The Anglo-Maratha Wars
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Three wars, 1775–1818, marking the Company's gradual conquest of the last major indigenous power blocking paramountcy over India.
| War | Years | Key Point |
|---|---|---|
| First Anglo-Maratha War | 1775–82 | Triggered by a British-backed succession dispute within the Maratha Peshwaship; ends with the Treaty of Salbai — a broad status quo restored with only minor territorial change — the only one of the three the British do not clearly win. |
| Second Anglo-Maratha War | 1803–05 | The Maratha Confederacy, fatally divided between rival chiefs, is fought and defeated piecemeal: British forces under Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) win the hard-fought Battle of Assaye (1803) against the Scindia and Bhonsle chiefs, considered one of Wellington's own toughest battles anywhere in his career; large territorial gains follow for the Company across central and western India. |
| Third Anglo-Maratha War | 1817–18 | The Battle of Koregaon (January 1818) — a small Company force, notably including a contingent of Mahar soldiers, holds off a much larger Peshwa army for a full day at heavy cost on both sides — is followed within weeks by the final defeat and surrender of Peshwa Baji Rao II. The Maratha Confederacy is formally dissolved; this is the war that leaves the British East India Company as the paramount power over virtually the entire Indian subcontinent, with only Punjab still fully independent. |
Memory hook — "Anglo-Maratha: Stalemate, Smash, Surrender." First War (Salbai, 1782) is a Stalemate — status quo restored; Second War (Assaye, 1803) is the Smash — Wellesley's toughest fight, big territorial gains; Third War (Koregaon, 1818) is the Surrender — Peshwa Baji Rao II gives up and the Confederacy is dissolved. Three wars, three S-words, rising British dominance each time.
Practice Recall: Which of the three Anglo-Maratha Wars is the only one the British do not clearly win, and which treaty ended it? ... Answer: the First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–82), ended by the Treaty of Salbai with only minor territorial change.