The first, second, and third Anglo-Maratha wars were fought between the army of the British

East India Company, which after 1757 was de facto ruler of Bengal and of other provinces in
North East India, and the Maratha Empire, or confederacy, in the south of India. The Moghul
Empire was already effectively under British control but its power had never extended far into
the South, where the Frenchdefeated in the North at the Battle of Plassey (1757)still vied
with the British for dominance. The wars started in 1777 and ended with British victory in
1818. This left the British in control, directly or indirectly via treaties with Princely states, of a
vast proportion of India, making India the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Typically,
the British divided and ruled by benefiting from conflict between different Indian rulers, such
as that between the ruler of Indore, and the Maratha overlord, or Peshwa and by neutralizing
others. What had started as a commercial enterprise was now a full-blown imperial project.
Making a profit for the mother-land was still the bottom line but the concept of the British race
as destined to rule others, for their eventual benefit, was now rapidly developing. Indias
cultures were never quite as despised as those of Africa but they were regarded as decadent
and immoral, and thus in need of correction. If at the start of the Maratha wars men such as
Warren Hastings (Governor-General 1773-1785) valued Indian culture and thought more of
partnership than domination, at the end of the Maratha wars, India was ready to be possessed,
mapped, defined and owned in its entirety in true, full bodied Orientalist style.
First Anglo-Maratha War
The First Anglo-Maratha War was the first of three Anglo-Maratha wars fought between the
Great Britain and Maratha Empire in India. The war began with the Treaty of Surat and ended
with the Treaty of Salbai.
Background
After the death of Madhavrao Peshwa in 1772, his brother Narayanrao Peshwa ascended the
position of Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. However, Raghunathrao, Narayanraos uncle, had
his nephew assassinated in a palace conspiracy that placed Raghunathrao as the next

Peshwa, although he was not a legal heir. However, the late Narayanraos widow, Gangabai,
gave birth to a son after her husbands death. The newborn infant was named Sawai (One
and a Quarter) Madhavrao and legally was the next Peshwa.
Second Anglo-Maratha War
The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803 - 1805) was the second conflict between the United
Kingdom and the Maratha Empire in India.
Background
The overweening ambition of Raghunath Rao, Peshwa Baji Rao II's father, and the latter's
own incompetence since coming into his inheritance, had long occasioned much internecine
intrigue within the Maratha confederacy; Peshwa Baji Rao II no longer commanded the
deference his predecessors had.

The Highland Infantry at Assaye

In October 1802, Peshwa Baji Rao II was defeated by one of his own nominal subordinates,
the Holkar ruler of Indore, at the battle of Poona.

Baji Rao II 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 not to enter treaties with any other power.
Third Anglo-Maratha War
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817 - 1818) was a final and decisive conflict between the
British and the Maratha Empire in India, which left the U.K. in control of most of India.

Warren Hastings, Governor-General of British India, 1773-1785

It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by the British governor-general, Lord Hastings,
in the course of operations against Pindari robber bands. The Peshwa of Pune's forces,
followed by those of the Bhonsle of Nagpur and Holkar of Indore, rose against the British, but
British diplomacy convinced the Sindhia of Gwalior to remain neutral, although he lost
control of Rajasthan. British victory was swift, and resulted in the breakup of the Maratha
empire and the loss of Maratha independence to the British. The Third Anglo-Maratha War
left the British in control of virtually all of present-day India south of the Sutlej River.