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Marathas The Marathas are strong in Light Cavalry and their huge Indian Artillery Pieces. Unlike the Mughal they are quicker to adopt western style Infantry and Mobile Artillery.
Swept up from the dusts of the Hindi Deccan are the Maratha, turning the light cavalry ancestry of their Islamic foes against them while drawing upon chivalrous kshatriya traditions and an appreciation for reform. Lacking in horse, armor or motivation for the blunt charge of the Mughals, Marathi horsemen favor mobility and aggressive assertiveness so characteristic of light cavalry. While their patriarch Shivaji the Third favored light infantry, the feudal Sirdar chieftains who make up the Maratha confederacy have proudly emphasized cavalry work. Yet while making up the largest part of the Maratha's army, cavalry shall grow to be eclipsed in importance by an artillery corps which transitions from fixed heavy ordnance to mobile western artillery and the Peshaw's own European highly trained Gardi Musketeers.
Last edited by PikeStance; March 08, 2015 at 01:55 AM.
Are you guys going to take away the Marathas ability to build European ships? I find it kinda ridiculous that in most campaign its they, not Europeans, that dominate the Indian Ocean.
The Maratha Empire was established by Chhatrapati Shivaji in 1674. From its inception, the Marathas established a Naval force, consisting of cannons mounted on ships.
The dominance of the Maratha Navy started with the ascent of Kanhoji Angre as the Darya-Saranga by the Maratha chief of Satara.[9] Under that authority, he was master of the Western coast of India from Mumbai to Vingoria (now Vengurla) in present day state of Maharashtra, except for Janjira which was affiliated with the Mughal Empire. Until his death in 1729, he repeatedly attacked the colonial powers of Britain and Portugal, capturing numerous vessels of the British East India Company and extracting ransom for their return.
On 29 November 1721 a joint attempt by the Portuguese (Viceroy Francisco José de Sampaio e Castro) and the British (General Robert Cowan) to humble Kanhoji also failed miserably. Their combined fleet consisting of 6,000 soldiers in no less than four Man-of-war ships led by Captain Thomas Mathews failed miserably. Aided by Maratha naval commanders Mendhaji Bhatkar and Mainak Bhandari, Kanhoji continued to harass and plunder the European ships until his death in 1729.
The 'Pal' was a three masted Maratha man-of-war with guns peeping on the broadsides.
Not only did they apparently have Ship of the Line equivalents, they apparently routinely beat European fleets.
Not only did they apparently have Ship of the Line equivalents, they apparently routinely beat European fleets.
Just a note, that doesn't necessarily prove they had "Ships-of-the-line."
The man-of-war (also man of war, man-o'-war or simply man) was the most powerful type of armed ship from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The term often refers to a ship armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails, as opposed to a galley which is propelled primarily by oars.
Thus, the term "man-of-war" can refer to anything from a Sloop to a First-Rate. They may not have had 1st/2nd Rate ships, nor would they be needed if they primarily raided Indiamen.
However, I could be mistaken. I just wanted to bring to attention that man-of-war =/= Ship of the line.
they didnt had any SOLs. all ships they had, were captured from East Indian company. and that battle Swerg talked about, was actually a siege of their fortress where Mathews ships assisted... so no Marathan naval victory vs 4 SOLs....
From 1722 to 1724 he was in command of a small squadron sent to the East Indies to expel the pirates of the Malabar Coast. The presence of his ships caused pirate activity to be much reduced, but their strongholds remained impregnable.[2] Mathews' squadron supported Portuguese troops from Goa in an attack on the pirate fortress at Kolaba, but this was repulsed
Sad indeed, there are only very fews pics of marathas soldiers on the net.
I only found a handfull and of very low quality when i wrote an aar for them for EU3.
However i guess that can give an idea about their general look anyway so i will post a few.
The three first are pics of Shivaji, one of the founders of the state. Could be an inspiration for a general.
The horsemen is obviously a light lancer.
But what we can see as the recurring theme concerning what they wear is white clothes with a tight pant, a long (and sometimes ample) tunic with colored turbans/sashs.
They also don't seem to wear a lot of armor (although i guess the social class of the soldier matter there)
Last edited by Keyser; November 02, 2009 at 06:07 PM.
