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First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82)
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- The first Maratha war was a result of the excessive ambition of the English, accentuated by the internal strife of the Marathas. While the Bengal and Madras governments had increased their influence over Awadh and Carnatic respectively, the Bombay government had no such political achievement to its credit due to the presence of the powerful Maratha confederacy in the area and it had begun to feel somewhat belittled. It now cast its longing eyes upon the Maratha territories, particularly the ports of Salsette and Bassein and hoped to gain political influence at the Poona Court.
- The dispute over succession to the Peshwaship after the death of the Peshwa Madhav Rao gave the English the much-needed opportunity to intervene in the Maratha affairs.
- Thus, out of frustration, Raghunath Rao went over to the British and tried to capture power with their help. This was the immediate background of the first Anglo-Maratha war. The war began with the Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai.
- In Raghunath Rao, the Bombay government saw a plaint and a tool and hoped to set up in Maharashtra the type of dual government as Clive had done in Bengal.
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Treaty of Surat (7 March 1775)
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- This treaty was signed between Raghunath Rao (Raghoba) and the British Government at Bombay on 7 March 1775. There were 16 conditions in all in the treaty.
- As per the treaty it was decided that the British would help Raghunath Rao in becoming the Peshwa by sending 2500 soldiers.
- In return, Raghoba would cede territories of Salsette and Bassein and revenues from Surat and Bharoch to the British.
- In accordance with the Treaty of Surat, a British army reached Surat led by Colonel Keating. On 18 May 1775, at Adas (Battle of Adas) there took place a terrible battle between the English and the Maratha armies. In this battle, though the Marathas were defeated, they retained control over Poona.
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Treaty of Purandar (1 March 1776)
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- When a copy of the Treaty of Surat reached the superior British Government in Bengal, i.e. the Calcutta Council, it condemned the treaty as unjust and unauthorised.
- Further, Warren Hastings sent Colonel Upton to Poona Darbar and signed the treaty of Purandar. Thus, the Treaty of Purandar was signed between the British Government at Calcutta and Poona Court (Poona Darbar) and it stated the following:
- The Treaty of Surat was annulled.
- The British left the side of Raghoba and it was decided that Raghoba will be given a monthly pension of Rs 25,000 by Peshwa government and he will go to Gujarat and reside there in Kopar village.
- However, the Treaty of Purandar was not implemented due to a sudden turn of events. The American War of Independence had broken out in 1775 and in 1778 France joined on the American side against England. At the same time, a French adventurer, Chevalier de St. Lubin, reached Poona.
- This greatly alarmed Warren Hastings, who immediately scrapped the Treaty of Purandar, sent a large force to reinforce the Bombay government and sanctioned operations against the Marathas. Thus, the Bombay Government resumed the war and sent an army towards Poona under Colonel Egerton (who was later replaced by Colonel Cockburn).
- The English and the Maratha armies met on the outskirts of Poona. The Maratha army was led by the brilliant General Mahadji Shinde. He lured the English army into valleys of the Western Ghats near Talegaon (Battle of Talegaon, 9 January 1779) and trapped them from all sides. The Marathas also used the ‘scorched earth policy’, burning farmlands and poisoning wells.
- The English were forced to retreat to a village named Wadgaon.
- Finally, by mid-January 1779, the English surrendered and the Bombay Government was forced to sign a humiliating treaty with Poona Darbar called the Treaty of Wadgaon.
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Treaty of Wadgaon (1779)
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- As per this treaty, it was decided that the Bombay Government would return all territory conquered by it after 1773 and the Scindias will get a part of the revenue from Bharoch.
- Hastings refused to accept this humiliating Treaty of Wadgaon. He quickly sent an army from Bengal led by Colonel Goddard which soon captured Ahmedabad and Vasai. But this British army got defeated by the Marathas in Poona.
- Meanwhile, Hastings sent another detachment from Bengal led by Colonel Popham which captured Gwalior on 3 August 1781. General Camac also defeated Scindia in the Battle of Sipri (modern day Shivpur).
