Twenty years of peace secured by the Treaty of Salbai proved very costly to the Marathas in strategic terms. Elucidate.

Answer:

The Treaty of Salbai, signed in 1782 between the Marathas and the English East India Company, ended the First Anglo-Maratha War. It secured nearly twenty years of peace between the two powers. However, this peace proved strategically costly to the Marathas because it gave the British time to consolidate elsewhere.

Immediate Benefits to the Marathas

End of conflict:

• The treaty restored peace after a long and expensive war.
• Madhav Rao Narayan was recognised as Peshwa.
• The British recognised Maratha claims in western India, while retaining Salsette.
• For the Marathas, it appeared to preserve their power and prestige.

Temporary stability:

• Nana Fadnavis used the peace to maintain balance within the Maratha confederacy.
• The Marathas avoided immediate confrontation with the Company.
• This allowed some recovery after earlier internal troubles.

Strategic Cost to the Marathas

British consolidation:

• The peace gave the Company time to strengthen Bengal and Madras.
• The British fought and weakened Mysore in the later Anglo-Mysore Wars.
• After Tipu Sultan’s defeat in 1799, a major anti-British power disappeared.
• The Marathas lost a potential counterweight to British expansion.

Growth of British diplomacy:

• The Company used the peaceful interval to build subsidiary alliances.
• It improved its army, finances and political influence.
• British power became far stronger by the time conflict resumed.

Maratha disunity:

• During the same period, Maratha chiefs remained divided.
• Scindia, Holkar, Bhonsle and Gaekwad pursued separate interests.
• The Peshwa’s authority weakened further.

Therefore, the Treaty of Salbai gave the Marathas short-term peace but long-term strategic disadvantage. While they remained internally divided, the British used the interval to eliminate rivals, strengthen resources and prepare for decisive expansion against the Marathas.