The Three Anglo-Maratha Wars & the Fall of the Marathas (1775-1818): Salbai, the Subsidiary Alliance, Bassein and the End of the Peshwa

The Maratha Confederacy

🎯 Exam priority: Foundational. Tier 3 — tested occasionally and/or sets up the storyline; master the key facts and move on.

Why this topic matters for UPSC. Three wars, three key treaties — they explain how the Marathas were dismantled piecemeal and how the Subsidiary Alliance was used.

• War 1 (1775–82): Treaty of Salbai. War 2 (1803–05): Treaty of Bassein (1802) triggers it. War 3 (1817–18): end of Peshwa power.

• The Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse come out of this context.

• Know the treaty outcomes; detail-level battle trivia has low return.

After Bengal, the only power that could still have stopped the British conquest of India was the Marathas — the strongest Indian power of the day, masters of a vast confederacy stretching from Poona to Delhi. In three wars between 1775 and 1818, the British destroyed that power, abolished the Peshwaship, and made themselves the paramount authority over the whole subcontinent except the Punjab and Sindh.

The Maratha Confederacy

• By the late 18th century the Maratha Empire had become a confederacy of five great chiefs: the Peshwa at Poona (the nominal head), the Gaikwad at Baroda, the Sindhia at Gwalior, the Holkar at Indore, and the Bhonsle at Nagpur. Each had his own army and territory, and their allegiance to the Peshwa had grown looser and looser. The bond of the confederacy had been held together for thirty years by the able minister Nana Phadnis.

• The confederacy carried a fatal weakness. The Maratha chiefs were "very similar to the later Mughal nobles", and the saranjami (jagir-like) system resembled the Mughal jagirs. So long as there was a strong centre and a common enemy they stayed united; but "at the first opportunity they tended to assert their autonomy". They never tried to build a new economy, encourage science, trade or industry — they represented the same decadent social order as the empire they had displaced.

The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82) & the Treaty of Salbai

The clash began not over grand strategy but over a succession dispute that the British in Bombay tried to exploit.

The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82) & the Treaty of Salbai

• In 1775 a struggle for power was raging at Poona between the supporters of the infant Peshwa Madhav Rao II (led by Nana Phadnis) and the pretender Raghunath Rao (Raghoba). The British at Bombay intervened on Raghunath Rao's behalf, hoping to "repeat the exploits" of their countrymen in Bengal and Madras and reap the spoils. This launched a long war that lasted 1775-1782.

• At first the Marathas had the upper hand: they defeated the British at Talegaon and forced the humiliating Convention of Wadgaon (1779), by which the English renounced their conquests and gave up Raghunath Rao. It was "a dark hour" for British power — all the Maratha chiefs were united behind the Peshwa and Nana Phadnis, and Haidar Ali of Mysore and the Nizam joined to form a powerful anti-British combination, while Britain was simultaneously losing the American War.

• The brilliant Governor-General Warren Hastings retrieved the situation: a British force under Goddard marched across central India and captured Ahmadabad (1780), and the war ground to a stalemate as neither side could win. Through the mediation of Mahadji Sindhia, peace was made by the Treaty of Salbai (1782), which restored the status quo. It gave the British 20 years of peace with the Marathas, recognised Madhav Rao II as Peshwa, and freed them to use the Marathas against Mysore — once again, the British had divided the Indian powers.

Wellesley & the Subsidiary Alliance System

The instrument that would finally trap the Marathas was forged in those twenty years of peace — Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance.

Wellesley & the Subsidiary Alliance System

• Lord Wellesley, Governor-General from 1798, decided the time was ripe to bring as many Indian states as possible under British control. By 1797 both Mysore and the Marathas had declined, and the British wished to keep French influence out of India. Wellesley relied on three methods: Subsidiary Alliances, outright war, and the assumption of the territories of already-subordinated rulers.

• Under the Subsidiary Alliance, the allying Indian ruler had to accept the permanent stationing of a British force in his territory and pay a subsidy for it (or cede land instead); accept a British Resident at his court; employ no European without British approval; and negotiate with no other Indian ruler without consulting the Governor-General. In return the British would "defend" him. In effect the ruler signed away his independence — losing the rights of self-defence, diplomacy and foreign relations.

• The system was ruinous for the states (the bloated subsidy wrecked their finances and disbanded armies threw lakhs of soldiers out of work — many drifting into the Pindari bands) but hugely advantageous to the British, who could keep a large army at Indian expense and overthrow any ally by declaring him "inefficient". It was, in a British writer's phrase, "a system of fattening allies as we fatten oxen, till they were worthy of being devoured". The first to sign was the Nizam of Hyderabad (1798), then the Nawab of Avadh (1801); the Marathas were the last great power outside the net.

The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05): Bassein, Assaye, Laswari

Wellesley got his opening when the Maratha chiefs, instead of uniting, fell to fighting one another.

