Second Mahratta War

Second Anglo-Maratha War

Part of the Anglo-Maratha Wars

The Battle of Assaye, a painting by J.C. Stadler

Date

1803 to 1805

Location

Central India

Result

British victory.

Belligerents

East India Company

Maratha Empire

Commanders and leaders

Yashwantrao Holkar
Pierre Cuillier-Perron

Units involved

Lake & Wellesley:

4 regiments European cavalry
8 regiments Native cavalry
2 regiments British infantry
17 sepoy battalions
Artillery

Shock Infantry forces

Strength

Lake, Wellesley, & Stevenson:

27,313 (not including artillery lascars & Madras Pioneers)

~100,000 soldiers

British victory.

Lake & Wellesley:

Lake, Wellesley, & Stevenson:

The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.

The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War, continued with his "fugitive" son, Baji Rao II. Though not as martial in his courage as his father, the son was "a past master in deceit and intrigue." Coupled with his "cruel streak", Baji Rao II soon provoked the enmity of Malhar Rao Holkar when he had one of Holkar's relatives killed.

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."

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Wikipedia