WI Marathas retain Fort Gawilghur

Mujahid786

Banned
It was a common conception, that whoever held that fort, controlled india. say if the anglo seige failed and the mahrattas swarmed out of the fort and retook india as was their dream, if they held the fort, who would things hav played out?
 

Thande

Donor
Er, no. The siege could have failed, sure, but the Marathas could not have "swarmed out and retaken India as was their dream". :rolleyes: That's like saying that if the Germans had successfully driven back the Soviets from Berlin in 1945, they could have still won WW2...
 

Mujahid786

Banned
Er, no. The siege could have failed, sure, but the Marathas could not have "swarmed out and retaken India as was their dream". :rolleyes: That's like saying that if the Germans had successfully driven back the Soviets from Berlin in 1945, they could have still won WW2...
hey, dont blame thats what i read in Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Conrwell:rolleyes:
 

Thande

Donor
hey, dont blame thats what i read in Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Conrwell:rolleyes:

Heh, that's my main source for this as well :D

OK, if the British had failed to win the siege, then...I don't know, maybe the Marathas survive but only as a minor power and on British sufferance, as happened to the Mughal Emperor? In the long run, by the first decade of the 19th century it's realistically too late to prevent British ascendancy in India.
 
hey, dont blame thats what i read in Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Conrwell:rolleyes:

Well, there's always a big difference between "what people at the time see as possible" and "what's actually possible". Churchil and the brits were very afraid of Sealion; but, not least because they were so afraid of it, it never had a chance of succeeding. Ditto for a Maratha resurgence.
 

Thande

Donor
Well, there's always a big difference between "what people at the time see as possible" and "what's actually possible". Churchil and the brits were very afraid of Sealion; but, not least because they were so afraid of it, it never had a chance of succeeding. Ditto for a Maratha resurgence.
Important point there Captain Zed. Some people nowadays have tried to argue that Churchill wasn't so great because Sealion had no chance of success...but we only know that now, and a different PM might have sued for peace out of fear.

But that's offtopic. So, the Marathas.
 

Thande

Donor
I hope to God thats not true....at least for my TL....darn Danish....

:eek:
The Danes? No, sorry mate, but I think it's too late...even if Britain was successfully invaded by Napoleon in 1803, for instance, the EIC ran itself to a degree that India would probably stay "British" (at least until either the EIC became more Indian through acculturation a la Peshawar Lancers, or was overthrown by internal rebellions).
 

Mujahid786

Banned
Heh, that's my main source for this as well :D

OK, if the British had failed to win the siege, then...I don't know, maybe the Marathas survive but only as a minor power and on British sufferance, as happened to the Mughal Emperor? In the long run, by the first decade of the 19th century it's realistically too late to prevent British ascendancy in India.

lol, big fan?


i think they would probably take the nizam of hyderbad's land for a few days, b4 he brits counterattack, and driving them back to the fort, leading to another seige.


maybe beforehand at the battle of argaum, instead of just sending arab mercenaries forward, they could have sent te entire army forward with a bayonet charge breaking the british, they were already perilously close to doing that in OTL
 

Thande

Donor
i think they would probably take the nizam of hyderbad's land for a few days, b4 he brits counterattack, and driving them back to the fort, leading to another seige.

I think you're underestimating the scale of things here...campaigning across the Nizam's lands would take weeks or months.
 

Mujahid786

Banned
Important point there Captain Zed. Some people nowadays have tried to argue that Churchill wasn't so great because Sealion had no chance of success...but we only know that now, and a different PM might have sued for peace out of fear.

But that's offtopic. So, the Marathas.
who is sealion?and why the talk of churchill? wat am i missing?
 

Thande

Donor
who is sealion?and why the talk of churchill? wat am i missing?
Operation Sealion = German plan to invade the UK in 1940.

Nowadays considered to be totally impossible because it was so stupidly conceived, but back then it was a real fear...

Zed was using it as an example of the distinction between what people on the ground think they can do/others can do at the time, and what we know they were actually capable of in hindsight.
 
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