Battle of Palkhed

Part of Imperial Maratha Conquests

Date	February 28, 1728
Location	Palkhed, Maharashtra, India
Result	Decisive Maratha victory

Belligerents

Maratha Empire

Nizam of Hyderabad

Commanders and leaders

Peshwa Bajirao I

Asaf Jah I

The Battle of Palkhed was fought on February 28, 1728 at the village of Palkhed, near the city of Nashik, Maharashtra, India between the Maratha Peshwa, Baji Rao I and the Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad. The Marathas defeated the Nizam.

The battle is considered an example of brilliant execution of military strategy.

The seeds of this battle go to the year 1713, when Maratha King Shahu, appointed Balaji Vishwanath as his Peshwa or Prime Minister. Within a decade, Balaji had managed to extract a significant amount of territory and wealth from the fragmenting Mughal Empire. In 1724, Mughal control lapsed, and Asaf Jah, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared himself independent of Mughal rule.

The Nizam set about strengthening the province by attempting to control the growing influence of the Marathas. He utilized a growing polarization in the Maratha Empire due to the claim of the title of King by both Shahu and Sambhaji II of Kolhapur. The Nizam began supporting the Sambhaji faction, which enraged Shahu who had been proclaimed as King. The Nizam further decided to halt chauth given by many landowners of the Deccan province to the Marathas, as had been agreed by the Syed Brothers in 1719.

The battle plan was set by the withdrawal of Baji Rao's army from the southern reaches of the Maratha empire during May 1727. This was followed by Shahu breaking off negotiations with the Nizam-ul-Mulk about restoration of the chauth.

The Nizam pursued Baji Rao's army around the vicinity of Pune for about six months, where Baji Rao executed a series of thrust and parry moves to finally corner the Nizam at Palkhed.

The Palkhed campaign of 1728, is notable for two reasons. First, this campaign has been chosen as brilliant in strategy ("A masterpiece of strategic mobility...") by Field Marshal Montgomery in his book, A History of Warfare. Whether this was a completely pre-planned strategy, or clever improvization in response to circumstances, is not known. Secondly, the success of this campaign established the Maratha supremacy in the Deccan – and gave way for further adventures.

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Wikipedia