Sadashivrao Bhau
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| Sadashivrao Bhau | |
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| July 5, 1730 – January 20, 1761 (aged 30) | |
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| Place of birth | Maharashtra, India |
| Place of death | Panipat, India |
| Allegiance | Maratha Empire |
| Commands held | Third Battle of Panipat |
| Battles/wars | Third Battle of Panipat |
| Relations | Parvatibai (wife) Vishwasrao (nephew) Nanasaheb Peshwa (brother) |
Sadashivrao Bhau (July 5, 1730 - January 20, 1761) was a nephew of Baji Rao I, who served during 1720-40 as the Peshwa (Prime Minister) in the Maratha regime.
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[edit] Birth and early years
Sadashivrao, born in Saswad near Pune, was the son of Baji Rao's brother Chimaji Appa.
At the age of seven, Sadashivrao's marriage was arranged to the three year old Parvatibai, a daughter of Sardar Korde, who was the finance minister in the cabinet of Chhatrapati Shahu.
[edit] Establishment of artillery units
While observing several battles, Bhau witnessed the effectiveness artillery and light-weight guns mounted on British ships and began incorporating artillery units in the army of Baji Rao. Bhau enlisted the services of Ibrahim Khan Gardi, who brought with him 2,500 trained soldiers and fifteen cannons. Bhau also employed European mercenaries who used be in the employ of Tulaji Angre before his defeat. Notable among them was an engineer named Le Corbosier, who was an expert in foundry and in handling explosives. Within two years, Baji Rao's Infantry-Artillery division had 10,000 men and 56 guns.
[edit] Third battle of Panipat
In January 1758, news reached the prime minister Nanasaheb Peshwa that Ahmad Shah Durrani had invaded and captured the Punjab region. Bhau led Nanasaheb's forces in recapturing Delhi in May 1758, a battle in which artillery units were crucial in destroying the fortifications of Durrani's forces. Bhau later captured the fortified village of Kunjpura with a blitzkrieg offensive that demolished of the fort's ramparts with land mines and artillery shelling and an attack of cavalry and musketeer units. Durrani went on to lose Sirhind, Lahore and Kasur to Sikh forces, and Multan and Attock to Khokhar-Khatri Muslims. Both groups were supplied with munitions by the Maratha empire.
Durrani attempted to turn the tide against the Marathas by allying with other Rohilla chieftains including the Nawab of Awadh, Prince Vijay Singh of Jodhpur, and Kachawa Prince Madho Singh of Amber. Durrani also recruited Afghans displaced by the war, and by August 1760, Durrani had 120,000 soldiers to block Maratha passage to the south. Durrani isolated the Marathas financially and politically by having his allies convincing other nobles to break their alliances with Bhau and not fund his campaign.
Bhau was responsible for adjusting the hit-and-run tactics used by the Maratha calvary, ill-suited for the heavy materiel and numerous family members and camp followers that accompanied the army (outnumbering actual combatants by an estimated five to one), to a more effective use of artillery and infantry. Though the changes resulted in several victories for the army, the Maratha's generals were unready to adopt the new strategy completely and correctly pointed out that the new units of artillery and infantry were not compatible with the other forces in the army and that the generals were not adequately trained on the deployment of the new units. Despite reservations of his generals and a shortage of time and money, Bhau formed a unit consisting of 10 000 infantry and 50 artillery pieces.
Durrani had noted the large number of non-combatants follwing Bhau's army, and ordered an attack on their camp, which included Bhau's wife, slaughtering large numbers of civilians and soldiers' families. The resulting casualties and refugees fleeing to the Maratha camp caused overcrowding, supply shortages and shook the morale of Bhau's army, forcing him to turn his attention to safely transporting the civilians to Pune. In January of 1761 Bhau faced famine and was blocked reinforcement due to Durrani's control of key transportation routes. He offered a treaty to Durrani, including half the annual revenue from the Punjab-Sindh region.
[edit] Final battle and death
After a no reply regarding the terms of the treaty, Bhau decided to try to break the seige and allow the civilians under his protection to escape to Rohtak and Jind. Durrani was taken unaware by the early morning attack, and decided to counter-attack during daylight. Durrani faced heavy initial losses, ultimately moving his forces out of range of the artillery bombardment and awaited Bhau's attempt to break the civilians out of the battlelines, a plan that was brought to his attention by spies placed in Bhau's camp. While Bhau's forces were split between escorting civilians and defending the battle, Durrani planned to kill the opposing leader and Vishwasrao, Bhau's nephew and heir to Nanasaheb Peshwa. Durrani's forces killed Vishwasrao and Bhau departed the battlefield to visit the corpse, with devastating effect on the morale of his troops. Durrani attacked to take advantage of the confusion and weakness of Bhau's forces; Bhau counter-attacked but ultimately the army was defeated and any remaining civilians were massacred. Bhau was rendered comatose and removed to Kurukshetra, dying on January 20th, 1761 without regaining consciousness. His body was cremated.
[edit] References
- Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar, Panipat 1761 (Deccan College Monograph Series. I.), Pune (1946)
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