Battle of Assaye

Uncommon card · No. 181119

The Battle of Assaye was fought on 23 September 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War between the British and Maratha empires. An outnumbered British army led by Major General Arthur Wellesley defeated a Maratha army under the command of Daulatrao Scindia and Raghoji II Bhonsle near Assaye in western India. The battle was Wellesley's first major victory and one he would later describe as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War and his defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. In August 1803, Wellesley's army and a separate British force under the command of his subordinate Colonel James Stevenson began pursuing the Maratha army, which had threatened to raid south into Hyderabad. After several weeks of pursuit and counter-marching, Scindia reinforced the Maratha army with his Westernised infantry and artillery as the two British forces closed in on his position. Wellesley received intelligence indicating the location...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Joseph Constantine Stadler / After William Heath, Public domain