The Third Maratha War was the last of three major conflicts between the British East India Company and the Marathas, the most powerful indigenous force in India. It ended with the Marathas being disarmed, robbed of their ruler, and incorporated into the British subsidiary alliance system: With this victory, the British had destroyed every powerful state in India except for the Sikhs in the Punjab.
The three Maratha Wars of 1775-1782, 1803-1805, and 1817-1818 were part of the campaign of the British to dominate India. The Marathas were Hindu inhabitants of the state of Maharashtra who had been made into a great power under Śivajī
United and under strong leadership, the Maratha states constituted a powerful political and military force, but petty jealousies and personal rivalries between leaders divided them and frequently led to civil war. These internal divisions benefited the British, who normally supported one candidate in a succession struggle in the hope of acquiring more territory if their candidate won or if a civil war afforded other opportunities to annex land. The Marathas were also susceptible to bribes, and the British spent a considerable amount of money buying alliances with various Maratha chieftains. It has been argued that bribery was the key to Britain’s success against the Marathas, who often had greater numbers of troops and superior artillery to the British.
The Treaty of Bassein
In 1816, Gangadhar Shastri
Among other punitive measures, the eighteen-article treaty called for the abolition of the Maratha Confederacy, the handing over of Konkan and Ahmadnagar Fort to the British, and the maintenance of five thousand British cavalry, three thousand infantry, and military equipment at Maratha expense. It was a humiliating treaty that considerably reduced Bājī Rāo’s moral authority and economic resources, but the peshwa ratified it because he believed he did not have the arms to defeat the British. However, neither Bājī Rāo nor other Maratha leaders could accept this degrading pact, and they gathered troops near Poona.
Some commentators believe that Elphinstone put intolerable pressure on the peshwa deliberately in order to force a war. In any event, on November 5, 1817, the peshwa’s military adviser, Bapu Gokhale
The Maratha leaders Malhār Rāo Holkar II
Malhār Rāo Holkar, meanwhile, was defeated at the Battle of Mahidpur
The third and final Maratha war was of major importance to the history of India. It removed the last powerful indigenous force capable of challenging British authority in central India or in other areas of the subcontinent. The Maratha states became princely states. The British now controlled some three hundred states in India through a system of British residents and troops in those states’ capitals. Only the Sikhs, confined west of the River Sutlej in the Punjab, could present any significant opposition to the British, and they were broken in 1849. With the defeat of the Marathas in 1818, India became a British dominion.
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Banga, Indu. “The Punjab Under Sikh Rule: Formation of a Regional State.” In History and Ideology: The Khalsa over Three Hundred Years, edited by J. S. Grewal and Indu Banga. New Delhi, India: Tulika Books, 1999. A discussion of the formation of the last indigenous state in India left outside British control after the Third Maratha War. -
Choksey, R. D. Mountstuart Elphinstone: The Indian Years, 1796-1827. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971. A good study of Elphinstone that includes a number of his journal entries. The chapter “Elphinstone and Bajirao II” covers the former’s period as British resident at Poona. -
Cooper, Randolf G. S. The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Conquest of India: The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003. While Cooper’s case study is of the Second Maratha War, his study is important for an understanding of the Third Maratha War as well. He argues that the British were victorious not for military reasons but because of their superior financial resources. -
Gadre, Prabhakar. Bhosle of Nagpur and East India Company. Jaipur: Publication Scheme, 1994. Provides a comprehensive study of Nagpur, explaining why the British campaign in the region was unexpectedly short and conclusive. -
Gordon, Stewart. The Marathas, 1600-1818. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993. One of the volumes of the New Cambridge History of India series; offers a comprehensive but short introduction to Maratha history, administrative practice, and especially geopolitics. Essential reading to understand the complicated Maratha polity. -
Sardesai, G. S. New History of the Marathas. Vol. 3. Bombay: Phoenix, 1946-1948. Comprehensive history of the Marathas that was produced in both Marathi and English. Sardesai’s three volumes in English, which he condensed from his eight-volume work of more than four thousand pages, are considered the authoritative account of the history of the Marathas. The Third Maratha War is covered in volume 3. -
Varma, Sushama. Mountstuart Elphinstone in Maharashtra, 1801-1827: A Study of the Territories Conquered from the Peshwas. Calcutta, India: K. P. Bagchi, 1981. Chapter 3 of this useful study covers Mountstuart’s tenure as resident at Poona from 1811 to 1817.
First Afghan War
Second Anglo-Sikh War
Sepoy Mutiny Against British Rule
Ranjit Singh.