First Anglo-Maratha War

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The First Anglo-Maratha War was the first of three Anglo-Maratha wars fought between the British East India Company and Maratha Empire in India. The war began with the Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai.

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[edit] Background

After the death of Madhavrao Peshwa in 1772, his brother Narayanrao Peshwa ascended the position of Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. However, Raghunathrao, Narayanrao's uncle, had his nephew assassinated in a palace conspiracy that placed Raghunathrao as the next Peshwa, although he was not a legal heir.

Narayanrao's widow, Gangabai, gave birth to a posthumous son. The newborn infant was named 'Sawai' Madhavrao (Sawai means “One and a Quarter”) and legally was the next Peshwa. Twelve Maratha chiefs, led by Nana Phadnis directed an effort to name the infant as the new Peshwa and rule under him as regents. Raghunathrao, unwilling to give up his position of power, sought help from the British at Bombay and signed the Treaty of Surat on March 6, 1775.

According to the treaty, Raghunathrao ceded the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British along with parts of revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts. In return, the British were to provide Raghunathrao with 2,500 soldiers. The British Calcutta Council, on the other side of India, condemned the Treaty of Surat and sent Colonel Upton to Pune to annul it. The Colonel was also sent to make a new treaty with the regency that renounced Raghunath and promised him a pension. Treaty of Purandhar (March 1, 1776), annulled that of Surat. Raghunath was pensioned and his cause abandoned, but Salsette and the Broach revenues were retained by the British. The Bombay government rejected this and gave refuge to Raghunath. In 1777 Nana Phadnis violated his treaty with the Calcutta Council by granting the French a port on the west coast. The British replied by sending a force towards Pune. The tangle was increased by the support of the London authorities for Bombay, which in 1778–79 again supported Raghunath. Peace was finally restored in 1782.

[edit] Battle of Wadgaon

The East India Company's force from Bombay consisted of about 3,900 men (about 600 Europeans, the rest Asian) accompanied by many thousands of servants and specialist workers. They were joined on the way by Raghunath's forces, adding several thousand more soldiers, and more artillery. The Maratha army included forces contributed by all the partners in the federation, tens of thousands in all, commanded by the brilliant Tukojirao Holkar and General Mahadji Shinde (also known as Mahadji Sindia). Mahadji slowed down the British march and sent forces west to cut off its supply lines. When they found out about this, the British halted at Talegaon, a few hours' brisk march from Pune, but days away for the thousands of support staff with their ox-drawn carts. Now the Maratha cavalry harassed the enemy from all sides. The Marathas also utilized a scorched earth policy, burning farmland and poisoning wells. The British began to withdraw from Talegaon in the middle of the night, but the Marathas attacked, forcing them to halt in the village of Wadgaon (now called Vadgaon Maval), where the British force was surrounded on 12 January 1779. By the end of the next day, the British were ready to discuss surrender terms, and on 16 January signed the Treaty of Wadgaon that forced the Bombay government to relinquish all territories acquired by the Bombay office of the East India Company since 1773.[1]

[edit] British response

Reninforcements from northern India, commanded by Colonel Goddard, arrived too late to save the Bombay force. The British Governor-General in Bengal, Warren Hastings, rejected the treaty on the grounds that the Bombay officials had no legal power to sign it, and ordered Goddard to secure British interests in the area. Goddard's 6,000 troops captured Ahmedabad in February 1779, and Bassein in December 1780. Another Bengal detachment led by Captain Popham captured Gwalior in August 1780. Hastings sent yet another force to harass Mahadji Shinde, commanded by Major Camac;[2] in February 1781 the British beat Shinde to the town of Sipri,[3] but every move they made after that was shadowed by his much larger army, and their supplies were cut off, until they made a desperate night raid in late March, capturing not only supplies, but even guns and elephants.[4] Thereafter, the military threat from Shinde's forces to the British was much reduced.

[edit] Treaty of Salbai

After the defeat, Shinde proposed a new treaty between the Peshwa and the British that would recognize the young Madhavrao as the Peshwa and grant Raghunathrao a pension. This treaty, known as the Treaty of Salbai, was signed on 17th May 1782, and was ratified by Hastings in June 1782 and by Phadnis in February 1783. The treaty also returned to Shinde all his territories west of the Yamuna. It also guaranteed peace between the two sides for twenty years and thus ending the war.

[edit] External links and references

  1. ^ Beveridge, Henry A Comprehensive History of India, London, Blackie (1862), via Google Books- accessed 2008-01-27
  2. ^ Camac (not to be confused with Carnac!) received his promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel while on this mission
  3. ^ Duff, James Grant A History of the Mahrattas London, Longman (1826), via Google Books- accessed 2008-01-27
  4. ^ Mill, James The History of British India, vol. 4, chapter 6, London, Baldwin (1826), via oll.libertyfund.org- accessed 2008-01-27
Preceded by:
—		 Anglo-Maratha Wars Succeeded by:
Second Anglo-Maratha War
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Maratha Empire
History Shivaji
Battles
Maratha Confederacy
Adversaries
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