The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c11.2

c11.2

THE ARMY that had become so formidable under Shivaji and the first Baji Rao consisted entirely of light cavalry and fleet footmen, but the army that lost the battles of Assaye, Argaom and Lasswari had in it a new element — infantry regiments armed, disciplined and trained by European officers in the western style. This improvement or innovation has been popularly attributed to Mahadaji Sindhia, the celebrated founder of a new empire in Hindustan, but it has been commonly ignored that although the popularity of trained battalions was largely due to him, the appointment of Benoit de Boigne in 1784 was the inevitable corollary of the employment of Muzaffar Khan and Ibrahim Khan nearly thirty years earlier.