The term Maratha referred broadly to all the speakers of the Marathi language. The Maratha caste are a Marathi clan originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the peasant (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), pastoral (Gawli), blacksmith (Lohar), Sutar (carpenter), Bhandari, Thakar and Koli castes in Maharashtra. Many of them took to military service in the 16th century for the Deccan sultanates or the Mughals. Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, they served in the armies of the Maratha empire, founded by Shivaji, a Maratha by caste. Many Marathas were granted hereditary fiefs by the Sultanates, and Moghuls for their service.

Shivaji led a resistance to free the people from the Sultanate of Bijapur in 1645 by winning the fort Torna, followed by many more forts, placing the area under his control and establishing Hindavi Swarajya (self-rule of Hindu people). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital

King Shivaji was trapped in the fort of Panhala, under siege and vastly outnumbered by an Adilshahi army led by an Abyssinian named Siddi Masud. Baji Prabhu Deshpande managed to engage a large Adilshahi army with 300 soldiers, while Shivaji managed to escape the siege. Battle of Pävankhind was a rearguard last stand that took place on 13 July 1660 at a mountain pass in the vicinity of fort Vishalgad, near the city of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India between the Maratha Warrior Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Siddi Masud of Adilshah Sultanate. The engagement ending with the destruction of the Maratha forces, and a tactical victory for the Bijapur Sultanate, but failing to achieve a strategic victory.

In 1652, the Surat Council of the British Empire urged the British East India Company to purchase Bombay from the Portuguese. In 1654, the British East India Company drew the attention of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord protector of the short lived Commonwealth, to this suggestion by the Surat Council, laying great stress upon its excellent harbour and its natural isolation from land-attacks. By the middle of the seventeenth century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. By the middle of the seventeenth century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed Bombay in the possession of the British Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles.

In 1666, Aurangzeb summoned Shivaji to Agra (though some sources instead state Delhi), along with his nine-year-old son Sambhaji. Aurangzeb's plan was to send Shivaji to Kandahar, now in Afghanistan, to consolidate the Mughal empire's northwestern frontier. However, in the court, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand behind mansabdārs (military commanders) of his court. Shivaji took offence and stormed out of court, and was promptly placed under house arrest under the watch of Faulad Khan, Kotwal of Agra. Shivaji managed to escape from Agra, likely by bribing the guards, though the emperor was never able to ascertain how he escaped despite an investigation. A popular legend says that Shivaji smuggled himself and his son out of the house in large baskets, claimed to be sweets to be gifted to religious figures in the city.

On 21 September 1668, the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, led to the transfer of Bombay from Charles II to the English East India Company for an annual rent of £10. Sir George Oxenden became the first Governor of Bombay under the regime of the English East India Company. Gerald Aungier, who became Governor of Bombay in July 1669, established the mint and printing press in Bombay and developed the islands into a centre of commerce.

Shivaji had acquired extensive lands and wealth through his campaigns, but lacking a formal title, he was still technically a Mughal zamindar or the son of a Bijapuri jagirdar, with no legal basis to rule his de facto domain. A kingly title could address this and also prevent any challenges by other Maratha leaders, to whom he was technically equal. It would also provide the Hindu Marathas with a fellow Hindu sovereign in a region otherwise ruled by Muslims. Shivaji was crowned king of Maratha Swaraj in a lavish ceremony on 6 June 1674 at Raigad fort.

There existed a power vacuum in the Mughal empire, caused by the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, and that of his successor Bahadur Shah, leading to continual internecine conflict within the imperial family and the leading Mughal grandees. While the Mughals were intriguing in the civil war between the factions of Shahu and Tarabai, the Marathas themselves became a major factor in the quarrels between the Emperor and the Sayyids.

Shahu Bhosale I was the fifth Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire created by his grandfather, Shivaji Maharaj. Shahu, as a child, was taken prisoner along with his mother in 1689 by Mughal sardar, Zulfikar Khan Nusrat Jang after the Battle of Raigarh ( 1689 ). After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Shahu was released by Bahadur Shah I, the new Mughal emperor. The Mughals released Shahu with a force of fifty men, thinking that a friendly Maratha leader would be a useful ally and also to incite civil war amongst the Marathas. This ploy did work as Shahu fought a brief war with his aunt Tarabai in an internecine conflict to gain the Maratha throne in 1708. However, the Mughals found themselves with a more powerful enemy in Shahu Maharaj. Under Shahu's reign, Maratha power and influence extended to all corners of the Indian subcontinent. During Shahu's reign, Raghoji Bhosale expanded the empire Eastwards, reaching present-day Bengal. Khanderao Dabhade and later his son, Triambakrao, expanded it Westwards into Gujarat. Peshwa Bajirao and his three chiefs, Pawar (Dhar), Holkar (Indore), and Scindia (Gwalior), expanded it Northwards up to Attock. However, after his death, power moved from the ruling Chhatrapati to his ministers (the Peshwas) and the generals who had carved out their own fiefdoms such as Bhonsle of Nagpur, Gaekwad of Baroda, Sindhia of Gwalior and Holkar of Indore.

