The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c4.16

c4.16

In short the decline and fall of the Maratha military power was due firstly to the revival of feudalism after the death of Sambhaji, which caused disunion and dissension from which Shivaji had tried to save his people; secondly to the rejection of Shivaji's ideal of racial amity on a religious basis in favour of the principle of personal aggrandisement which led to the denationalisation of the Maratha army, and thirdly and lastly to the failure of the Maratha leaders to keep pace with the scientific progress in other parts of the world, to learn and assimilate what others had to teach and improve upon what they had learnt. In Europe there was steady progress from feudalism to national monarchy and from national monarchy to democracy; in Maharashtra the process was reversed by the Peshwas, and the result was the decline, decay and fall of the Maratha empire.