After Tipu Sultan’s Mysore was captured by the British in 1799, the Marathas were the only major Indian power left outside of British domination.
At the time, the Maratha Confederacy consisted of fivemajor chief, the Peshwas at Pune, the Goekwads at Baroda, the Holkar’s at Indore, the Scandia’s at Gwalior and the Bhosle’s Nagpur.
There were internal aquabbles among themselves.
Baji Rao ll (son of Raghunath Rao) was installed as the Peshwa after the death of Madhav Rao ll.
In the Battle of Poona in 1802, Yashwantrao Holkar, the chief of the Holkar’s of Indore defeated the Peshwas and the Scandia’s.
Baji Rao ll sought British protection and signed the Treaty of Bassein with them.
As per this treaty, he ceded territory to the British and agreed to the maintenance of British troops there.
The Scandia’s and the Bhosle’s did not accept this treaty and this caused the second Anglo-Maratha War in central India in 1803.
The Holkar’s also joined the battle against the English at a later stage.
All the Maratha forces were defeated by the British in these battles.
The Scandia’s signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon in 1803 through which the British got the territories of Rohtak, Ganga-Yamuna Doab, Gurgaon, Delhi Agra region, Broach, some districts in Gujarat, parts of Bundelkhand and Ahmednagar fort.
The Bhosle’s signed the Treaty of Deogaon in 1803 as per which the English acquired Cuttack, Balasore and area west of Waradha River.
The Holkar’s signed the Treaty of Rajghat in 1805 according to which they gave up Tonk, Bundi and Rampura to the British.
As a result of the war, large parts of central India came under British control.