- Mahadji Scindia aspired to become the leader of the Maratha confederacy, and he therefore tried to strike a treaty with the British. Subsequently, an understanding was struck between Scindia and the English Company as the latter promised to allow him to carry out his designs in and around Delhi. Finally, the Treaty of Salbai was signed between the British and the Poona Government.
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Treaty of Salbai (Gwalior District, 1782)
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- This treaty was signed between the British and the Poona Government with the mediation of Mahadji Scindia.
- The treaty of Salbai was signed on the basis of mutual restitution of each other’s territories or ‘status quo ante helium’.
- The main provisions of this treaty were:
- Madhav Narayan Rao will be accepted as Peshwa.
- British will give up the cause of Raghoba and he be given yearly pension of Rs 3.5 lacs.
- The Company gave up Bassein and other territories captured since the Treaty of Purandar, but retained Salsette and the Elephanta Island.
- Scindia got back the entire territory on the west of Yamuna.
- In this way, the British attempt to gain supremacy in the Maratha state proved premature. The First Anglo-Maratha War was drawn. Both sides had a taste of each other’s strengths which ensured mutual respect and peace for the next 20 years. It also gave the British the needed time to concentrate on other fronts specially Mysore.
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Significance of the Treaty of Salbai
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- The Treaty of Salbai gave the British twenty years of peace with the Marathas, the strongest Indian power of the day. The British utilised this period to consolidate their rule over the Bengal Presidency.
- The Treaty saved the British from the combined opposition of Indian powers, as the British also had conflicts with major regional powers simultaneously.
- It allowed the British to exert pressure on Mysore as the Marathas promised to help them recover their territories from Haidar All.
- The British succeeded in dividing the Indian powers.
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Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05)
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- After the death of Tipu Sultan (1799), Marathas were the only major Indian power left outside British control.
- Lord Wellesley (Richard Wellesley) now turned his attention towards Marathas and began aggressive interference in their internal affairs.
- Richard Wellesley repeatedly offered a subsidiary alliance to the Peshwa and Sindhia, but Nana
Phadnis, who had kept the Maratha confederacy together for the last 30 years, refused to fall into the trap.
- The death of Nana Phadanvis in 1800 allowed the British to intervene in Maratha’s internal conflicts.
- The Maratha chiefs were engaged in a bitter conflict, with Yashwant Rao Holkar on one side and Daulat Rao Sindhia and Peshwa Baji Rao II on the other.
- On 25 October 1802, Holkar defeated the combined armies of the Peshwa and Sindhia.
- The cowardly Peshwa Baji Rao II rushed into the arms of the English and, on 31 December 1802, signed the Treaty of Bassein. By signing the Treaty of Bassein, Peshwa entered a Subsidiary alliance.
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Treaty of Bassein (1802)
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- The Company agreed to give the Peshwa a subsidiary force of six thousand regular Native Infantry.
- The Peshwa surrendered to the Company, a territory yielding an annual revenue of 26 lakhs of rupees.
- The Company obtained control over the Peshwa’s foreign relations and was to act as arbitrator in his disputes with the Nizam and Gaikwad.
- The Peshwa agreed not to employ Europeans without the British Government’s permission.
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Scindia and Bhosale
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- In this way, the Peshwa, i.e. the head of the Maratha confederacy, lost his independent authority and eventually the other Maratha chiefs were also reduced to a similar position of subordination to the Company. This affected the patriotic feelings of other Maratha chiefs and provoked the Second Anglo-Maratha War that began the breakup of the Maratha confederacy.
- Daulat Rao Scindia and Raghuji Bhonsle immediately formed an alliance against the English. They tried to include Yashwant Rao Holkar but could not succeed. Gaekwad remained neutral. Thus even in time of national danger, the Maratha chiefs did not unite.
- The English decided to attack all Maratha regions. The war was fought in two main centres – in Deccan under Arthur Wellesley and in North India under General Lake. It was also fought in three sub-centres namely – Gujarat, Bundelkhand and Orissa.
