Kingdom of Nepal

The Kingdom of Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल अधिराज्य) was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia, formed in 1768 by the expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom, and disestablished and replaced by the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2008. The king of Nepal served as its head of state, and it was also known as the Gorkha Empire (Nepali: गोरखा अधिराज्य), or sometimes Asal Hindustan (Nepali: असल हिन्दुस्तान, lit. 'Real Land of the Hindus'). The kingdom was founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha monarch of the Shah dynasty who claimed to be of Thakuri origin from chaubisi.

After the invasion of Tibet and plundering of Digarcha by Nepali forces under Prince Regent Bahadur Shah in 1792, the Dalai Lama and Chinese Ambans reported to the Chinese administration for military support. The Chinese and Tibetan forces under Fuk'anggan attacked Nepal but went for negotiations after failure at Nuwakot. Mulkaji Damodar Pande, who was the most influential among the four Kajis, was appointed after the removal of Bahadur Shah. Chief Kaji (Mulkaji) Kirtiman Singh Basnyat, tried to protect king Girvan Yuddha Shah and keep former king, Rana Bahadur Shah away from Nepal. However, on 4 March 1804, the former king came back and took over as Mukhtiyar and Damodar Pande was then beheaded in Thankot. The 1806 Bhandarkhal massacre instigated upon the death of Rana Bahadur Shah, set forth the rise of the authoritative Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa, who became the de facto ruler of Nepal from 1806 to 1837. During the early nineteenth century, however, the expansion of the East India Company's rule in India led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816), which resulted in Nepal's defeat.

Under the Treaty of Sugauli, the kingdom retained its internal independence, but in exchange for territorial concessions, marking the Mechi and Sharda rivers as the boundary of Nepalese territories. The territory of the kingdom before the Sugauli treaty is sometimes nascently referred to as Greater Nepal. In the political scenario, the death of Mukhtiyar Mathbar Singh Thapa ended the Thapa hegemony and set the stage for the Kot massacre. This resulted in the ascendancy of the Rana dynasty of Khas (Chhetri) and made the office of the Prime Minister of Nepal hereditary in their family for the next century, from 1843 to 1951. Beginning with Jung Bahadur, the first Rana ruler, the Rana dynasty reduced the Shah monarch to a figurehead role. The Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.

King Tribhuvan played a significant role in ending the autocratic Rana regime and initiating the democratic movement in Nepal. During the rule of the Rana dynasty (1846–1951), the Shah monarchs had little real power, with the hereditary prime ministers from the Rana family exercising absolute control. However, Tribhuvan maintained covert support for political movements working to establish democracy, including ties with the Nepali Congress and other anti-Rana groups. In November 1950, amidst growing political unrest and demands for reform, King Tribhuvan sought asylum in the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and later went into exile in India with most of the royal family. The Rana regime briefly declared his grandson, Gyanendra, as the new king, a move that was not recognized internationally.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to implement reforms and adopt a constitution during the 1960s and 1970s. An economic crisis at the end of the 1980s led to a popular movement that brought about parliamentary elections and the adoption of a constitutional monarchy in 1990. The 1990s saw the beginning of the Nepalese Civil War (1996–2006), a conflict between government forces and the insurgent forces of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

The Nepalese monarchy was further destabilised by the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre, which resulted in Gyanendra assuming the throne again. His imposition of direct rule in 2005 provoked a protest movement unifying the Maoist insurgency and pro-democracy activists. He was eventually forced to restore the House of Representatives, which in 2007 adopted an interim constitution greatly restricting the powers of the Nepalese monarchy. Following an election held the next year, the Nepalese Constituent Assembly formally voted to declare a republic in its first session on 28 May 2008.