Faction thread: The Maratha Confederacy

[Copperknickers II]

Now we know they are playable, here is some info:

The Maratha Condederacy

Overview

The Marathas were a Hindu kingdom established by Chattrapati Shivaji c.1680, and they were ruled by 'Peshwas', or Prime Ministers, who were the de facto leaders of the state. The real credit for expanding the Maratha Kingdom goes to Bajirao Peshwa I (1721-1740). The Maratha Sardars (or chieftans) such as the Gakwats of Baroda, the Shindes of Gwalior and the Holkars of Indore expanded the power in North India.

At the height of the chieftans' power, the Marathas' rule spread from Attock in Pakistan to Bengal in East India, to the Deccan in the South. They established their own kingdoms, but were linked together in a loose alliance, until internal struggles and extrenal pressures forced the confederacy to collapse from within.

The Rise to Power

In 1681, Sambhaji had himself crowned and begun expansionistic policies. Sambhaji had earlier defeated the Portuguese and Chikka Deva Raya of Mysore. To nullify any Rajput-Maratha alliance, as well as the Deccan Sultanates, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb himself headed south in 1682. With his entire imperial court, administration, and an army of about 400,000 troops he proceeded to conquer the Deccani sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda, before moving on to the Marathas.



During the eight years that followed, Sambhaji led the Marathas, never losing a battle or a fort to Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb had almost lost the battle. In early 1689, Sambhaji called his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan. In a meticulously planned operation, Ganoji Shirke and Aurangzeb's commander Mukarrab Khan attacked Sangameshwar when Sambhaji was about to leave the town. A small ambush followed and Sambhaji was captured by Mughal troops on 1 Feb, 1689. He and his advisor, Kavi Kalash were taken to Bahadurgad. Aurangzeb humiliated them by parading them wearing clown's clothes. Later, Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were tied upside down to camels with Mughal soldiers throwing stones, mud, and cow dung at them.

When they were brought face to face with Aurangzeb, the latter offered to let Sambhaji live if he surrendered all the Maratha forts, turn over all his hidden treasures,disclose the names of all the Mughal officers who had helped him and embrace Islam. Sambhaji refused, and instead sang praises of Mahadev (one of the highest Hindu gods). Aurangzeb ordered him and Kavi Kalash to be tortured to death. Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were brutally tortured for over a fortnight. The torture involved plucking out their eyes and tongue and pulling out their nails. The later part involved of removing their skin. On March 11, 1689, Sambhaji was finally killed, reportedly by tearing him apart from the front and back with 'Wagh Nakhe ('Tiger claws', a Mughal weapon of torture), and was beheaded with an axe. This grievous death was given to him at Vadhu on the banks of Bhima river, near Pune.

Rajaram, Sambhaji's brother, now assumed the throne. Satara, the then capital, came under siege in 1700 and eventually was surrendered to the Mughals. At about the same time Rajaram died. His widow, Tarabai, assumed control in the name of her son Shahuji. Although she offered a truce, this was rejected by the emperor. Then Tarabai heroically led the Marathas against the Mughals; by 1705, they had crossed the Narmada River and entered Malwa, then in Mughal possession.

Malwa was a decisive battle for the Maratha empire. The Mughals lost their eminent position on the Indian subcontinent forever and the subsequent Mughal Emperors became titular kings. The Marathas emerged as victorious after a long drawn-out and fiercely-fought battle. The soldiers and commanders who participated in this war achieved the real expansion of the Maratha empire. The victory also set the foundations for the imperial conquests achieved later, under the Peshwas.

Panipat and the Downfall of the Confederacy

The following century saw the slow but steady increase in power of the Maratha chiefs, until the confederacy was in control of nearly all of India. Soon after however, the alliance developed cracks about the handling of official matters in Delhi and ultimately split. The Afghans sensed a chance to attack, and attempted to retake lost territory, but failed, and tried to retreat. The Marathas then marched up to the village of Panipat (near Delhi) and blocked their escape. Seeing their way back to their homeland blocked, the Afghans, in turn, blocked the way of the Marathas back into the Deccan. This standoff continued for a few months, while the Afghans cut off all supplies to the huge Maratha army. The Afghans with Najib Khan meanwhile recaptured Delhi and Kunjpura.

