Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s9: § 12. Effect of the victory at Assaye
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s9
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§ 12. Effect of the victory at Assaye
v4.c58.s9.1
Assaye cannot be called a decisive battle if it was expected to crush Sindhia's power by that one blow. At first he put a brave face on it, and argued that he had inflicted a thousand casualties on the English force and lost the day only through his unprepared state at the time of the attack, the cowardly flight of Raghuji Bhonslé, and the seduction of his own battalion commandants by the English. Untaught by the past, Daulat Rao talked of pursuing the traditional Marātha policy of sending predatory hordes into Haidarabad territory, Bengal and Punā, which had failed before Assaye.
v4.c58.s9.2
But the moral effect of Assaye was undeniable. No amount of bragging could conceal the fact that his French-trained campoo and indigenous cavalry alike had been signally beaten by a very much smaller British force, and no Marātha would thenceforth make a stand before the victors of Assaye in an open field. Worst of all, this battle caused a final breach between the two Confederated Rajas. The Marātha world blamed Raghuji Bhonslé for his selfish flight at Assaye, without giving his ally the least help. Sindhia therefore vowed to take his revenge by leaving Bhonslé’s troops in the lurch in their next encounter with the English, and this he did at Argāon (28th November), where Sindhia’s contingent stood still on one side and moved off as soon as the English advance began.
v4.c58.s9.3
The very large number of men and horses killed and wounded at Assaye, enforced a fortnight’s halt on General Wellesley for the relief of the sufferers. Then he launched his long cherished scheme of carrying the war into Bhonslé’s own territory by sending Stevenson on to invade Berar. At the same time for some weeks he had again to march rapidly, forward and backward, in order to head the enemy off from the Nizam’s territory and the Peshwa’s districts. But these threatened raids of Daulat Rao now ended in the same futility as before Assaye. And the English pressed on with their conquests, tightening their grip on the throats of Daulat Rao and Raghuji. Burhanpur and Asirgarh were captured by Stevenson on 16th and 21st October. Gawailgarh, where Bhonslé had stored his treasure, fell after a bloody assault on 14th December.