That said, European naval detachments to the Indian Ocean, even during major campaigns like those of the 7 Years War, were never very large. As an example, the Battle of Pondicherry, one of the major naval engagements of that period, was fought between a grand total of twenty ships of the line. By comparison, the Royal Navy alone had twenty ships of the line at Quiberon Bay.
So it's entirely plausible that the various Indian territories used small vessels in large numbers to dominate their coastlines, and the European navies simply lacked the manpower to compete.
not true - any western warship would deal with those small ships easilly - they were not able to compete on any level - that is why indiamans got guns in the first place - sometimes Indiaman ships had the military painting, but only few guns - from distance it was not possible to say if that ship is 60 gun doubledecker or just unarmed tradeship... plus, even if Indiaman had just few guns, it was still more than any of maratha pirate's barques could have... all in all, only way how to capture Indiaman, was to use lots of small boats to swarm it, and flood the deck with boarders... definitely not by gun dueling... oh, and if they would try something like that against real military ship (let say 4-rate), they would be sank very very fast... (imagine what a broadside of grapeshot would do to small boats...) all in all, Marathas naval power, was never a power in the first place. Just bunch of pirates, nothing more.
First off, the Mughal basic cavalry, the Pindari I think...what's the morale on those guys? 'Cause I had one unit in a siege as the Ottomans reduced down to a single horseman who was 'wavering' as a full unit of Nizami-I surrounded him after wiping out most of his fellows with their musketry. Maybe the Mughal cavalry should have their morale looked at
Second, as a means of controlling the Marathas tendency to spam everything, I had a few suggestions...
First, massively reduced the stats of their most basic units while retaining the same price. Just halve everything or something. Second, massively INCREASE the price (and upkeep, not that this seems to affect the AI) of their elite units, especially elephants.
Something similar could be applied to the Mughals to prevent them from becoming the Marathas v2.0, but basically, as I see it, this would reduce the overall effectiveness of Mughal armies to the point where it might be possible to compete with them, while allowing them a to retain their massive numerical advantage.
I think the best way would simply be to make the Maratha more historically accurate; compose it of melee and bow units. Muskets should only be readily available after good research, and they should be limited in how many units you can purchase until then.
Maratha should also be faced with MUCH larger Mughal hordes, weak enough so that the Maratha eventually triumph in a couple decades, but strong enough so that they can't waltz over to Agra by 1712.
And perhaps Persia should be an unfriendly faction to Marathas? The Third Battle of Panipat against the Afghans is often credited with reducing Maratha unity and hold over their territories.
The Marathas army evolve throughout XVIIIth century but man can distinguish two periods :
1700-1760
During this period, Maratha mostly defend their territory.
As it was not favourable to cavalry (hilly regions), Maratha armies were mostly composed of infantry.
For instance :
1707 - Dhanaji Jadhav's army was composed of 25,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 horses ;
1678 - Shivaji's army at Panhala was composed of 20,000 foot soldiers and 15,000 horses ;
1668 - Shivaji's army against Goa was composed of 8,000 to 10,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 horses ;
1760-1800 : Peshwa period
During this period , however, the positions was reverse : Maratha armies were mostly composed of cavalry.
As Marathas were no longer compelled to defend tjeir homeland, there were now in position to carry war into enemy country.
Those distant expeditions, designed mainly for plunder, a cavalry force was far more useful than infantry.
Marathas relied on high mobility.
For instance :
1787 - Portuguese report said that Marathas could bring in the field 80,000 to 100,000 horses, 10,000 foot soldiers and 40 to 50 pieces of artillery
MARATHA ARMIES ROSTER
CAVALRY
Kahsgi paga
Peshwa's private cavalry, they were equipped and paid directly by the State and their number was very small.
For instance :
The Khase paga (men equipped by the State) at Panipat did not number more than 6,000 out of a total of 38,000 horses under different chiefs.
1744-45 - composition of a cavalry force in the Peswha's service : Ranoji Bhonsla's force strenght was 700, but only 90 were bargirs of the Kase paga (44 musketeers and 56 spearmen). The remaining 610 were ordinary Silhedars.