On the decisive day of 14th January 1761, the Marathas decided to break-through the Afghan blockade and re-enter the Deccan. The disastrous battle saw about one hundred thousand Maratha troops killed in a matter of eight hours. Nanasaheb Peshwe (Balaji Bajirao) lost his brother, Sadashivrao, and also his first son, Vishwasrao, in this battle. Unable to bear the shock, he also died shortly after the battle. It was one of the worst defeats for Marathas, Hinduism and the Indian nationalist effort. The dream of bringing India under one unified Hindu rule was shattered. The Afghans too suffered heavy losses and decided enough was enough and went back to Afghanistan. Abdali never returned to India after this stormy campaign. The Peshwas also lost control on the Maratha empire thereafter and the Maratha Generals consolidated themselves after this, in North and Central India, but were soon annexed by the British.

Maratha Warfare

The Marathas used many weapons, including elephants, guns and swords, but their most famous weapons are the legendary 'Gecko wall scalers', huge lizards that climbed into enemy bases and opened the gates (I did not make that up btw, someone else did) and the maratha shield-sword (pata). They are famed for their guerilla tactics, though their chieftans were feared commanders in open battle.

The Pindari - These were light cavalry, who rode around after the marathas armies looting and pillaging. They occaisionally were used ont he battlefield to harass the flanks. They were armed with cavalry swords, such as the Talwar, and some of the Maratha weapons such as the Pata cavalry sword.

[Mad Luddite]

Excellent start-I wonder which faction will control more of India in the beginning.

[Copperknickers II]

The Mughals have the most at the beginning, but they were failing, and the first decade of the 18th Century saw the fall of the Mughals and the rise of the marathas.

[Ludicus]

The Marathas used many weapons, including elephants, guns and swords, but their most famous weapons are the legendary 'Gecko wall scalers', huge lizards that climbed into enemy bases and opened the gates

Yes. And mines, to breach walls. For example, in the conquest of Baçaim.

[Falcon_12]

I imagine those gecko wall scalers were the best weapon since the incendiary pigs and anti tank dogs.

[Ahiga]

The Marathi's having an inaccurate roster isn't all that shocking when it seems most everyone (aside of the British ) got inaccurate rosters. Once and if Modders can break the files and make it accessible to the common layman like MTWII and RTW was, we can begin to see more accurate, creative and exciting Marathi Rosters, fixing some of the minor and major issues had with their units. If the files reach a point where I can successfully tweak stats, unit names and ownership, I'd like to try and do an amateur attempt at fixing up the Marathi (Among others) with a 'placeholder' roster until a more serious and capable attempt can be made.

Some observations I'd have for renovating the Marathi, which I won't claim are exclusively correct:

• Generals should be mounted on horseback, presumably with lance and sword. I can't recall how much the Marathi utilized elephants, but I'd say keep the two variants and just remove the general's one. Howdah's would be great, but not feasible until real modders and animators come along.

• Pindari could/should come in two forms, an early bow-wielding one and a gun-wielding one (although I got the impression horse archery tended to die out in the 1700s, so the bow one would essentially be like the European's still having access to pikemen)

• Completely remove the Sikh units. In their place as the elites of the Marathis, I'd have:
  
  
  • Elite Infantry - Sepoy Model (With European Officer and musician, if at all possible) representing the Marathi's limited adoption of European-trained and officer'd infantry regiments.
    
    
    • I know the Baghdirs represent those troops, but the impression I got is the Euro-trained Indian troops would also have European style uniforms.
    • They wouldn't be elite in quality, but would be very close to a Euro Line Inf's stats. Possibly limit their numbers
    
    
  • Elite Cavalry - Aghadir (The Mughals/Safavid's Elite Heavy Cavalrymen), representing the very best of the Sardars.
    
