James Baquet The Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent became a confederacy when Madhavao Bhat I divided the unwieldy state between various leaders, who took the title of prime minister or Peshwa. The Marathas had gone to war with England (in the guise of the British East India Company) several times: in the First (1775-1782), the Second (1803-1805), and the decisive Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818), which brought an end to the Maratha Empire. In 1817, the British had intervened in an inter-Maratha dispute, forcing Baji Rao II to cede large tracts of land to the British, and ending that Peshwa’s supremacy over the other Peshwas of the Marathas. Not long after, Baji Rao burned down the British Residency in Pune, but suffered defeat at British hands in early November. When he fled the area, the British fully occupied Pune. Meanwhile, British troops pursued the Peshwa, whose flight was hemmed in on all sides by British troop movements. At last, he settled on returning to Pune for a final confrontation. But before he could get that far, a battle took place on the first day of 1818, when 28,000 men under Baji Rao, the last of the Peshwas, were met by 834 East India Company men who were also headed to Pune, to reinforce the troops there. The company men entrenched themselves in Koregaon on the banks of the Bhima River, where an obelisk commemorating the battle stands today. The Peshwa sent about 2,000 men at a time to root out the company force, which consisted of both British soldiers and native Indians. The company men held out for 12 hours, with little food or water. They considered surrendering due to hunger and thirst, but were encouraged by their captain to hold on. At 9 p.m., the Peshwa began to fear the arrival of British reinforcements which were said to be on their way, and withdrew his troops. Some 275 of the 834 British troops were dead, wounded or missing. British troops continued to harry the Peshwa until his surrender in June of that year. Though the results of the Battle of Koregaon were technically indecisive, it was seen as a British victory for the stalwart defense presented by the British troops. Vocabulary: Which words above mean: 1. appearance, aspect 2. interfered, cut in 3. surrounded 4. harass by repeated attacks 5. dug in, fortified 6. give up, turn over 7. awkward, difficult to manage 8. sturdy, brave 9. between (something) 10. definitive, putting an end to something | 