the maratha confederacy was defeated by british in the third battle of panipat.
the maratha confederacy was defeated by british in the third battle of panipat.
in which year was the maratha confederacy defeated by british?
the third battle of panipat
all the peshwas during the rule of chhatrapati shivaji and sambhaji belonged to deshastha brahmin community the first peshwa was moropant pingle, who was appointed as the head of the ashta pradhan (council of eight ministers) by chhatrapati shivaji, the founder of the maratha empire. the initial peshwas were all ministers who served as the chief executives to the king. the later peshwas held the highest administrative office and also controlled the maratha confederacy. under the chitpavan brahmin bhat family, the peshwas became the "de facto" hereditary administrators of the confederacy. the peshwa's office was most powerful under baji rao i (r. 1720-1740). under peshwa administration and with the support of several key generals and diplomats, the maratha empire reached its zenith, ruling major areas of india. however, after the peshwa raghunathrao allied himself with the british, the peshwa's power declined substantially. the subsequent peshwas were titular leaders and are said to be responsible for the downfall of the maratha empire, due to inefficiency in handling the affairs of the state. later on many provinces were controlled and administered either by the maratha nobles such as daulat rao sindhia or by the east india company. during this period, the maratha confederacy came to its end through its formal annexation into the british empire in 1818.
peshwa
on 19 february, general smith got word that the peshwa was headed for pandharpur. general smith's troops attacked the peshwa at ashti en route. during this battle, gokhale died while defending the peshwa from the british. the raja of satara was captured along with his brother and mother. the maratha king, first imprisoned by tarabai in the 1750s had lost power much earlier but was reinstated by madhav rao peshwa in 1763 after tarabai's death. since then the king had retained a titular position of appointing the peshwas. the emperor alamgir ii in his farman to the peshwa had complimented them for looking after the chhatrapati family. the chhatrapati declared in favour of the british and this ended the peshwa's legal position as head of the maratha confederacy, this was done by a jahirnama which stated peshwas were no longer the head of the maratha confederacy. however baji rao ii challenged the jahirnama of removing him from his position as peshwa by issuing another jahirnama removing mountstuart elphinstone as british resident to his state. the death of gokhale and the skirmish at ashti hastened the end of the war. soon after this baji rao was deserted by the patwardhans.
third anglo-maratha war