    
    • While a Mughal/Safavid unit, the armor is Indo-Persian and if I recall correctly I remember seeing it on artwork or statues depicting Marathis: http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ahadis.png
    
    
  • Elite Melee - None.
  
  

My own research awhile back pointed to the Marathi's being cavalry-centric for the much of the 18th century, and while as time went on they recognized the superiority of Infantry and adopted capable European-drilled Infantry, they made up a minority of their infantry (I heard 1 to 2 thousand at Assaye, but I may be recalling incorrectly). The Marathi need not be slaves to history, but I'd like to see them drawn up so as to offer an experience different from that of the Europeans, much like the Ottomans are prior to their Reforms.

In my own opinion I'd like to see the Hindu Musketeers be treated as light infantry and be able to spread out via the light infantry doctrine, as it really feels weird for them to behave like regular line infantry. Irregular Hindu Musketeers come across as more like the Austrian Pandours, but I'd make sure that they have sub-par accuracy, moral, and reload rates so as not to suddenly let the Marathis field capable light infantry.

What would be great in the long term, for a more serious modding effort, would be for a technology that only Europeans can research (Fairly low on their research tree) to be required for the Marathi's to have to recruit European-trained troops. Thus, they'd need to make a diplomatic deal for the "Technology" of training their troops based on European Lines simulating the deals with the French and English (albeit sometimes deserters, not the actual official government or trade companies) to train their armies.

[Babur]

The Mughals have the most at the beginning, but they were failing, and the first decade of the 18th Century saw the fall of the Mughals and the rise of the marathas.

You left out the rise of the Afghans too,who under Ahmad Shah Durrani managed to control significant portions of Western India,including Punjab plus.Their cavalry was pitted against European-trained Maratha artillery at the Third Battle of Panipat.

[regret]

Hi,

I was thinking of making a small mod to change the maratha army roster and i found this thread.

My plan is to figure out to how add the tech "European doctrine" the ottomans have and do something similar to the Marathas.

I was thinking of adding a
1. Line Infantry
2. Grenadier
3. Light infantry : i found out that there were Marathi light infantry companys in 1761 nicknamed "Ganpats".
4. Riflemen
5. Hussars/dragoons, etc


I was thinking of giving them proper names and wondering if anyone has any ideas? if not i would probably just call them Hindu Line Infantry, etc.

i know its not really historical but i feel that if the marathas bothered to expand their empire large enough and if they modernised enough, they would have had access to these units in the end.

thanks in advance for any help!

[Ahiga]

Did the Maratha field Rajputs, or did they and the Rajputs get along?

[Babur]

Did the Maratha field Rajputs, or did they and the Rajputs get along?

The Rajputs and Marathas became allies however after the Third Battle of Panipat this alliance ended.

[Copperknickers II]

Really? That would explain the Sikh units in ETW.

[Akhil_The_Great]

Really? That would explain the Sikh units in ETW.

lol sikhs come from punjab, while rajputs come from rajestan,

Copperknicks for your mod i got a suggestion, Have a special character Sunny Deol for a general

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex0-jRt-FJw

[Navneeth Jay]

"Really? That would explain the Sikh units in ETW."

Well no, Rajputs are a Hindu kshatriya group, just like the Maratha. I don't think there's any way to explain the Sikh troops.

Maybe because of the hypothetical situation where the Maratha captured Punjab?

[m_1512]

legendary 'Gecko wall scalers', huge lizards that climbed into enemy bases and opened the gates (I did not make that up btw, someone else did)

For cryin out loud, they were not geckos, but a creature known as Bengal Monitors or Indian Monitor Lizard. Since long mountain people or people living in arid lands used to tame such creatures.

[Navneeth Jay]

Strange. This was supposed to be a Marathas thread but it somehow got centred on hussar jackets?

Attention Deficit Disorder, eh?