Third Anglo-Maratha War

Sides

Countries today: India and United Kingdom

What happened

In June 1817 the Company's Resident at Poona, Mountstuart Elphinstone, forced the Peshwa Baji Rao II to sign the Treaty of Poona, which gave up territory and ended his headship of the Maratha Confederacy. That autumn Governor-General Lord Hastings assembled large armies against the Pindari raiders of central India. On 5 November 1817 the Peshwa's forces burned the Residency and attacked the Company's troops at Khadki, near Poona, and were driven off. The Bhonsle ruler of Nagpur, Appa Saheb, attacked the Company's force on Sitabuldi hill in late November and was defeated, and Holkar's army was broken at Mahidpur on 21 December. The Peshwa fled across the Deccan, fighting at Koregaon on 1 January 1818 and losing his commander Bapu Gokhale at Ashti in February, and surrendered to John Malcolm on 3 June 1818. Scindia of Gwalior stayed neutral under a treaty. The Company annexed the Peshwa's lands, abolished the office of Peshwa and made the remaining Maratha states princely states; the last fort, Asirgarh, fell in April 1819.

Outcome: Baji Rao II surrendered in June 1818; the Company annexed his lands, abolished the office of Peshwa and made the other Maratha states princely states under its control.

Key events

Leaders

• Francis Rawdon-Hastings · Governor-General; directed the campaign · East India Company forces
• Thomas Hislop · Commanded the Army of the Deccan; won at Mahidpur · East India Company forces
• John Malcolm · Received the Peshwa's surrender · East India Company forces
• Mountstuart Elphinstone · Company Resident at Poona · East India Company forces
• Baji Rao II · Peshwa, the last to hold the office · The Peshwa, Nagpur and Indore
• Bapu Gokhale · The Peshwa's commander; killed at Ashti in 1818 · The Peshwa, Nagpur and Indore
• Malhar Rao Holkar III · Boy ruler of Indore · The Peshwa, Nagpur and Indore

Meanwhile, elsewhere in 1817 CE