| Battle of Sikandarabad | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Afghan–Maratha conflicts | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Durrani Empire  Kingdom of Rohilkhand |  Maratha Confederacy | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Ahmad Shah Jahan Khan Najib Khan | Malharro Holkar | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Sikandrabad was a military engagement between the Afghan Durranis and the Marathas near the city of Sikandrabad.
Jankoji Sindhia led the Marathas after their defeat at Barari Ghat and soon rendezvoused with the retreating families that were heading for Rewari. They reached Kotputli on January 15, where he met Malhar Rao Holkar and voluntarily handed him the command of the Maratha army on 24 January, Holkar ordered the Marathas to return to Delhi and engage the invading Afghans until the arrival of reinforcements. A Maratha contingent was defeated by Jahan Khan near Rewari on 11 February. [1]
The Maratha troops led by Holkar sighted the Afghans in the vicinity of Bahadurgarh and forced the Afghans to retreat to Delhi. Upon learning of their approach, Holkar bypassed the city and entered Ganga Doab by crossing the Yamuna river. On the night of 26–27 February, he learned that the Afghans had entered Delhi two days earlier. He sacked the town of Sikandrabad on March 1, Holkar spent 3–4 days attempting to find a ford to cross the Ganga river into Rohilkhand for loot and plunder. However, while retreating to Delhi, Abdali was kept informed of the Marathas' march. The advance guard of the Marathas was caught and annihilated. The defeat panicked Holkar into a retreat towards Agra. [2]
With Holkar's defeat, the victorious Afghans marched to Aligarh and encamped there, in order to prepare for another fresh Maratha army coming from Deccan as advised by Najib ad-Dawlah. [2] The Marathas captured Delhi on August 1, [3] which led to the Third Battle of Panipat.
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Confederacy and the invading army of the Durrani Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately 97 kilometres (60 mi) north of Delhi. The Afghans were supported by three key allies in India: Najib ad-Dawlah who persuaded the support of the Rohilla chiefs, elements of the declining Mughal Empire, and most prized the Oudh State under Shuja-ud-Daula. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who was third-highest authority of the Maratha Confederacy after the Chhatrapati and the Peshwa. The bulk of the Maratha army was stationed in the Deccan Plateau with the Peshwa.
Bajirao I was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. He, after Shivaji, is considered to be the most charismatic and dynamic leader in Maratha history. He was just twenty years old and already had a reputation for rapid decisions and a passion for military adventure.
The Maratha Confederacy, also referred to as the Maratha Empire, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states often subordinate to the former. It was established in 1674 with the coronation of Shivaji as the Maratha Chhatrapati and recognised by Emperor Bahadur Shah I as a tributary state in 1707 following a prolonged rebellion. Following this, the Marathas continued to recognise the Mughal emperor as their nominal suzerain, similar to other contemporary Indian entities, though in practice, imperial politics at Delhi were largely influenced by the Marathas between 1737 and 1803.
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Confederacy in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by British East India Company troops, and although the British were outnumbered, the Maratha army was decimated. The troops were led by Governor General Hastings, supported by a force under General Thomas Hislop. Operations began against the Pindaris, a band of Muslim mercenaries and Marathas from central India.
Balaji Baji Rao, often referred to as Nana Saheb I, was the 8th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. He was appointed as Peshwa in 1740 upon the death of his father, the Peshwa Bajirao I.
Madhavrao I was the son of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao and grandson of Peshwa Bajirao I who served as 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. During his tenure, the Maratha Confederacy recovered from the losses they suffered during the Third Battle of Panipat, an event known as Maratha Resurrection.
Maharaja Suraj Mal, simply known as Suraj Mal, was a Jat ruler of Bharatpur State in the present-day state of Rajasthan. Under him, Bharatpur State, a tributary of the House of Scindia, covered the present-day districts of Agra, Alwar, Aligarh, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Etawa, Hathras, Mainpuri, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Mathura, and Rohtak, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Nuh, Palwal, Faridabad, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Bulandshahr.
Raghunathrao, also known as Ragho Ballal or Raghoba Dada, was the younger son of Peshwa Bajirao I who served as the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He led successful campaigns in Northern India against the Rohillas in the Battle of Delhi (1757), resulting in the Marathas becaming the de-facto rulers of Delhi with Mughal Emperor Alamgir II having no actual power. He also led successful campaigns against the Durrani Empire at Sirhind and Attock and brought Northwestern India, under Maratha rule for a brief period. Ahmad Shah Abdali sought revenge against the Marathas for capturing Punjab and defeating the Durrani armies. He made preparations for another campaign in India. Raghoba asked for a large financial assistance in order to check Abdali's advance which was refused by Peshwa Nana Saheb. Nana Saheb's decision of not sending Raghoba as the main commander of Maratha armies against Ahmad Shah Abdali ultimately culminated in the defeat at Panipat.
Malhar Rao Holkar was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. He was one of the early officers along with Ranoji Scindia to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the estate of Indore to rule by the [chhatrapati's Pradhan, during the reign of the Maratha emperor Shahu I. He was founder of the Holkar dynasty that ruled Malwa.
Sadashivrao Bhau Bhatt was son of Chimaji Appa and Rakhmabai and the nephew of Baji Rao I. He was a finance minister during the reign of Maratha king Rajaram II. He led the Maratha army at the Third Battle of Panipat.
Yashwant Rao Holkar (1776–1811) also known as Jaswantrao Holkar belonging to the Holkar dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy was the Maharaja of the Indore. He was a gifted military leader and educated in accountancy as well as literate in Persian, Marathi and Urdu.
Kingdom of Marwar, also known as Jodhpur State during the modern era, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1243 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a migrant Gahadavala noble, in 1243. His successors continued to struggle against regional powers for domination and 9 out of 15 rulers till 1438 died in combat. In 1395, its capital was changed to Mandore by Rao Chunda of Mandore and to Jodhpur in 1459 by Rao Jodha.
Feroze Jung III or Nizam Shahabuddin Muhammad Feroz Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi also known by his sobriquet Imad-ul-Mulk, was the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire.
The Afghan–Maratha War was fought between the Afghan Empire under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Maratha Confederacy and the Sikh Confederacy between 1758 and 1761. It took place in north-west India, primarily the region around Delhi and Punjab.
Dattaji Rao Shinde, also known as Dattaji Rao Scindia, was the second son of Ranoji Rao Shinde and Maina Bai, alias Nimba Bai. His elder brother was Jayappaji Rao Shinde and his younger brother was Jyotiba.
The Battle of Narela took place on 16 January 1757, at Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi, between the Maratha Army led by Antaji Mankeshwar and an army of Ahmad Shah Abdali.
The Battle of Taraori in 1759 was a military engagement between the Durrani Afghans and the Marathas in the fields of Taraori, in which the Afghans were victorious.
The Battle of Barari Ghat was a military engagement between the Durrani-Rohilla Afghans and the Marathas army in which the Maratha army was defeated and its leader killed in battle.
The Second Battle of Lahore was fought in November 1759 by the Sikh forces led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and the Afghan forces led by Jahan Khan.
The Battle of Rattihalli, fought in 1764, pitted the forces of the Maratha Confederacy against those of the Mysore forces led by Hyder Ali. The Maratha army was commanded by Peshwa Madhavrao.