Silhedars Silhedar brings their horse and equipment with tem.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Ekas / Ekandas Ekas or Ekandas were single volunteers.
Marathas horseman as well as his comrade in the infantry was very lightly and scandily clad.
Pendharis
Pendharis formed a source of income to the Maratha generals.
As they were employed for plundering the country through which they passed, they received no pay from the Peshwa but paid the general, to whose army they were attached, a tax (Palpatii), in return for protection which they received from him.
Pendharis Mughal's counterpart were Bederia (Bidari).
Pendharis' method had been describe by an anonymous writer in 1819 :
INFANTRY
1700-1760
During this period, infantry was composed of :
Maratha foot soldiers
Rajput foot soldiers
Fisrt official mention in 1734-35, a brief paper announced the appointment of Tryambak Rao Somvanshi as Sarlaskar and the enlistment of a number of Rajput who had come from Jai Sing.
Arabs foot soldiers
Of all the foreigners, the Arabs enjoyed the highest reputation for valour and intrepidity.
Abyssinians foot soldiers
1760-1800
About this time, the Peshwa had organized the trained battalions of his army and this necessitated the further employment of non-Marathas.
Tone said (Illustrations of some Institutions of the Maratha People, p.44, Tone, 1818) that, in his days, Maratha didn't care to enlist as a foot soldier and the infantry consisted almost entirely of outsiders.
During this period, infantry was composed of :
European (Poona infantry, 25 Rupees a month and per head) ;
Indian Christians (15 Rupees a month and per head) ;
Arabs (15 to 16 Rupees a month and per head) ;
Abyssinian (15 Rupees a mont and per head) ;
Sidis ;
Other indians (9 Rupees a month and per head) ;
European trained native troops
ARTILLERY
Artillery (Topkhana)
Marathas had a regular artillery department, called Topkhana, since Shivaji time but they were never able to manufacture their own gun in sufficient number.
Despite their attempts to manufacture guns, ammunition and powder, they were dependent on the Europeans trading companies for their procurement.
European were reluctant to sell them their best piece of artillery and most of the time they sold old ones.
But, as late as 1745, they were asking foreign powers to supply them iron shots which would not have been difficult to make.
Marathas engaged European to serve as officer for their artillery.
When no European officers were available, they looked for Muhammadans as the latter had more experience of this arm than other Indians.
For instance, Marathas tried their best to recruit de Bussy to help to train their army, failing in theirs efforts, they manage to get Ibrahim Khan, an artillery expert serving under Bussy.
Ibrahim Khan play a prominent part in reorganizing the Maratha artillery and in influencing their tactics.
Due to these problems, Maratha had a weakness in engaging Europeans in their artillery.
Rockets
War rockets were use by Marathas as well as Mughals.
They were manufactured by private contract for the Peswha's army, and the average price of one of these weapons was 5 Rupees each.
The rockets were carried by camels.
Rockets were more effective in frightening away the war elephant largely employed in the Mughal army in India.
EUROPEAN INFLUENCE
First attempt : Ibrahim Kanh's gardis (1750-60)
Ibrahim Khan played a prominent part to not only the reorganization of Marathas' artillery, but influencing their tactics.
He worked to introduce and implement an infantry-artillery combined force in the Maratha army : the employment of highly disciplined and trained infantry which could work as one body responding to a single commander at all levels and a highly trained artillery wich could work with infantry as part of a combined force again under one commander.
But this system was too different from the Marathas' traditional cavalry based one and Marathas didn't have enough time to absorb the new method
So, gardis never replace the old predatory force but they co-operate with it.
After the disaster of Panipat (1761) show how different and irreconciliable were these two methods : the highly mobile and predatory traditionnal tactic and the combined infantry-artillery western method.
Gardis who accompanied Prasham Bhau Patwardhan on his Mysore expedition (17xx ?) were better dressed than traditionnal infantry :
Second attempt : de Boigne brigade (1790)
Maratha were aware that the service of infantry regiments trained in western methods were invaluable in open field battle and for fort and strongholds reduction.
They never stop to try to create e regular army trained in western methods.
