Baji Rao II


Baji Rao II was the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, and governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles, whose growing power prompted him to flee his capital Pune and sign the Treaty of Bassein with the British. This resulted in the Second AngloMaratha War , in which the British emerged victorious and reinstalled him as the titular Peshwa. In 1817, Baji Rao II joined the Third AngloMaratha War against the British, after they favoured the Gaekwad nobles in a revenuesharing dispute. After suffering several battle defeats, the Peshwa surrendered to the British, and agreed to retire in return for an estate at Bithoor and an annual pension.

Baji Rao was the son of the former Peshwa Raghunathrao and Anandibai. Raghunathrao had defected to the English, causing the First AngloMaratha War, which ended with the Treaty of Salbai. Baji Rao was born in 1775, when both his parents were kept in imprisonment by the then Peshwas cabinet. Till the age of 19, he along with his brothers were kept in confinement denying even basic rights of education.

Source: Wikipedia