Maratha's Struggle for Empire: Anglo -Maratha Wars 1679-1818

 

'My land is harsh and unyielding. The people born in this land, like the nature here, are hardy. Your elephants and big guns cannot move freely in these areas. There is very little that you can gain from this poor country of mine. Should you try to subjugate my people, you will meet with fierce resistance, so why venture on this foolhardy course?'"

"Shivaji's words aptly sum up the strategic advantages enjoyed by Maharashtra and which in turn helped it retain independence. It is true that Deccan Sultanates have held sway over the area for quite some time but their rule was confined to urban areas only and the countryside was virtually independent. It is in Maharashtra that in the course of twenty-two years of guerrilla war, in the early l8th century, the #Mughal Empire was destroyed. At the time British ascendancy in India began the Maratha confederacy was undoubtedly the most powerful and important military power in the country. "

About the Author

Col. Anil Anant Athale is former Joint Director War History Division, Min of Defence. Currently co-ordinator of Pune based think tank 'Inpad' that is affiliated with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. INPAD, a non-profit, non-governmental, apolitical and voluntary body aims to strive at achievement of peace, within India, in the region of Indian subcontinent and globally. INPAD also aims to promote impartial arms control and genuine disarmament. He is regularly contributing his articles in http://www.indiandefencereview.com and other print and electronic media’s. Readers can write to him at inpad@giaspn01.vsnl.net.in

LIST OF MAPS

Page No.

1. Battle of Kulaba 1721 71

2. Gurab 71

3. Galbat 72

4. Battle of Kulaba 1721 72

5. Battle of Palkhed 100

6. Battle of Panipat 1761 100

7. Attack on Sashti 1774 119

8. Bombay in 1774 121

9. Defeat at Wadgaon 1779 138

10. Second Attack on Poona 1781 167

11. Second Attack on Poona 1781 168

12. India in the 18th Century 169

13. Battle of Assaye (1803) 196

14. British reverse of Shikohabad (1803) 202

15. Battle of Aligarh (1803) 204

16. Battle of Lassawari (1803) 217

17. Monson's Retreat (1804) 226

18. The Siege of Bharatpur Jan.-Feb. (1805) 229

19. Battle of Khadki (1818) 252

with rare maps

CONTENTS

Chapter 1        Introduction 1

Chapter 2

                Part - I : Rise of the Maratha Power 11

                Part - II : Arrival of the English in India 31

Chapter 3

                Maratha Uprising Against Aurangzeb : 1682-1707 45

Chapter 4

                Conflict at Sea : 1679-1756 65

Chapter 5

                The Maratha Disaster at Panipat 1761 & 

        Power Vacuum in India 89

Chapter 6

                End of the Mughal Empire : 1772 and Prelude to the

        First Anglo-Maratha War: 1774-1782 107

Chapter 7

                British Attacks on Poona and Lost Victory 131

Chapter 8

                Second Attempt to Capture Poona and

       Concerted attempt to Oust the British from India 145

Chapter 9

                Diplomacy of Peace and Treaty of Salbai 1783 173

Chapter 10

                The Second Anglo-Maratha War 191

Chapter 11

                War in the South : The Battle of Assaye and Beyond 209

Chapter 12

                Struggle for Empire : The Final Act ! 1817-1818 239

Chapter 13

                Legacy of the Marathas 255

Index 259

                Reviews of 1st edition 264

                New Pictures added 268

SAGA OF 
   MARATHAS…

Research for this Project was sponsored by,

MAJOR GENERAL D.K. PALIT VRC, MILITARY STUDIES TRUST Of the IDSA, New Delhi.

The Trust was founded in 1988 by Major General DK Palit, with the object of promoting the study and re-examination of Indian military history of the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly episodes which have so far been recorded only by British authors and based solely on British records and memoirs. Now that a number of Indian archives have been opened to the public (such as the Peshwa Office papers, or documents held at the courts of some of the former princely Indian states, and others) old historical accounts could bear re-examination in the light of indigenous archives. The Trust makes scholarships available to applicants who wish to undertake such studies, or who wish to conduct similar research into campaigns and actions of the Great War and World War II in so far as they pertain to units or formations of the Indian Army, the Indian State Forces, the Royal Indian Marine or the Royal Indian Air Force; or of the wars fought since Independence. Applications for scholarships are entertained from scholars and students of military history, preference being given to serving and retired members of the Armed Forces, civilian government officers and members from academia and the Press. They should be addressed to the 

Secretary, 

General Palit Military Studies Trust, 

United Service Institution of India, 

Rao Tula Ram Marg, 

Opp. Signals Enclave, New Delhi - 110 057. 

Buy from https://rb.gy/jiep5v

'Nehru wanted Army scrapped'

'Nehru wanted Army scrapped'

Biography of a major general says Kashmir war saved Army from being abolished.

 

The Kashmir war saved the Indian Army from being scrapped, seems strange? Well, a biography of Major General AA "Jick" Rudra of the Indian Army by Major General DK "Monty" Palit claims so.