In 1790, de Boigne asked to raised a brigade of 10 battalions of infantry with a suitable complement of cavalry and artillery.
After their succes of Patan and Merta, two other brigade were added.
But Maratha did not enter the regular army.
Regular forces under Sindhia or the Peshwa were composed entirely of non-Marathas : Hindu (called Telingas) from Oudh, Muhammadan contingents (called Najibs and Alygholes) of Rohillas and Pathns.
Moreover, the privates in the newly raised battalions was not morally superior to his predecessor in the gardis regiment.
And if the men were bad, their officers were worse. European adventurer who sought the service of Indian Price came in pursuit of fortune and were not reliable (some of them earned the epithet of Daghabaz (traitor)...
Moreover, most of these adventurers had no military training. Perron, Borquin and George Thomas were sailors, Michael Filoze is described by Lewis Ferdinand Smith as a "Neapolitan of mean birth, low character and illiterate."
Of course, some allowance might have been made for natural bias of an Englishman against his French rivals in the same service, or simply of an Englishman against French.
But the greatest mistake was to use European officers that will not fight against theirs own compatriots and know so much about the Maratha army organization.
Despite all this defects, Sindhia's regular army was the best that any Indian prince had at that time. Sindhia's men werer better armed, better paid and more efficiently trained.
MARATHAS' TACTICS
Early Maratha :
The first characteristic of the Maratha armies was their extreme mobility.
The reason was that they were all horsemen, often with one spare horse for each trooper, and they wre not encumbered with baggage or tents, as they lived off the country and they hardy ponies fed on the wayside shrubs.They carry no artillery, no workshop, no camp-servants.
The second characteristic of Maratha warfare was they pursued enveloping tactics, intended to harass their enemy and cut off his supplies.
The efficiency of the Maratha system lay in this that their cast hordes of horsemen could march long distances with extreme speed and secrecy, disperse for foraging or bewildering their enemy, and yet combine for striking a blow.
This mobility also enable them to break off engagement at any time they choose and vanish to a safe distance, without giving their enemy a chance of crushing them by pursuit.
Sudden surprise of an unprepared enemy by vast bodies of light cavalry and complete envelopment of his position was the secret of success of the Maratha system of warfare.
But, against walled cities, fully provisioned or camps guarded by artillery, they were powerless fo attack, though they could starve out such defended posts by cutting off their supplies.
Late Marathas
Trying to adopt western methods, Marathas raised some regular regiments, combinig infantry, artillery and cavalry.
But, western methods were not compatible with traditional Maratha's tactic based on high mobility.
At their best, new army (the Europeanized one) and traditional Maratha one co-operated in the battlefield, but Maratha loose the advantage of mobility.
MARATHAS' ARMIES ROSTER IN GAME : PROPOSITIONS
CAVALRY :
ELITE
Kahsgi paga lancers/spearmen : shock cavalry, early and late periods ;
Kahsgi paga musketeers : early and late periods ;
CAVALRY :
Silhedars : shock cavalry armed with lance and sword, early and late periods ;
Europeanized line cavalry : shock cavalry armed with swords, late periods ;
LIGHT CAVALRY :
Ekas : armed with muskets or matchlok for range fighting and sword and target for hand to hand, early and late periods ;
Pendharis : very mobile and cheap light cavalry, armed with lance and sword, early and late periods ;
Europeanized light cavalry : armed with carbine for range fighting and sword for hand to hand, late period ;
INFANTRY
ELITE :
Arabs infantry : early and late periods ;
LINE :
Gardis : middle to late period, but should be available before the regular infantry ;
Sepoys (regular infantry, maybe Telingas sepoys infantry and Najibs sepoys ?) : late period ;
TRADITIONAL :
Abyssinian infantry : early and late periods ;
Rajput infantry : early and late periods ;
Hindu infantry : early and late periods ;
AUXILIARIES :
Rohillas auxiliaries ? : late period ;
ARTILLERY
GUNS
Jejala (light piece of artillery) : early and late periods ;
Zamburak or Shutarnal (camel "artillery") : early and late periods ;
Indian artillery : early and late periods ;
Europeanized artillery : late period ;
HOWITZER
Europeanized howitzer : late period ;
MORTAR
Indian mortar : middle ans late periods ;
Europeanized mortar : late pariod ;
ROCKETS
Only generals should use elephants.