The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05): Treaty of Bassein, Assaye, Laswari

• By 1800 the Marathas had lost nearly all their wise leaders — Mahadji Sindhia, Tukoji Holkar, Ahilya Bai Holkar, Madhav Rao II and Nana Phadnis were all dead — and the chiefs were locked in fratricidal strife: Yashwant Rao Holkar on one side against Daulat Rao Sindhia and the Peshwa Baji Rao II on the other. On 25 October 1802 (Diwali), Holkar defeated the combined armies of the Peshwa and Sindhia at Poona.

• The cowardly Peshwa Baji Rao II fled into British arms and, on the last day of 1802 (31 December), signed the Subsidiary Treaty of Bassein — accepting a permanent British force, ceding territory and surrendering control of his foreign relations. Wellesley exulted that it offered "the complete establishment of the interests of the British power in the Maratha Empire". But the proud Maratha chiefs would not accept the Peshwa's surrender, and war followed.

• True to form, the chiefs never united: when Sindhia and Bhonsle fought, Holkar stood aside and the Gaikwad helped the British; when Holkar fought, the others nursed their wounds. In the South, Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) crushed Sindhia and Bhonsle at Assaye (September 1803) and Argaon (November 1803); in the North, Lord Lake routed Sindhia at Laswari (1 November 1803) and seized Aligarh, Delhi and Agra, making the blind Emperor Shah Alam II once again a Company pensioner. Sindhia and Bhonsle became subsidiary allies; the Peshwa was reduced to "a disgruntled puppet".

• Wellesley then turned on Yashwant Rao Holkar, who proved "more than a match" — using mobile warfare and allying with the Jats of Bharatpur, he fought the British to a standstill, and Lake failed to storm Bharatpur fort. With the Company's debt soaring from £17 million (1797) to £31 million (1806) and Napoleon threatening Europe, Wellesley was recalled; the Company made peace with Holkar by the Treaty of Rajghat (January 1806), returning most of his lands. Even so, the Company had become the paramount power in India.

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18) & the Pindari War

The Second War shattered Maratha power but not their spirit; the Third War, fought alongside the Pindari War, finished them.

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18) & the Pindari War

• The Subsidiary Alliances had disbanded countless Indian armies, and the unemployed soldiers swelled the Pindaris — roaming mounted plunderers who ravaged central India in the early 19th century, often sheltered by the Maratha chiefs. Governor-General Lord Hastings resolved to exterminate them, launching the Pindari War (1817-18) with a huge army; this campaign merged directly into the final reckoning with the Marathas.

• The Maratha chiefs made a desperate last attempt to regain their independence in 1817, the lead taken by the Peshwa Baji Rao II, who chafed under the British Resident's control. But once again they failed to evolve a concerted plan: the Peshwa attacked the British Residency at Poona (November 1817), Appa Sahib of Nagpur attacked the Residency at Nagpur, and Madhav Rao Holkar prepared for war — each acting separately.

• Lord Hastings struck back with vigour. He compelled Sindhia to accept British suzerainty and defeated the armies of the Peshwa, Bhonsle and Holkar in turn. The Peshwa was dethroned and pensioned off at Bithur near Kanpur; his territories were annexed and the enlarged Presidency of Bombay created. Holkar and Bhonsle accepted subsidiary forces, and all the chiefs ceded large tracts. To satisfy Maratha pride, the tiny kingdom of Satara was carved out of the Peshwa's lands and given to a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji as a complete British dependent. The office of the Peshwa was extinguished and the confederacy dissolved.

Why the Marathas Lost

Why did the strongest Indian power of the age collapse so completely before a trading company?

Why the Marathas Lost

• Disunity above all. "Even in this moment of their peril they would not unite against their common enemy." The chiefs — Sindhia, Holkar, Bhonsle, Gaikwad — pursued bitter fratricidal feuds, fought the British one at a time, and even helped the British against one another (the Gaikwad in 1803). The British "divided the mutually-warring Maratha sardars through clever diplomacy and then overpowered them in separate battles".

• A decadent, unchanging order. The Maratha Empire "represented the same decadent social order as the Mughal Empire" — the chiefs behaved like Mughal nobles, did not develop a new economy, neglected trade, industry and technology, and had no popular or national base. Their state was loose, feudal and undisciplined.

• Outdated diplomacy and leadership. The Marathas underestimated the enormously increased strength of the British and went into battle "without adequate preparation"; their old practice of allying with the foreigner against a rival Indian power was self-defeating. The death of able leaders (Mahadji Sindhia, Nana Phadnis, Ahilya Bai) by 1800, and the worthlessness of the last Peshwa Baji Rao II, left the confederacy leaderless. British superior discipline, artillery, finance and command (Arthur Wellesley, Lake) did the rest.

Significance: British Paramountcy by 1818

The fall of the Marathas was the decisive event of the British conquest — after 1818, no Indian power could challenge British paramountcy.

