Storming of Ahmedabad (1780)

01Goddard’s march

After the Convention of Wadgaon in 1779, Warren Hastings needed a success in western India. Goddard, who had marched a Bengal army across central India to Surat, made a treaty with Fatehsingh Gaekwad of Baroda in January 1780: the Gaekwad would join the Company and receive the Peshwa’s share of Gujarat. Goddard then moved on Ahmedabad, which the Marathas had held since Raghunathrao and Damaji Gaekwad took it from the Mughals in 1753.

02Through the breach

Goddard’s guns battered the old Sultanate walls for several days. On 15 February 1780 the storming columns went in through the breach and, after hard fighting on the walls, took the city. The Peshwa’s share of Ahmedabad was handed to Fatehsingh as agreed. Goddard then turned to face Mahadji Scindia and Tukoji Holkar, who came into Gujarat to meet him. At Salbai in 1782 the Peshwa’s rights in Gujarat were restored and Ahmedabad went back to its old divided rule.

Dynasty · 1713–1818 CEThe Peshwas of PuneThe Peshwas were the hereditary chief ministers of the Chhatrapatis, and from 1713 to 1818 they ran the Maratha state from Pune. Under Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb the Marathas became the strongest power in India, until Panipat in 1761 and the British wars that ended the line in 1818.Read →