During this era, Peshwas belonging to the Bhat family controlled the Maratha Army and later became de facto rulers of the Maratha Empire till 1772. In due course of time, the Maratha Empire dominated most of the Indian subcontinent. Shahu appointed Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath in 1713. From his time, the office of Peshwa became supreme while Shahu became a figurehead. In 1719, an army of Marathas marched to Delhi after defeating Sayyid Hussain Ali, the Mughal governor of Deccan, and deposed the Mughal emperor. The Mughal Emperors became puppets in the hands of their Maratha overlords from this point on. The Mughals became a puppet government of Marathas and gave a quarter of their total revenue as Chauth and additional 10% for their protection.

Baji Rao was appointed Peshwa, succeeding his father, by Shahu on 17 April 1720. In his 20-year military career, he never lost a battle and is widely considered as the greatest Indian cavalry general. Baji Rao is the most celebrated personality after Shivaji in the history of the Maratha Empire. His achievements are establishing Maratha supremacy in South and political hegemony in North. During his 20-year career as Peshwa, he defeated Nizam-ul-Mulk at the Battle of Palkhed and responsible for establishment of Maratha power in Malwa, Bundelkhand, Gujarat, as redeemer of Konkan from Siddis of Janjira and liberator of western coast from the rule of Portuguese.

The seeds of this battle go to the Year 1713, when Maratha King Shahu, appointed Balaji Vishwanath as his Peshwa or Prime Minister. Within a decade, Balaji had managed to extract a significant amount of territory and wealth from the fragmenting Mughal Empire. In 1724, Mughal control lapsed, and Asaf Jah I, the 1st Nizam of Hyderabad declared himself independent of Mughal rule, thereby establishing his own kingdom known as Hyderabad Deccan. The Nizam set about strengthening the province by attempting to control the growing influence of the Marathas. He utilized a growing polarization in the Maratha Empire due to the claim of the title of King by both Shahu and Sambhaji II of Kolhapur. The Nizam began supporting the Sambhaji II faction, which enraged Shahu who had been proclaimed as King. The Battle of Palkhed was fought on February 28, 1728 at the village of Palkhed, near the city of Nashik, Maharashtra, India between the Maratha Empire Peshwa, Baji Rao I and the Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I of Hyderabad wherein, the Marathas defeated the Nizam.

On 12 November 1736, the Maratha general Bajirao advanced on Old Delhi to attack the Mughal capital. Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah sent Saadat Ali Khan I with a 150,000-strong army to stop the Maratha advance on Delhi. Muhammad Shah sent Mir Hasan Khan Koka with an army to intercept Bajirao. The Mughals were devastated by the fierce Maratha attack, and lost half of their army, which compelled them to ask for all regional rulers to help against the army of the Marathas. The battle signified the further expansion of the Maratha Empire towards the north. The Marathas extracted large tributaries from the Mughals, and signed a treaty which ceded Malwa to the Marathas. The Maratha plunder of Delhi weakened the Mughal Empire, which got further weakened after successive invasions of Nadir Shah in 1739 and Ahmad Shah Abdali in the 1750s.

In 1737, the Marathas invaded the northern frontiers of the Mughal empire, reaching as far as the outskirts of Delhi, Bajirao defeated a Mughal army here and were marching back to Pune. The Mughal emperor asked for support from the Nizam. The Nizam intercepted the Marathas during the latter's return journey. The two armies clashed near Bhopal. The Battle of Bhopal, was fought on 24 December 1737 in Bhopal between the Maratha Empire and the combined army of the Nizam and several Mughal generals.

The Battle of Vasai or the Battle of Bassein was fought between the Marathas and the Portuguese rulers of Vasai, a town lying near Mumbai (Bombay) in the present-day state of Maharashtra, India. The Marathas were led by Chimaji Appa, a brother of Peshwa Baji Rao I. Maratha victory in this war was a major achievement of Baji Rao I's reign.

