SECOND MARATHA WAR 1803-05
After the fall of Mysore in 1799–1800, the Marathas were the only major power left outside British control in India. The Marathas were the largest and most dominant power in the subcontinent. The Maratha Empire at that time consisted of a confederacy of five major chiefs: the Peshwa (Prime Minister) at the capital city of Poona, the Gaekwad chief of Baroda, the Scindia chief of Gwalior, the Holkar chief of Indore, and the Bhonsale chief of Nagpur. The Maratha chiefs were engaged in internal quarrels among themselves. Lord Mornington, the Governor-General of British India had repeatedly offered a subsidiary treaty to the Peshwa and Scindia, but Nana Fadnavis refused strongly.
In October 1802, the combined armies of Peshwa Baji Rao II and Scindia were defeated by Yashwantrao Holkar, ruler of Indore, at the Battle of Poona. Baji Rao fled to British protection, and in December the same year concluded the Treaty of Bassein with the British East India Company, ceding territory for the maintenance of a subsidiary force and agreeing to treaty with no other power. The treaty would become the "death knell of the Maratha Empire."[2
The British had available over 53,000 men to help accomplish their goals.[2]:66–67
In September 1803, Scindia forces lost to Lord Gerard Lake at Delhi and to Arthur Wellesley at Assaye. On 18 October, British forces took the pettah of Asirgarh Fort with a loss of two killed and five wounded. The fort's garrison subsequently surrendered on the 21st after the attackers had erected a battery.[citation needed] British artillery pounded ancient ruins used by Scindia forces as forward operating bases, eroding their control. In November, Lake defeated another Scindia force at Laswari, followed by Wellesley's victory over Bhonsale forces at Argaon (now Adgaon) on 29 November 1803.[3] The Holkar rulers of Indore belatedly joined the fray and compelled the British to make peace. Maharata army was totally wiped
Conclusion
On December 17, 1803, Raghoji II Bhonsale of Nagpur signed the Treaty of Deogaon.[2]:73 in Odisha with the British after the Battle of Argaon and gave up the province of Cuttack (which included Mughalbandi/the coastal part of Odisha, Garjat/the princely states of Odisha, Balasore Port, parts of Midnapore district of West Bengal).
On 30 December 1803, the Daulat Scindia signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon with the British[2]:73 after the Battle of Assaye and Battle of Laswari and ceded to the British Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmmadnagar.
The British started hostilities against Yashwantrao Holkar on 6 April 1804. The Treaty of Rajghat, signed on 24 December 1805, forced Holkar to give up Tonk, Rampura, and Bundi.[2]:9
FOURTH MARATHA WAR 1817-19
The Maratha Empire had partly declined due to the Second Anglo-Maratha War .[21] Efforts to modernize the armies were half-hearted and undisciplined: newer techniques were not absorbed by the soldiers while the older methods and experience was outdated and obsolete.[21] The Maratha Empire lacked an efficient spy system, and had weak diplomacy compared to the British. Maratha artillery was outdated, and weapons were imported. Foreign officers were responsible for the handling of the imported guns; the Marathas never used their own men in considerable numbers for the purpose. Although Maratha infantry was praised by the likes of Wellington, they were poorly led by their generals and heavily relied on mercenaries (known as Pindaris).The confederate like structure that evolved within the empire created a lack of unity needed for the wars.[21]
Mountstuart Elphinstone
At the time of the war, the power of the British East India Company was on the rise, whereas the Maratha Empire was on the decline. The British had been victorious in the previous Anglo-Maratha war and the Marathas were at their mercy. The Peshwa of the Maratha Empire at this time was Baji Rao II. Several Maratha leaders who had formerly sided with the Peshwa were now under British control or protection. The British had an arrangement with the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha province of Baroda to prevent the Peshwa from collecting revenue in that province. Gaekwad sent an envoy to the Peshwa in Pune to negotiate a dispute regarding revenue collection. The envoy, Gangadhar Shastri, was under British protection. He was murdered, and the Peshwa's minister Trimbak Dengle was suspected of the crime.
