How the 3 wars with British led to the decline of mighty Maratha empire

 

The beginning of the 18^th  century saw the gradual decline of the Mughal rule in India. At the same time the many foreign countries were trying to increase their base in India . The British and the Portuguese had already established their trading  settlements in many parts of India with the help of the local rulers.

The mighty British empire was challenged from all sides by many local rulers. In Deccan region Chatrapati Shivaji had established his sway and started ruling this region by himself. He called his rule as “Rayatecha Rajya” meaning the rule of people.

On one hand British and other European trading companies started occupying some small areas from the local rulers. The colonial greed of these trading companies started increasing and they were also fighting among themselves for obtaining rights of some areas.

As the Marathas were ruling the Deccan region it is obvious that they would come across. Marathas were powerful and were large in number as compare to British. But British were expert in tactics. They had already executed many policies to obtain areas  from the local rulers .

Marathas were the only rulers after the Mughals who had dominated nearly whole of India. But the battle of plassey in 1761 had nearly ended the dominance of the Marathas.

British had established their centre at the Bengal and were in constant struggle with the French to obtain controls of some areas. As British wanted the gain the control of Deccan they had to defy Marathas . This resulted in the series 3 battles between Marathas and British.

In this article we are going to see how British had extended their power in India. We will also going to see what was the condition of British rule in India in 18^th century.

After the expedition of Vasco da Gama many European trading companies were started coming to India in search of spices. Initially they obtained grant from the local locals for establishing their factories. As number of trading  companies grew there increases the competition between them.

British emerged as powerful among all the European countries by defeating all of them. Battle of plassey and Buxar had nearly transferred the power in Bengal in the hands of British. Now British had turned their expedition towards the Deccan where Marathas were in power.

East India company in initial days

East India company came to India as a trading company. They had obtained many trading rights from the Indian rulers. As French had already surrendered to British after three wars between them now only British had remained in India . They took the advantage of this monopoly and persuaded many Indian rulers to accept their sovereignty.

The battle of Plassey(1757) and battle of Buxar(1760) had resulted in the emergence of British as a sole controller of Bengal. They made Bengal as their capital as this was secure from the ongoing Afghan threats from the northwest frontier of the India. Also Bengal was away from Maratha empire which was most powerful in India at that time.

Maratha empire in the 18^th century

Under the leadership of Balaji Vishwanath the Maratha had extended their power on area outside the Maharashtra. Already the leadership of Maratha empire had transferred in the hands of Peshwa who were minister in the court of Sambhaji.  And the post of Peshwa became hereditary.

The son of Balaji Vishwanath Balaji Bajirao had not only made the empire enlarged but also reinstalled the Jagirdari system as a result of which many local Maratha ruling clans became rulers like Bhosale of Nagpur, Gaikwad of Badoda, Scindias of Gwalior and Holkar of Indore.

During this time there was a threat of Ahmed shah Abdali from the northwest border of India. He was threatening India from time to time . The Punjab was a bone of contention between them . The war was inevitable and hence happened the third was of Panipat . Marathas had to suffered huge loss in this battle and son of Balaji Bajirao was killed . Balaji Bajirao also died the same year. So this was said to be the starting of declining of Maratha power.

First Anglo-Maratha war

The colonial desires of British had brought them into the war with Marathas of Deccan. The internal problems in the peshwa family had led to the first Anglo- Maratha war . This was the war between the two mighty powers in India at that time. The war took place in 1775 in which Marathas had to suffered loss .Raghunath rao had declared as a Peshwa.

The first Anglo-Maratha was resulted in many important changes in the geopolitics of India. Madhav rao Narayan had declared as a next Peshwa. British had returned to Scindias  all the areas on the western side of Yamuna. And it is decided that British and Maratha will be remains as friends from now.

British took advantage of this friendship to attack Mysore which was a big obstacle to British in the south. Hence the war had benefited more to British than Marathas .

2^nd Anglo- Maratha war (1803-06)

The first anglo-maratha war was not a end to the fight for supremacy over the Deccan region. The main reason behind the second Anglo-Maratha war was the colonial desire of the British. They had already gained the dominance over the Bengal and Mysore and wanted to establish their control over the Deccan. So it was necessary to defeat Marathas in a war. This time also the internal rebellion helped British in fighting against the Marathas .

So now British had direct or indirect control over whole of India.

Third Anglo-Maratha war

The second anglo-maratha was had not ended the tension between them. Marathas wanted to take the revenge of their defeat and to regain their power. On the other side British wanted to apply the final sword and to establish their power over the Deccan region.

Warren hasting was appointed as Governor-General in 1813. He had applied many policies to persuade local rulers to accept the British supremacy over them.

This policy of Warren Hasting has result in the third aglo-maratha war. .

Hence the third anglo-maratha war had formerly made British as a dominant power over whole of India.