sadashivrao bhau commanded the maratha army in the third battle of panipat.
sadashivrao bhau commanded the maratha army in the third battle of panipat.
who commanded the maratha army in the third battle of panipat?
sadashivrao bhau
the maratha army, especially its infantry, was praised by almost all the enemies of maratha empire, ranging from duke of wellington to ahmad shah abdali. after the third battle of panipat, abdali was relieved as maratha army in the initial stages were almost in the position of destroying the afghan armies and their indian allies nawab of oudh and rohillas. the grand wazir of durrani empire, sardar shah wali khan was shocked when maratha commander-in-chief sadashivrao bhau launched a fierce assault on the centre of afghan army, over 3,000 durrani soldiers were killed alongside haji atai khan, one of the chief commander of afghan army and nephew of wazir shah wali khan. such was the fierce assault of maratha infantry in hand-to-hand combat that afghan armies started to flee and the wazir in desperation and rage shouted, "comrades whither do you fly, our country is far off". post battle, ahmad shah abdali in a letter to one indian ruler claimed that afghans were able to defeat the marathas only because of the blessings of almighty and any other army would have been destroyed by the maratha army on that particular day even though maratha army was numerically inferior to afghan army and its indian allies. though abdali won the battle, he also had heavy casualties on his side. so, he sought immediate peace with the marathas. abdali wrote in his letter to peshwa on 10 february 1761:
maratha empire
a distinguishing feature of maratha army was the employment of pindaris, who were irregular horsemen and their primary role was to plunder in return of pay. pindaris composed of both muslims and marathas. they had implicit support from maratha chiefs (maharajas) such as scindias of gwalior, holkars of indore, and bhosales of nagpur. this band of freebooters accompanied maratha forces during their campaigns and helped win wars in return for plunder and pay. they were a part of the maratha army during the third battle of panipat and almost all anglo-maratha wars.









































section::::see also.









































bullet::::- maratha empire









































bullet::::- maratha navy
maratha army