Tag Archives: Pune

The Marathas Part 18 The March to Destruction: 50 Years of Chaos Section VII: The Second Anglo-Maratha War

Canberra, 29 July 2022 The new regime in Pune, propped up and controlled by Yashwantrao Holkar was inherently flimsy by nature. For all his military acumen, Holkar was no visionary and did not have a long-term prescience to follow—his governing decisions were always short-sighted and opportunistic. On the other hand, the challenges to the government […]

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The Marathas Part 18 The March to Destruction Section VI: Acceleration of Decay and Dissolution

Canberra 21 July 2022 Richard Wellesley (1st Marquees Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington) was a member of the English East India Company’s Supreme Council in Calcutta from 1793 and was appointed the Governor–General in 1797, holding the post till 1805. When he took over, Nana Phadnavis in the last years of his life and in […]

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The Marathas Part 18 The March to Destruction: 50 Years of Chaos Section V: Every Man for Himself

Canberra, 15 July 2022 Although Raghunath Rao had died in December 1783, his legacy of creating disunity, chaos and turmoil lived on through the actions of his wife and three sons. There is no doubt that he had brought enormous misfortune on his country by his single-minded pursuit of his personal ambition, pushed to the […]

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The Marathas Part 18 The March to Destruction: 50 Years of Chaos Section I: Early English Invasions

Canberra, 23 June 2022 Moroba Phadnavis who was the prime plotter in the repeated attempts to capture the infant Peshwa, his mother and the senior ministers of the Federation had not been chastened and remained at large to further pursue his nefarious activities, brought on by his intense jealousy of his cousin Nana Phadnavis, the […]

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The Marathas Part 16 Raghunath Rao: Ambition Knows no Bounds

Canberra, 11 June 2022 As mentioned in the previous chapter, in June 1770 Madhav Rao was forced to hand over the Carnatic expedition to Trimbak Rao and return to Pune on account of his illness. He had inherited the tendency to be afflicted with consumption that had affected his father and grandfather and gradually the […]

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The Marathas Part 15 Peshwa Madhav Rao Section I: Accession, Rebellions and Consolidation

Canberra, 22nd May 2022 In 1761, the Maratha polity was reeling from the defeat in a battle that need not have been fought. The disaster was the culmination of extended ambition, unwanted hubris, inexperience in diplomacy, strategy, operational art and tactics and flawed command and control arrangements. The defeat of the magnificent Maratha army continues […]

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The Marathas Part 14 Peshwa Balaji Rao Section IV: The Battle of Panipat

4. MAJOR REASONS FOR THE MARATHA DEBACLE Canberra, 10th May 2022 The Maratha high command had not fully thought through the expedition to North India, before despatching Sadashiv Rao Bhau with an army and instructions that were ambiguous to achieve some vague and ill-defined objectives. The aim of the expedition can, at best, be described […]

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The Marathas Part 13 Peshwa Baji Rao I Section I: Taking Charge

Canberra, 24 November 2021 Two weeks after his father’s death, 22-year-old Baji Rao succeeded as the Peshwa, assuming office on 17th April 1720. There was opposition to his appointment because of his extreme youth and a demonstrated penchant for military adventures. He was also known for his characteristically open and direct manner of dealing with […]

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The Marathas Part 11 Beginning of the Maratha Confederacy

Canberra, 30 October 2021 Aurangzeb’s death initiated the inevitable succession struggle. Shah Alam, the eldest surviving son based in Peshawar, reached Delhi first and claimed the throne after taking over the treasury. Azam Shah from Ahmednagar opposed him and started the march north, without concluding any formal agreement with the marauding Marathas. On the advice […]

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The Marathas Part 9 Triumph of the Marathas

Canberra, 16 October 2021 Sambhaji’s brutal execution and Rajaram’s hurried flight to Ginji were events that severely shocked the Maratha psyche. However, the Marathas are one of the most resilient of peoples, oriented towards action and therefore, the despondency did not linger for long. In May 1690 a combined Maratha army, commanded by many military […]

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