1818 battle fought between British East India Company (mostly Mahar soldiers) and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy
A small British East India Company force held off a vastly larger Peshwa army, contributing to the end of Maratha Confederacy rule in India.
Key Facts
- Date
- 1 January 1818
- Company force strength
- 800 soldiers
- Peshwa total force strength
- 28,000 soldiers
- Peshwa attacking detachment
- ~2,000 soldiers
- Duration of defense
- Nearly 12 hours
- Commemorative monument
- Victory pillar (obelisk) at Koregaon
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Peshwa Baji Rao II led a 28,000-strong force toward the British-held city of Pune. An 800-man East India Company column, composed largely of Mahar soldiers under Captain Francis Staunton, was marching to reinforce Pune's garrison when the two forces unexpectedly converged near Koregaon Bhima.
On 1 January 1818, the Peshwa detached roughly 2,000 troops to attack the outnumbered Company column, which took up an entrenched defensive position in the village of Koregaon. Captain Staunton's force repelled repeated assaults for nearly twelve hours until the Peshwa's troops withdrew, deterred by intelligence that a larger British relief force was approaching.
The Peshwa's failure to destroy the small Company column undermined his campaign to retake Pune. The wider Third Anglo-Maratha War ended with the defeat and abdication of Peshwa Baji Rao II later in 1818, completing British East India Company dominance over western, central, and southern India. A commemorative obelisk was erected at Koregaon and remains a contested site of memory.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Captain Francis Staunton.
Side B
1 belligerent
Peshwa Baji Rao II.