The British seized the opportunity to force Baji Rao into a treaty.[22] The treaty (The Treaty of Pune) was signed on 13 June 1817. Key terms imposed on the Peshwa included the admission of Dengle's guilt, renouncing claims on Gaekwad, and surrender of significant swaths of territory to the British
British planning
To lead an army against the Pindaris in the hope of engaging them in a regular battle was not possible. To effectively crush the Pindaris, they would have to be surrounded so that they could have no means of escape.[42] Francis Rawdon-Hastings obtained authority from the British government to take action against the Pindaris[41] while performing diplomacy with the principal Maratha leaders to act in concert with him. The Pindaris continued to have the sympathy of almost all the Maratha leaders. In 1817 Rawdon-Hastings collected the strongest British army which had yet been seen in India, numbering roughly 120,000 men. The army was assembled from two smaller armies, the Grand Army or Bengal army in the north under his personal command, and the Army of the Deccan under General Hislop in the south.[43] The British plan was to normalize relations with the Shinde, Holkar, and Amir Khan.
The three were known to be well disposed towards the Pindaris and harboured them in their territories. Shinde was secretly planning with the Peshwa and the Nepal Ministry to form a coalition against the British. His correspondence with Nepal was intercepted and presented to him in Durbar.[44] He was forced to enter into a treaty by which he pledged to assist the British against the Pindaris and to prevent any new gangs being formed in his territory. Diplomacy, pressure, and the treaty of Gwalior kept Shinde out of the war. Amir Khan disbanded his army on condition of being guaranteed the possession of the principality of Tonk in Rajputana. He sold his guns to the British and agreed to prevent predatory gangs from operating from his territory.[44] The army for the war was composed of two armies, the Grand Army or the Bengal Army with a strength of 40,000 troops and the Army of the Deccan with a strength of 70,400. The Grand Army was divided into three divisions and a reserve. The left division was led by Major General Marshall and the central division was under Francis Rawdon-Hastings
Pindaris
After the second Anglo-Maratha war, Shinde and Holkar had lost many of their territories to the British. They encouraged the Pindaris to raid the British territories.[39] The Pindaris, who were mostly cavalry, came to be known as the Shindeshahi and the Holkarshahi after the patronage they received from the respective defeated Maratha leaders.[32] The Pindari leaders were Setu, Karim Khan, Dost Mohammad, Tulsi, Imam Baksh, Sahib Khan, Kadir Baksh, Nathu, and Bapu. Of these, Setu, Karim Khan, and Dost Mohammad belonged to Shindeshahi and the rest to Holkarshahi.[40] The total strength of the Pindaris in 1814 was estimated at 33,000.[3 The Pindaris frequently raided villages in Central India. The result of the Pindari raids was that Central India was being rapidly reduced to the condition of a desert because the peasants were unable to support themselves on the land. They had no option but to join the robber bands or starve.[41] In 1815, 25,000 Pindaris entered the Madras Presidency and destroyed over 300 villages on the Coromandel coast. Another band swept the Nizam's kingdom while a third entered Malabar. Other Pindari raids on British territory followed in 1816 and 1817. Francis Rawdon-Hastings saw that there could not be peace or security in India until the predatory Pindaris were extinguished.[42]
Attack on the Pindaris
The attack on the Pindaris was carried out as planned. The Pindaris were attacked, and their homes were surrounded and destroyed.
Karim and Setu had still 23,000 men between them but such a force was no match for the armies that surrounded them. In whatever direction they turned they were met by British forces. Defeat followed defeat. One gang made their escape to the south, leaving all their baggage behind them. Many fled to the jungles and perished. Others sought refuge in the villages, but were killed without mercy by the villagers who had not forgotten the sufferings they had been inflicted upon by the Pindaris.
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