Significance: British Paramountcy by 1818

• By 1818 the entire Indian subcontinent except the Punjab and Sindh had come under British control — part ruled directly, the rest by Indian princes over whom the British exercised paramount power through Residents. These states had no real armies and no independent foreign relations, paid heavily for British forces, and were "on perpetual probation". The defeat of the Marathas removed the last great rival, and even the Rajputana states, long dominated by Sindhia and Holkar, now "readily accepted British supremacy".

• The conquest was completed in the next phase (1818-57): Sindh was annexed in 1843 (Charles Napier) and the Punjab in 1849 (after the Anglo-Sikh Wars, under Dalhousie), making the British masters of all India. The Anglo-Maratha Wars thus mark the moment the East India Company turned from one of several great powers into the paramount power of the subcontinent.

Why This Matters for UPSC

• Prelims: the five confederate chiefs (Peshwa-Poona, Gaikwad-Baroda, Sindhia-Gwalior, Holkar-Indore, Bhonsle-Nagpur); the Treaty of Salbai (1782) ending the First War; Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance (the 2018 PYQ below; first signatory the Nizam, 1798); the Treaty of Bassein (31 Dec 1802, Baji Rao II); the battles of Assaye, Argaon and Laswari (1803); the Pindari War and the Third War under Lord Hastings (1817-18); the abolition of the Peshwaship, pensioning of Baji Rao II at Bithur, and the creation of Satara.

• Mains: why the Marathas — the strongest Indian power — failed against the British (disunity, no popular base, outdated diplomacy); the role of the Subsidiary Alliance in establishing British paramountcy.

Further Reading

• Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on modern Indian history (any UPSC reading list).

Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs

Test how well you can explain the three Anglo-Maratha Wars, the Subsidiary Alliance, and the fall of the Marathas. Decide your answer, then open Show answer.

Practice Questions

Q1. The five great chiefs of the Maratha confederacy in the late 18th century were the Peshwa and the:

• (a) Gaikwad, Sindhia, Rohillas and Bhonsle

• (b) Sindhia, Holkar, Bhonsle and Nawab of Avadh

• (c) Gaikwad, Sindhia, Holkar and Bhonsle

• (d) Nizam, Gaikwad, Holkar and Bhonsle

Q2. The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82) was sparked when the British at Bombay intervened in a succession dispute on behalf of:

• (a) Raghunath Rao (Raghoba)

• (b) Madhav Rao II

• (c) Baji Rao II

• (d) Nana Phadnis

Q3. The First Anglo-Maratha War was ended by the:

• (a) Convention of Wadgaon, 1779

• (b) Treaty of Rajghat, 1806

• (c) Treaty of Bassein, 1802

• (d) Treaty of Salbai, 1782

Q4. Under the Subsidiary Alliance, the first Indian ruler to sign with Lord Wellesley (1798) was the:

• (a) Nizam of Hyderabad

• (b) Nawab of Avadh

• (c) Gaikwad of Baroda

• (d) Peshwa

Q5. The Treaty of Bassein (31 December 1802) was a Subsidiary Treaty signed by the British with:

• (a) Yashwant Rao Holkar

• (b) Peshwa Baji Rao II

• (c) Daulat Rao Sindhia

• (d) Appa Sahib Bhonsle

Q6. In the Second Anglo-Maratha War, Arthur Wellesley defeated the combined armies of Sindhia and Bhonsle at:

• (a) Laswari and Aligarh

• (b) Talegaon and Wadgaon

• (c) Assaye and Argaon

• (d) Bharatpur and Bithur

Q7. The Pindari War (1817-18) and the Third Anglo-Maratha War were fought under which Governor-General?

• (a) Lord Wellesley

• (b) Warren Hastings

• (c) Lord Hastings (Moira)

• (d) Lord Cornwallis

Q8. The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18) resulted in the:

• (a) abolition of the Peshwaship and pensioning of Baji Rao II at Bithur

• (b) restoration of the Peshwa to full power

• (c) partition of Bengal

• (d) annexation of the Punjab

Q9. By 1818, after the fall of the Marathas, the only major regions still outside British control were:

• (a) Avadh and the Carnatic

• (b) the Punjab and Sindh

• (c) Mysore and Hyderabad

• (d) Bengal and Bihar

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

The Anglo-Maratha Wars and the Subsidiary Alliance are flagship Prelims topics (the question below is a real UPSC PYQ, CSE 2018) — expect questions on Salbai, Bassein, the confederate chiefs, and the dates.

Q1. Which one of the following statements does NOT apply to the system of Subsidiary Alliance introduced by Lord Wellesley? (UPSC CSE 2018)

• (a) To secure a fixed income for the Company

• (b) To maintain a large standing army at other's expense

• (c) To keep India safe from Napoleonic danger

• (d) To establish British paramountcy over the Indian States

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• “The Marathas, the strongest Indian power, were destroyed less by British arms than by their own disunity.” Critically examine.

• Explain how Wellesley's Subsidiary Alliance system was used to subordinate the Maratha confederacy.

• Trace the course and significance of the three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1818).

• Discuss the Treaty of Bassein (1802) as a turning point in the fall of the Marathas.