Mahadaji Scindia was the first major Maratha leader to realize that traditional guerrilla tactics were insufficient against modern European armies. He hired European mercenaries, most notably the Frenchman Benoit de Boigne, to raise and train elite “Compagnies d’Infanterie” equipped with ...
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The decentralized nature of the Maratha state, though a weakness in battle, was its greatest strength in terms of resilience. Because power was spread among various regional houses (Scindia, Holkar, etc.), the loss at Panipat did not destroy the entire ...
At Panipat, the Maratha army suffered from a fatal lack of coordination and centralized command. While Sadashivrao Bhau was the nominal leader, he struggled to unify the different sardars, who often disagreed on strategy. The departure of traditional guerrilla tactics ...
During Shivaji’s era, the focus was on “resistance” through a defensive network of hill forts. However, under the Peshwas, the strategy shifted toward “expansion.” This required moving away from the safety of the Sahyadri mountains into the open plains. The ...
Aurangzeb was the first Mughal ruler who extensively included Marathas and Afghans in the Mansabdari system on a large scale. While Akbar included Rajputs, Aurangzeb’s long Deccan campaigns necessitated granting Mansabs to numerous Deccan and Maratha nobles, leading to a ...