Maratha wars
Maratha wars (Mahratta wars) Name given to three wars fought between 1775 and 1818 involving the English East India Company (EIC) and the confederacy of Maratha chiefs in western and northern India. Maratha power had begun as a Hindu challenge to Mughal domination of India during the 17th century and by the latter part of the 18th century had become the dominant force in northern and western India and the principal rival of the EIC. The Maratha confederacy consisted of the fiefs of many semi-independent chiefs, of whom the most prominent were Holkar, Sindhia, the Bhonsla of Berar (Nagpur), and the Gaekwar of Baroda, grouped under the leadership of the Peshwa in Poona (Pune).
The first Anglo-Maratha war arose out of the interference of the EIC's Bombay government in Maratha affairs in the hope of obtaining some territorial advantage following Panipat. Bombay supported Raghunath Rao, a contender for power in Poona, and in 1778 Gov Gen Warren Hastings despatched a force from Bengal under Col Leslie, who was succeeded by Col Goddard. Before Goddard's arrival, an EIC force from Bombay force had attempted to penetrate to Poona, failed, and had been obliged to sign a convention abandoning all territorial gains (1779). Hastings, who had hoped to gain control over the Maratha confederacy, now found himself at war with the whole of it and with the states of Mysore and Hyderabad as well. After two years of desultory campaigning in which Goddard obtained some victories, peace was made at Salbai (May 1782) in which the EIC relinquished all gains since 1776.
The Treaty of Salbai was followed by twenty years of peace between the Marathas and the EIC during which time Sindhia rose to pre-eminence by virtue of his extensive conquests in northern India and his disciplined infantry and artillery trained by a French adventurer, Benoit de Boigne. (The traditional Maratha military system had been based on light cavalry, raids, and attacks on enemy communications.) The second Anglo-Maratha war began when the governor general, then Lord Wellesley, saw an opportunity to establish British control over the confederacy by a treaty with the Peshwa (Bassein 1802). The Bassein arrangement was resented by the other Maratha chiefs and Wellesley became involved in a war which took the form of extensive connected operations throughout India. There were four theatres of operations. In Orissa operations against the Bhonsla gave Britain territory which enabled the Bombay and Madras presidencies to link up. In Gujerat Broach was seized from Sindhia. But the main operations were in central India where the governor general's brother Arthur (later Wellington) defeated the forces of Sindhia and the Bhonsla (battles of Assaye and Argaum) and in northern India where the C-in-C, Lord Lake, attacked the French-trained forces of Sindhia in the Ganges-Jumna Doab and was victorious at Delhi and Laswari.
By the end of 1803 these victories and conquests were consolidated in peace treaties with Sindhia and the Bhonsla. Holkar was not included and in 1804 war commenced against his forces in Hindustan and the Deccan. The EIC forces suffered two heavy reverses, first when, after an imprudent advance, Col Monson retreated precipitately and lost his guns and many men, and, second, in January and February 1805 when Lake failed to take Bharatpur by assault and suffered considerable losses. Although it seemed probable that Holkar would eventually be defeated, London had had enough of war. Lord Wellesley resigned and was replaced by Lord Cornwallis with instructions to make peace and abandon the attempt to extend British power beyond the river Jumna and to control the Marathas.
In the following years the Maratha territories increasingly became a refuge for plundering bands of irregular cavalry known as Pathans and Pindaris. British indignation at the activities of the bands eventually boiled over and in 1816 Gov Gen Lord Hastings set in motion an extensive plan to bring them under control. This plan involved allying with some of the Marathas and the Rajput states beyond the Jamna and launching military operations against the Pathans and Pindaris from the north and the south. Inevitably the war spread and the main Maratha chiefs were drawn in and duly defeated: the Peshwa at Kirkee (6 November 1817), the Bhonsla at Sitabaldi (27 November 1817), and Holkar at Mahidpur (21 December 1817) ; the first were two brilliant defensive actions and the last an expensive charge straight at the enemy guns. The danger from the Pathans and Pindaris was eliminated by a mixture of military action and conciliation. By the conclusion of hostilities in 1818 Britain was paramount throughout India as far as the borders of the Punjab and Sind.
Bibliography
- Bhattacharyya, Sukumar, The Rajput States and the East India Company (London, 1972).
- Roberts, P. E., India under Wellesley (London, 1929).
- Roy, M. P., The Origin, Growth and Suppression of the Pindaris (London, 1973).
- Sen, S. N, The Military System of the Marathas (London, 1928).
- —— Anglo-Maratha Relations (London, 1961)
— Malcolm E. Yapp