The Maratha invasions of Bengal (1741-1751), also known as the Maratha expeditions in Bengal, refers to the frequent invasions by the Maratha forces in the Bengal Subah (West Bengal, Bihar, parts of modern Orissa), after their successful campaign in the Carnatic region at the Battle of Trichinopoly. The leader of the expedition was Maratha Maharaja Raghoji Bhonsle of Nagpur. The Marathas invaded Bengal six times from August 1741 to May 1751. Nawab Alivardi Khan succeeded in resisting all the invasions in western Bengal, however, the frequent Maratha invasions caused great destruction in the western Bengal Subah, resulting in heavy civilian casualties and widespread economic losses. In 1751, the Marathas signed a peace treaty with the Nawab of Bengal, according to which Mir Habib (a former courtier of Alivardi Khan, who had defected to the Marathas) was made provincial governor of Orissa under nominal control of the Nawab of Bengal.

The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over a much larger force of the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The battle helped the Company seize control of Bengal. Over the next hundred years, they seized control of most of the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

The Battle of Attock took place on 28 April 1758 between Maratha Empire and the Durrani Empire. The Marathas, under Raghunathrao (Raghoba), delivered a decisive victory and Attock was captured. The battle is seen as a great success for Marathas who hoisted Maratha flag in Attock. On 8 May 1758, the Marathas defeated Durrani forces in the Battle of Peshawar and captured the city of Peshawar. Marathas had now reached the Afghanistan border. Ahmad Shah Durrani got alarmed with this success of Marathas and started planning to recapture his lost territories.

Ahmad Shah Durrani raided India for the fifth time in 1759. The Pashtuns began to organize themselves for armed struggle against the Marathas. The Pashtuns had no time to pass information to Kabul for help. General Jahan Khan advanced and captured a Maratha garrison at Peshawar. Then, the invaders overran Attock. Meanwhile, Sabaji Patil retreated and reached Lahore with fresh troops and a large number of local Sikh fighters of the Sukerchakia and Ahluwalia Misls. In the fierce battle, the Afghans were defeated by the combined forces of the Marathas and the Sukerchakia and Ahluwalia Misls.

In 1737, Baji Rao defeated the Mughals on the outskirts of Delhi and brought much of the former Mughal territories south of Agra under Maratha control. Baji Rao's son Balaji Baji Rao further increased the territory under Maratha control by invading Punjab in 1758. This brought the Marathas into direct confrontation with the Durrani empire of Ahmad Shah Abdali (also known as Ahmad Shah Durrani). Ahmad Shah Durrani was unwilling to allow the Marathas' spread go unchecked. He successfully convinced the Nawab of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula to join his alliance against the Marathas. The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 at Panipat, about 97 km (60 miles) north of Delhi, between the Maratha Empire and the invading Afghan army (of Ahmad Shah Durrani), supported by four Indian allies, the Rohillas under the command of Najib-ud-daulah, Afghans of the Doab region, and the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daula. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau who was third in authority after the Chhatrapati (Maratha King) and the Peshwa (Maratha Prime Minister). The battle lasted for several days and involved over 125,000 troops. The Maratha Army under Sadashivrao Bhau lost the battle. The Jats and Rajputs did not support the Marathas. The result of the battle was the temporary halting of further Maratha advances in the north and destabilisation of their territories for roughly ten years. To save their kingdom, the Mughals once again changed sides and welcomed the Afghans to Delhi.

Shrimant Peshwa Madhavrao Bhat I was the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha empire recovered from the losses they suffered during the Third Battle of Panipat, a phenomenon known as Maratha Resurrection. He is considered one of the greatest Peshwas in Maratha history. In 1767 Madhavrao I crossed the Krishna River and defeated Hyder Ali in the battles of Sira and Madgiri. He also rescued the last queen of the Keladi Nayaka Kingdom, who had been kept in confinement by Hyder Ali in the fort of Madgiri.

Mahadaji Shinde was instrumental in resurrecting Maratha power in North India after the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, and rose to become a trusted lieutenant of the Peshwa, leader of the Maratha Empire. Along with Madhavrao I and Nana Fadnavis, he was one of the three pillars of Maratha Resurrection. In early 1771, ten years after the collapse of Maratha authority over North India following the Third Battle of Panipat, Mahadji recaptured Delhi and installed Shah Alam II as a puppet ruler on the Mughal throne receiving in return the title of deputy Vakil-ul-Mutlak(Regent of the Empire).