According to the book, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru blew his top when Lt General Sir Robert Lockhart, the first commander in chief of India took a strategic plan for a Government directive on defence policy.

"Shortly after independence, General Lockhart as the army chief took a strategic plan to the prime minister, asking for a government directive on the defence policy. He came back to Jick's office shell-shocked. When asked what happened, he replied, The PM took one look at my paper and blew his top. 'Rubbish! Total rubbish!' he shouted. 'We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is ahimsa (non-violence). We foresee no military threats. Scrap the army! The police are good enough to meet our security needs'," the Daily Times quotes the book as saying.

According to the book, Jick believed the Kashmir war saved the Indian Army.

"General Sir Douglas Gracie had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army and he and General Lockhart daily exchanged information about refugees traversing Punjab in both directions. One day in late October 1947, Gracie mentioned that he had had reports of tribesmen massing in the area of Attock-Rawalpindi. Both men knew that cross-border raids from Pakistan had been mounted against Poonch. Kashmir was not a part of the dominion of India and Lockhart felt that the tribesmen posed no threat to India. He did not pass on the information to the ministry or general staff," the paper said.

"When confronted by Nehru three months later, he admitted this and added that he may have been remiss. Nehru turned to him and asked the general if his sympathies were with Pakistan? Aghast, Lockhart replied, 'Mr prime minister if you have to ask me that question, I have no business being the commander-in-chief of your forces. I know that there is a boat leaving Bombay in a few days, carrying British officers and their families to England. I shall be on it'," it added.

According to the biography General Lockhart called up his Military Secretary Jick Rudra the next day, January 26 1948, and suggested he start looking around for a successor since he had resigned from his post.

First Published: Aug 26, 2006 00:00 IST

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/nehru-wanted-army-scrapped/story-4pCTLAT4tXlKRnBUtJqz9O.html

 

 

Here We Go Again

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Atanu Dey

https://deeshaa.org/2009/07/14/here-we-go-again/

Why was the Indian Army ill-prepared? Because Nehru thought that there was no need for an army — just a competent police force was sufficient for India because India’s policy was one of non-violence. Can one be so disconnected with ground reality without actually being in a different planet?

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2009/07/here-we-go-again/

Customer’s Review on amazon.com

of 5 starsI enjoyed the excerpt and ordered the book

January 18, 2015

I had read an excerpt of this book for a unit on WWI. I should say here the Major General A.A. Rudra's great-nephew was in the seminar and provided the excerpt. I enjoyed the excerpt and ordered the book. I was not disappointed. Rudra had an interesting military career and life. His experience spans World War I in Europe, the border conflicts in India between the world wars, World War II, India's move to independence and finally the partitioning of India and Pakistan. Gandhi, Nehru, and Mountbatten are a few of the leaders Jick knew in his life. He was a friend of the Lawrence family (as in Lawrence of Arabia).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1G691OLLCASTQ?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Rudra

Library of Congress, U.S.A

https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=96906610&searchType=1&permalink=y

http://indiaww1.in/BIBLIOGRAPHY-COMPILATION.aspx

Commissioned into the elite Baloch Regiment in 1939 out of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Palit at the time of Partition won a prized billet with the (3/9) Gurkhas – a regiment the British scrupulously avoided posting Indian officers to – and which unit he led in a hard-fought action to capture the crestline above the Haji Pir salient in the Poonch sector in the 1947-48 Kashmir operations. Palit was wounded and won the Vir Chakra. Thereafter, he rose swiftly to command the 7 Infantry Brigade stationed in NEFA (North East Frontier Agency) and only a year or so into his tenure, was rushed into the job of Director, Military Operations, at the Army Headquarters, manifestly the most coveted post in the army for a Brigadier-ranked officer and that too a relatively newly minted one. After retirement, Maj. Gen. Palit produced one of the most engaging biographies – that of Major General A.A. ‘Jicks’ Rudra, and a more affectionate monograph on his father Col. Palit, of the Indian Medical Service. Perhaps to promote such writing, the General established a publishing house (‘Palit and Palit’). General Palit was possibly more active in retirement than in service. A prolific writer and original thinker, he has had a profound influence on the strategic thinking and polices in the last two to three decades. He was indeed an exception to the general drought of military intellectuals that India has always suffered from. He wanted more serving and retired officers from India and Britain to do research and write military history of colonial India. For that purpose, he founded the ‘General Palit Military Studies Trust’ in the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in 1988, which he funded. The Trust moved to the more appropriate United Service Institution of India in 2003. 

Three books under ‘General Palit Military Studies Trust’ were published under Reliance Publishing House; 

Bajirao I- An Outstanding Cavalry General by Col. R.D. Palsokar, M.C. 1995 

Major General AA Rudra by Maj. Gen. D.K. Palit, Vr.C. 1997 

Rifleman To Colonel (The Memoirs of Major Gajendra Malla 9th Gurkha Riffles) by Tony Mains and Elizabeth Talbot Rice 1999. 

‘Monty’ Palit died on 3 April 2008 at the age of 89

Short link https://rb.gy/mu1bol

Available with Flipkart https://surl.li/gqxlmj