Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s13.26

v4.c56.s13.26

A glance at the map of India naturally suggests that the Maratha troops had the great strategic advantage of operating on short inner lines, because Sindhia’s dominions lay in the centre of the country, while the British forces were dispersed along the outer margin of the circle. It should have been easier for the Marathas to concentrate their full strength on any threatened point. But this favour of geography was nullified by the imbecility of the master and the treachery of his servants. The folly and slackness of the leaders left the unfortunate soldiers of the campoo to fight the English in dispersed bodies and to be everywhere defeated in detail. The greatest mischief done by Perron was that he selfishly removed the best and most seasoned battalions of his army far from the expected point of attack by Lake, so that no resistance worthy of the importance of Aligarh fort and arsenal could be offered there at the very outset of the campaign. The moral damage inflicted by his defeat here was incalculable.