- In the Deccan, Wellesley defeated the combined armies of Scindia and Bhonsle in the Battle of Assaye (near Aurangabad, September 1803) and the Battle of Argaon (near Burhanpur, November 1803).
- In the north, Lord Lake defeated Daulat Rao Scindia in the Battle of Delhi (September 1803) and the combined armies of Scindia and Bhonsle in the Battle of Laswari (near Alwar, November 1803). General Lake captured Aligarh, Delhi and Agra.
- It is noteworthy that now the control of Delhi passed from the Marathas into British hands and once again the blind Mughal ruler, Shah Alam II, became a pensioner of the Company (He had first become a pensioner of the Company after his defeat in the Battle of Buxar in 1764).
- In this way, Scindia and Bhonsle faced total defeat within five months and had to sign two separate treaties with the English Company.
- Treaty of Deogaon (17 December 1803):
- This treaty of subsidiary alliance was signed between Raghuji Bhonsle and the Company.
- As per this treaty, Bhonsle lost to the English Company the territories of Balasore, Cuttack and entire kingdom west to the Wardha River.
- Bhonsle agreed to keep a British Resident in Nagpur.
- M Elphinstone was sent for this post.
- Treaty of Surji-Arjangaon (30 December 1803):
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- This treaty was signed between Scindia and the Company.
- As per this treaty, he gave the Company a large part of his kingdom including the territory between the Ganga and the Yamuna.
- He agreed to keep a British Resident Sir John Malcolm is his court.
- Mughal emperor Shah Alam II came under British protection
- The Treaty of Burhanpur was signed on 27 February 1804, in which Scindia agreed to enter into a subsidiary alliance with the British.
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War with Yashwant Rao Holkar
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- Until now Holkar had kept himself away from the war, but in April 1804, war between him and the British began.
- Holkar defeated Colonel Monson near Kota and advanced towards Delhi. But Delhi was successfully defended by local resident there, Lt. Colonel Octor Loni.
- One detachment of Holkar’s army was defeated in the Battle of Ding, while another detachment which was being led by Holkar himself was defeated by General Lake. Holkar fled to Amritsar and asked the Sikhs for help. But the Sikhs refused. Now he began considering peace with the British.
- At the same time, the shareholders of the EIC felt that continuous wars were proving costly. Company’s directors felt that it was time to stop expansion. Similarly, the home government in Britain was facing financial crunch at a time when Napoleon was reemerging as a threat in Europe.
- Thus Wellesley was recalled and Sir George Barlow was sent to India who made peace with Holkar. In this way, expansion under Wellesley was checked just before the end, yet the Company had now emerged as the supreme power in India.
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Treaty of Rajpurghat (24 December 1805)
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- This treaty was signed between Yashwant Rao Holkar and the English Company.
- As per this treaty, Holkar agreed to renounce all claims to the north of the River Chambal and the Bundi hills (Bundelkhand) but at the same time, he got back the major part of his lost kingdom.
- The English also promised not to disturb Holkar’s possessions in Mewar and Malwa.
- The Treaty of Rajpurghat marked the end of the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
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Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-19)
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- The third and final phase of Anglo-Maratha war started with the arrival of British Governor-General Lord Hastings. He tried to establish the supremacy of English East India Company in India and resumed the threads of aggressive policy abandoned in 1805 with the recall of Wellesley.
- The breathing space that the Marathas had got since 1805 was not utilised by consolidating their power but wasted in mutual conflicts. Hastings’ main objective now was to destroy the independence of the three Maratha rulers – the Bhonsle, the Scindia and the Holkar.
- The Bhonsle Raja of Berar proved to be the weakest link of the three Maratha chiefs. After the death of Raghuji Bhonsle on 22 March 1816, his son Parsoji’s succession to the gaddi was challenged by Parsojis cousin, Appa Sahib also known as Mudhoji II Bhonsle. The British Resident Jenkins saw in this the right opportunity to impose a subsidiary alliance on the state. Appa Sahib, in his keenness to gain the Company’s support, offered very favourable terms to the Company.
