Battle of Poona
The Battle of Poona 1802
The Battle of Poona started when the Forces of Yashwant Rao Holkar attacked the forces of Scindia and Peshwa Bajirao II. The combined armies of Scindia and Peshwa were defeated by the Holkar at Hadspar. This defeat led Peshwa flee from Pune.
The British were now to play their game. Baji Rao II was invited to Bassein and British enticed him to sign the “Subsidiary Alliance“. To get the throne of Poona, Bajirao-II signed this treaty and surrendered his sovereignty in lieu of the “carrot” of Poona’s throne.
This was called Treaty of Bassein, which was signed at the English possessions of Bassein in 1802. As per Treaty of Bassein, the British promised to place a force of around 6000 troops to be permanently stationed with Peshwa. In return the British got the territorial districts that would yield the revenue of 26 Lakh rupees. Baji Rao II was also required to :
- Not to enter into any treaty without consulting British
- Not to declare war without consulting the British
- Not to claim over Surat and Baroda.
So, British repeated the history again. This time, Poona was under Holkar and the protégé was Baji Rao II , in like Raghunath Rao, his late father.
The war was now inevitable. The Marathas took it as surrender to National Honor. The war was fought between the broken Maratha Confederacy and British and it was the Second Anglo Maratha war.
