It has been argued that the British East India Company would not have been able to take control of southern India if the Marathas had not been weakened by this battle.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Battle of Panipat
In 1761, about 60 miles north of Delhi, the expanding Maratha Confederacy was checked by a Afghan coalition consisting of Pashtun and Baluchi forces under Ahmad Shah Durrani. The Afghans, about 100,000 strong, besieged and defeated a force of roughly 70,000 Marathas and French-supplied artillery, in one of the largest battles of the 18th Century. Both sides had heavy casualties, but the Afghans pursued and massacred the routing Marathas, their camp followers, and any other civilians who got in the way.
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1 comment:
There was also some sort of lesson in there about the attitude of Afghans when annoyed that seems to have eluded some of our planners.
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