali side on the
Battle of Bhaktapur on 14 April 1769 A.D. After his conquest of the Kathmandu Valley, Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered other smaller territories south of the valley to keep other smaller fiefdoms near his Gurkha state out of British rule. After his kingdom spread from north to south, he made Kantipur the capital of the expanded country, which was then known as the Kingdom of Gorkha (Gorkha Samrajya).
Sen Kingdom ''
Abhiman Singh Basnyat, a military commander and later
Chief Minister (Mulkaji) King
Prithvi Narayan Shah had deployed
Sardar Ram Krishna Kunwar to the invasion of
Kirant regional areas comprising; Pallo Kirant (
Limbuwan), Wallo Kirant and Majh Kirant (Khambuwan). On 29 August 1772, Ram Krishna crossed the
Dudhkoshi river to invade the lands of King Karna Sen of Kirant and the Saptari region with fellow commander
Abhiman Singh Basnyat. He crossed the
Arun River to reach
Chainpur. Later, he achieved victory over the rulers of the Kirant region. King Prithvi Narayan Shah bestowed 22 pairs of Shirpau (special headgear) on Ram Krishna Kunwar in appreciation of his victory over the rulers of the Kirant region. ==Post death of Prithvi Narayan Shah==