Key Facts
- Siege start date
- 1 September 1803
- Siege end date
- 4 September 1803
- Duration
- 3 days
- British unit
- 76th Regiment (now Yorkshire Regiment)
- Maratha defences
- 14 ditches with sword-blades and poisoned chevaux-de-frise
Strategic Narrative Overview
On 1 September 1803, General Lord Gerard Lake led the British 76th Regiment in a siege of Aligarh Fort. The Maratha defenders had fortified the approaches with fourteen ditches lined with sword-blades and poisoned chevaux-de-frise, making any assault exceptionally hazardous. Despite these elaborate obstacles, British forces pressed the attack continuously over three days, breaching the defences through sustained military pressure.
01 / The Origins
The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) arose from British ambitions to extend dominance across the Indian subcontinent and the Maratha Confederacy's resistance to that expansion. Aligarh Fort, one of the strongest fortifications in India, was a critical Maratha stronghold in northern India, garrisoned under French mercenary officer Pierre Perron, whose European-trained troops gave the Marathas a formidable defensive capability.
03 / The Outcome
Aligarh Fort fell to British forces on 4 September 1803, just three days after the siege began. The Duke of Wellington later declared the capture one of the most extraordinary feats of the British conquest of northern India. The fall of this stronghold significantly weakened Maratha power in the region and accelerated British territorial consolidation across northern India during the wider Second Anglo-Maratha War.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
General Lord Gerard Lake.
Side B
1 belligerent
Pierre Perron.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.