This book, first published in 1943, sets forth the history of the rise and development of the states of princely India from the end of the eighteenth century until the beginning of nineteenth. This was also the formative period for the East India Company and thus for India itself. It describes the processes, military and political, whereby modern India was formed.
Part 1. The Emergence of the Princes 1. India at the End of the Eighteenth Century 2. The Marathas 3. Decline of Maratha Power 4. Lord Wellesley and the Peshwa 5. British and Maratha Diplomacy 6. The Death of Nana Farnavis 7. The Battle of Poona 8. The Treaty of Bassein 9. Collins and Metcalfe at Poona 10. Outbreak of the Second Anglo-Maratha War 11. British and Maratha Military Tactics 12. Lake Opens His Campaign 13. The Battle of Delhi and the Fall of Agra 14. The Battle of Laswari 15. General Wellesley’s Victories 16. The Making of the Treaties 17. Difficulties Following the Conclusion of Peace 18. Yeswant Rao Holkar 19. First Stages of the War with Holkar 20. The Siege of Bharatpur 21. Bharatpur and Indian and British Reactions 22. Arrival of Lord Cornwallis 23. Considerations of the Peace 24. The War’s Results 25. The Psychological Change in the Conquerors Part 2. British Paramountcy 26. Mutinies. The Chaos of Central India 27. The Company’s Embassies 28. Domestic Troubles and Colonial Expeditions 29. The Mogul Emperor and Delhi 30. Metcalfe and Central India 31. The Company’s Satraps 32. The Gurkha War 33. The Peshwa and Gangadhar Sastri’s Murder 34. The Pindaris and the Chaos of Central India 35. Preliminaries of the Pindari Campaign 36. Elphinstone and the Peshwa 37. Amir Khan. The Rajput States 38. The Peshwa’s Outbreak 39. The Nagpur Outbreak 40. The Campaign Against Holkar 41. Surrender of the Peshwa 42. The British Leaders and the Common Soldier 43. Reflections: Political 44. Status of the Princes. The King of Delhi 45. The Doctrine of Paramountcy
Biography
Edward John Thompson was a British scholar, novelist, historian and translator. He was a Leverhulme Research Fellow from 1934 to 1936 and a Research Fellow in Indian history at Oriel College from 1936 to 1940.
