Internal Disputes During Maratha Rule

Internal Disputes During Maratha Rule    

The Maratha cavalry contributed to the success of the empire, breaking quickly and deeply into Greater Mughal territory and leaving with their booty before the Mughal army took them. To prevent this blatant interference in their internal affairs, other Marathi leaders fought the British in a series of three Anglo-Marathon wars. In the late 18th century, a series of succession struggles by individual Marathi leaders led to British intervention through the East India Company (founded 31 December 1660), which was establishing its own power base in India. The British backed a rival Maratha claimant, demanding significant concessions from the new ruler after his victory, further weakening the Maratha Empire. 

The cause of the Second Anglo-Marathi War ended with the defeat of the Marathas, who were forced to sign a treaty recognizing British supremacy. The British victory was quick, leading to the collapse of the Maratha Empire and the loss of Maratha's independence. At the end of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Peshwa was overthrown and decommissioned, while the other Maratha states remained affiliated states. 

A year later, the Peshwas tried to form a coalition of Marathi leaders against the British. The British brought an obscure descendant of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, to a ceremony in the Maratha Confederacy to replace Peshwa's seat. 

The defeat of Bhonsle and Holkar also led to the capture of the Maratha kingdoms of Nagpur and Indore by the British. The third war with the Marathas gave the British control of almost the entire country. 

The three wars between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire are known as the Great Maratha Wars or the Anglo-Marathi Wars. The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818) was due to a conflict between the British and the Pindaris. The First War (1775-82) began with the British backing Raghunath Raos for the Confederate's Peshwa (Prime Minister) position. During the war, the British East India Company grew and the Maratha Empire declined. 

The shock of defeat hastened the disintegration of their loosely united confederation into five independent states and extinguished hope for Maratha domination in India. The third battle ended the Marathi attempt to replace the Mughals as rulers of India and marked the de facto end of the Mughal Empire. Conflicts with the bonsles and other leaders of the Marathas flared up again and dragged on, with alternating victories, to 1742-1746. 

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Subsequently, the Portuguese had other conflicts with Khonaji (Kamhoji) Angria, a Maratha leader and founder of the Angrias dynasty. He ruled the western regions of the Maratha Confederation between Bombay and Vingurla (Vengurla), which included various ports, with the exception of the Muslim Siddish possessions of Murud-Janjira 5, which had gone over to the side of the Mughal Empire. At the time of internal unrest in the Maratha Confederation, which ended with the coming to power of the Peshwa (Prime Minister) Balaji Baji Rao I in 1720, who actually ruled instead of the chattrapati (king), Angria received de facto autonomy and considered territories in the southern part of the Konkan coast their own, even if they were dependent possessions. 

The Muslim Mughals served as guardians of a united India, while the Marathas sought to protect Hinduism. The conquests mentioned above and Shivaji's policies were the main reason for the strengthening of the Marathas in the region against the Mughals. 

Their political power was finally recognized when the Mughal emperor invited them to serve as aides in the internal affairs of the empire, and later helped the emperor drive the Afghans out of Punjab. The Marathi never attempted to build an organized, orderly, and well-governed empire, and thus failed to win the Indians' allegiance when they clashed with the British. The Marathi lacked the foresight to build an empire strong enough to stand against the British. Moreover, when the British power in India increased, the Marathi had lost their vitality, so they could not stand the British onslaught and were defeated and notorious. 

The Marathas, by neglecting the economy of the territories under their direct control, and plundering the territories of other native rulers, brought misfortune not only to their empire, but to the entire Indian people. In fact, the British took the Indian Empire not from the Mughals, but from the Marathas. Things to Remember The British actually conquered the Indian Empire not from the Mughals, but from the Marathas. 

The Maratha Empire was not a cohesive empire under a single leader. It was a confederation of five Maratha chiefs who were in conflict with each other very often. It was broken, and among the regional powers, the Marathas became the most powerful in India. 

However, the Marathas soon overran the Malwa from Mughal control and then moved east into Orrisa and Bengal; South India also fell under their rule. The East India Company saw the assassination of their envoy Gangadhar Shastri as the Peshwa's ultimate intention to undermine British rule over the Marathas, and operations were initiated to effectively place the entire region under the control of the Company. 

Its nature was a confederation in which power was divided between leaders or sardars (Bhonsle, Holker, etc.). The British continued to impose one humiliating treaty after another on the Marathas. 

II (1803-06) Marathon internal conflict; Scindia and Peshwa kill Vitoji Rao Holkar, resulting in Yeshwant Rao Holkar attacking Pune. Wars and years Cause and course of events Maratha and British leader RESULT I (1775-82) British support for Raghunath Rao and the Treaty of Surat signed with him angered Nana Phadnavis. The Marathon Wars (1775-82, 1803-05, 1817-18), three conflicts between Britain and the Maratha Union that led to the destruction of the Union. 

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1819) was the last and decisive conflict between the British East India Company (EIC) and the Maratha empire in India. The empire formally existed from 1674 with the coronation of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and ended in 1818 with the defeat of Peshwa Bajirao II at the hands of the British East India Company. The origins of the Maratha Empire can be traced back to a series of uprisings led by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj against the government of the Bijapur Sultanate, and then the Mughal Empire. He united the Marathas and remained a great enemy of the Mughal Empire. 

Although Bajirao was a very successful general who fought 40 battles, he faced social difficulties in the rear due to his second marriage to a Muslim woman named Mastani. 

Shivaji successfully defended his empire from the Mughal Empire, and his Maratha Empire defeated and overtook it to become the dominant power in India in just a few decades. By the mid-18th century, it was the largest state in South Asia, with the Mughal emperor of Delhi as its puppet. The 18th century was a period of profound change in the Indian subcontinent, with the Mughal Empire giving way to regional powers, many of which, such as the Marathas, aspired and nearly attained imperial status. 

Cited Sources

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