- Treaty of Nagpur (Subsidiary Alliance, 27 May 1816): Accordingly, on 27 May 1816, the treaty of Nagpur was signed between Appa Sahib and the English Company and subsidiary force was stationed at Nagpur.
- Peshwa Baji Rao II had earlier signed the Treaty of Bassein (December 1802) but with time, he had begun to feel strangulated and began to show signs of independence. He began to reassert his authority over the Gaekwad of Baroda, a feudatory of the English, and laid claim over the tribute of Kathiawar and Baroda. The Baroda sent its Chief Minister Gangadhar Shastri to negotiate with the Peshwa but the negotiations failed and Shastri was killed on his way back at Nasik at the instance of Trimbakji, the Chief Minister of Peshwa. The British Resident Elphinstone demanded the surrender of Trimbakji. While the Peshwa vacillated, the English Company prepared for war and its troops surrounded Poona. The Peshwa reluctantly surrendered and accepted the new treaty of Poona.
- Treaty of Poona (Subsidiary Alliance, 13 June 1817): As per this treaty, among other things, the Peshwa accepted the dissolution of the Maratha Confederacy, a milestone in the establishment of British Paramountcy in India. He also gave up some important forts to the Company including Konkan and ceded Bundelkhand, Malwa and Hindustan.
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- Daulat Rao Scindia was asked by Lord Hastings, who had arrived with a big force in September 1817, to either surrender or face war. Scindia surrendered and accepted a subsidiary alliance, yet it was a treaty of amity and friendship’ and Scindia continued to remain independent in many ways.
- Treaty of Gwalior (Subsidiary Alliance, 5 November 1817): Daulat Rao Scindia was also forced by the English to sign the Treaty of Gwalior. As per this treaty, he pledged to help the Company in suppressing the Pindaris, the irregular forces of the Marathas.
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- Thus the Third Maratha War began as a campaign against the Pindaris. The British troops were led by Lord Hastings supported by a force under General Thomas Hislop.
- Though the Maratha chiefs had been humbled, they had not yet reconciled with the loss of their independence, and they rose once again under the leadership of the Peshwa. Peshwa’s forces supported by those of Bhonsle (Mudhoji II Bhonsle, also known as Appa Sahib of Nagpur) and Holkar (Malhar Rao Holkar II of Indore) rose against the EIC. On 5 November 1817, the Peshwa set ablaze the British residency of Poona and attacked the British camp at Khadki. But the Peshwa was defeated at Khadki (also known as Kirkee or Ganesh Khind, 5 November), Bhonsle was defeated at Sitabaldi hills (26 November) and Holkar was defeated at Mehidpur (21 December 1817).
- Holkar and the Treaty of Mandsaur (Subsidiary Alliance, 6 January 1818):
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- Malhar Rao Holkar II of Indore was forced to sign the Treaty of Mandsaur and now a British Resident was placed in Indore.
- Holkar had to surrender all his territories south of the Narmada including Khandesh.
- He also renounced his claim over the Rajput states (later Scindia also ceded Ajmer and the Rajputana states which were under the control of Scindia and Holkar for last several decades now came under British control).
- Since the Holkar was only 11 years old, Tantia Jog was appointed as the Chief Minister. In this way, Holkar became the last Maratha chief to sign a subsidiary alliance with the British.
- After the defeat at Khadki, Peshwa fought two more battles with the British— Battle of Koregaon (1 January 1818) and the Battle of Ashti (20 February 1818). He was defeated in both the battles and finally surrendered in front of Sir John Malcolm. In this way, the entire Maratha force was routed by superior military power of the EIC.
- Hastings decided to get rid of both—the Peshwa and the Peshwaship. Hence, the Peshwa was dethroned, pensioned off and ordered to spend his last days in Bithoor near Kanpur. His kingdom was brought under British control and enlarged Presidency of Bombay was brought into existence.
- To satisfy Maratha pride, a small kingdom Satara of was carved out of Peshwas kingdom and given to Pratap Singh, a direct descendant of Shivaji.
- Thus by 1818, the entire Indian subcontinent except Sind (now spelled Sindh) and Punjab had been brought under British control, directly or indirectly.
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