Siege of Ahmednagar

The siege of Ahmednagar was the first battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company.

Siege of Ahmadnagar
Part of the Second Anglo-Maratha War
Date8–12 August 1803
Location
Ahmednagar Fort in the current-day state of Maharashtra, India
19°05′41.3″N 74°45′19.7″E
Result British victory
Territorial
changes		 British East India Company captures Ahmednagar Fort
Belligerents
British East India Company Maratha Confederacy
Commanders and leaders
Arthur Wellesley Daulat Rao Scindia
Strength
24,000 Unknown
Ahmednagar is located in Maharashtra
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar
Shown within Maharashtra
Ahmednagar is located in India
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar (India)

When he determined that a long defensive war would ruin his army, Wellesley decided to act boldly to defeat the numerically larger force of the Maratha Empire.

With the logistic assembly of his army complete (24,000 men in total) he gave the order to break camp and attack the nearest Maratha fort on 8 August 1803.[1]

Wellesley's first move was to take the walled Pettah of Ahmednagar (town adjacent to the fort) by escalade,[2] on the same day (the 8 August).[3]

The Ahmednagar Fort surrendered on 12 August after an infantry attack had exploited an artillery-made breach in the wall. With the pettah and fort now in British control Wellesley was able to extend control southwards to the river Godavari.[4]

Notes
  1. Holmes 2002, pp. 69, 73.
  2. Fitchett 1911, pp. 102–104.
  3. Duke of Wellington 1859, p. 151.
  4. Holmes 2002, p. 74.

References
  • Fitchett, William Henry (1911), Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, London: G. Bell, pp. 102–104
  • Holmes, Richard (2002), Wellington: The Iron Duke, London: Harper Collins Publishers, ISBN 978-0-00-713750-3
  • Duke of Wellington (1859), "Camp at Ahmednuggur, 17th Aug., 1803", in Wellesley, Arthur Richard (2nd Duke) (ed.), Supplementary despatches and memoranda of field marshal Arthur duke of Wellington 1797–1819 with a map of India, J. Murray, p. 151
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