4 Nepal's Foreign Policy since Prithvi Narayan Shah

The classical era — Prithvi Narayan Shah (reigned 1743–1775): unification (1768 Kathmandu) created a Himalayan state between two empires. His Divya Upadesh's immortal image — Nepal as "a yam between two boulders" — prescribed friendship with the Chinese emperor and careful management of the southern (British) power: the founding document of Nepali balance-of-power statecraft.The Anglo-Nepal War and Sugauli (1814–1816): over-expansion met the East India Company; the Treaty of Sugauli (1816) ceded Kumaon-Garhwal, Sikkim and much of the Terai, admitted a British Resident, and fixed the Mechi–Mahakali boundaries — but Nepal retained independence (never a colony), the fact that organizes all later policy. War's lesson: capacity limits; peace's compensation: the Resident era's cautious engagement.The Rana century (1846–1950): Jung Bahadur's Britain-tilted alignment (military aid to Britain in 1857 earning the returned Terai districts; the 1855–56 Tibet campaign and Thapathali treaty), studied isolation (barring foreigners), and the crowning achievement of the era: the Treaty ofPerpetual Peace and Friendship with Britain (1923), recognizing Nepal's full sovereignty and independence — the first great-power charter of Nepali statehood. WWII's Gurkha service; then 1947: British withdrawal from India collapsed the patronage structure.The transition and the twin treaties (1947–1960): Rana fall and Delhi Compromise (1951); the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India (Unit 7); UN membership (14December 1955) — the passport to the world; diplomatic relations…