Moreover, Marathas were very reluctant to use them in offensive actions and when they used elephant there were in few number.
BIBLIOGRAPHY :
Encyclopediaedia of Military Systems in India, Vol.4, Maratha Military Systems, written by Raj Kumar, Commonwealth Publishers ed.
Last edited by wangrin; June 12, 2011 at 02:06 PM.
« Le courage, c’est de ne pas subir la loi du mensonge triomphant qui passe, et de ne pas faire écho de notre âme, de notre bouche et de nos mains aux applaudissements imbéciles et aux huées fanatiques.. » Jean JAURES
The Marathas did not defend their territory from 1700-1760! That's absurd! Firstly, note that the Maratha are a rebel faction; all their territories were acquired through conquests of Mughal territories. Indeed, the War of 27 Years was concluded by 1707 and had virtually broken all Mughal conceptions of conquering the Maratha. It was the MUGHALS that were on the defensive after that point.
"[Tarabai] fought heroically and captured Berar, parts of Gujarat and Baroda which belonged to the Moghuls. This was a great insult to the Moghuls in general and Aurangazeb in particular. In the meantime, Aurangazeb died in 1707 and his ambition of conquering the Deccan remained a dream."
Also mentions that she conquered 6 Mughal provinces in her 8 years in full power (obviously smaller provinces than in game).
Last edited by Navneeth Jay; June 09, 2011 at 02:48 PM.
Excuse me, but you can be a rebel and fight for your territories.
For instance, Chouans and Vendéens were rebels to the French Republic but fight in their "homeland", the land were they lived.
The author (Raj Kumar) wrote that "in the Peshwa period, however, [...] the Marathas were no longer compelled to defend their hearth and home. Secure in their territories, they were now in a position to carry war into ennemy country [...]" to explain why Marathas armies roster change.
What should I understand as Marathas' hearth and home : Maratha homeland probably, but what region or regions did they encompass for the author ?
The author said that, at this time, Maratha have to fight into hilly region that were not favourable to the use of cavalry, is he right or not ?
I've add source (bibliography) at the end of my previous post.
I have to finish Artillery and European Influence chapters.
« Le courage, c’est de ne pas subir la loi du mensonge triomphant qui passe, et de ne pas faire écho de notre âme, de notre bouche et de nos mains aux applaudissements imbéciles et aux huées fanatiques.. » Jean JAURES
The author (Raj Kumar) wrote that "in the Peshwa period, however, [...] the Marathas were no longer compelled to defend their hearth and home. Secure in their territories, they were now in a position to carry war into ennemy country [...]" to explain why Marathas armies roster change.
What should I understand as Marathas' hearth and home : Maratha homeland probably, but what region or regions did they encompass for the author ?
The author said that, at this time, Maratha have to fight into hilly region that were not favourable to the use of cavalry, is he right or not ?
I've add source (bibliography) at the end of my previous post.
I have to finish Artillery and European Influence chapters.
Ah, I think the author was trying to convey that the Maratha Peshwas were becoming careless and overly expansionist. What I believe he is claiming is that the Marathas did not fear losing their well-established Hindu provinces to the armies of other kingdoms.
But those provinces themselves were acquired over time through various Maratha conquests from Shivaji's lifetime to 1760. I believe the major act of territorial invasion that was referenced was the December 1759 razing of Delhi by 100000 Maratha troops. That prompted the Battle of Panipat, which in turn defeated the Maratha advance into Northern territory.
By that time, the Mughals were nothing more than regional regents in control of a territory or two in the Northeast.
And by rebel faction, I mean that they were actually a separate faction with government and territory. I just mean that they had to conquer almost all of that which they obtained; Shivaji only had administration over a small fiefdom while he ruled under the Bijapur Sultanate and later Mughal Empire.
You could argue that Shivaji was fighting for his "Hindu homeland" in conquering other Indian territories, but at the time, no concepts of Hindu unity existed. The territories he captured were as much his homeland as they were to the ones he captured them from.
The Marathas - Information & Discussion
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