When Madhavrao died, there was a power struggle between the brother of Madhavrao (who became Pesha) and Raghunathrao, who wanted to become Peshwa of the empire. The British East India Company, from its base in Bombay, intervened in a succession struggle in Pune, on behalf of Raghunathrao.

The East India Company's force from Bombay consisted of about 3,900 men (about 600 Europeans, the rest Asian) accompanied by many thousands of servants and specialist workers. Mahadji slowed down the British march and sent forces west to cut off its supply lines. The Maratha cavalry harassed the enemy from all sides. The Marathas also utilized a scorched earth strategy, vacating villages, removing food-grain stocks, burning farmland and poisoning wells. The British force was surrounded on 12 January 1779. By the end of the next day, the British were ready to discuss surrender terms,

The strong fort of Gwalior was then in the hands of Chhatar Singh, the Jat ruler of Gohad. In 1783, Mahadji besieged the fort of Gwalior and conquered it. He delegated the administration of Gwalior to Khanderao Hari Bhalerao. After celebrating the conquest of Gwalior, Mahadji Shinde turned his attention to Delhi again.

The Maratha–Mysore Wars was a conflict in the 18th century India, between the Maratha Empire and the Kingdom of Mysore. Though initial hostilities between the sides started in 1770s, the actual warfare began on February 1785 and ended in 1787. It is widely believed that the war broke out as a result of the desire of the ever-expanding Marathas to recover lost territories from the state of Mysore. The war ended in 1787 with the Marathas being defeated by Tipu Sultan. Mysore was a relatively small kingdom in the beginning of 1700s. However, able rulers such as Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan transformed the kingdom and westernized the army that it soon turned into a military threat both to the British and Maratha Empire.

The Battle of Gajendragad was fought between the Marathas under the command of Tukojirao Holkar (the adopted son of Malharrao Holkar) and Tipu Sultan in which Tipu Sultan was defeated by the Marathas. By the victory in this battle, the border of the Maratha territory extended till Tungabhadra river.

The Maratha cavalry assisted the British in the last two Anglo-Mysore Wars from 1790 onwards, eventually helping the British conquer Mysore in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799. After the British conquest, however, the Marathas launched frequent raids in Mysore to plunder the region, which they justified as compensation for past losses to Tipu Sultan.

Jaipur and Jodhpur, the two most powerful Rajput states, were still out of direct Maratha domination. So, Mahadji sent his general Benoît de Boigne to crush the forces of Jaipur and Jodhpur at the Battle of Patan. Pitted against European armed and French trained Marathas, Rajput states capitulated one after the other. Marathas managed to conquer Ajmer and Malwa from Rajputs. Although Jaipur and Jodhpur remained unconquered. Battle of Patan, effectively ended Rajput hopes for independence from external interference.

The Doji bara famine (also Skull famine) of 1791–92 in the Indian subcontinent was brought on by a major El Niño event lasting from 1789–1795 and producing prolonged droughts. Recorded by William Roxburgh, a surgeon with the British East India Company, in a series of pioneering meteorological observations, the El Niño event caused the failure of the South Asian monsoon for four consecutive years starting in 1789. The resulting famine, which was severe, caused widespread mortality in Hyderabad, Southern Maratha Kingdom, Deccan, Gujarat, and Marwar (then all ruled by Indian rulers).

The Maratha Empire at that time consisted of a confederacy of five major chiefs. The Maratha chiefs were engaged in internal quarrels among themselves. Baji Rao fled to British protection, and in December the same Year concluded the Treaty of Bassein with the British East India Company, ceding territory for the maintenance of a subsidiary force and agreeing to treaty with no other power. The treaty would become the "death knell of the Maratha Empire". The war resulted in a British victory.

On 17 December 1803, Raghoji II Bhonsale of Nagpur signed the Treaty of Deogaon. He gave up the province of Cuttack (which included Mughal and the coastal part of Odisha, Garjat/the princely states of Odisha, Balasore Port, parts of Midnapore district of West Bengal).

On 30 December 1803, the Daulat Scindia signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon with the British after the Battle of Assaye and Battle of Laswari and ceded to the British Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmmadnagar. The Treaty of Rajghat, signed on 24 December 1805, forced Holkar to give up Tonk, Rampura, and Bundi. Territories ceded to the British were Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ganges-Jumna Doab, the Delhi-Agra region, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach, some districts of Gujarat and the fort of Ahmmadnagar.

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar. The battle was the Duke of Wellington's first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company (EIC) and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by British East India Company troops, and although the British were outnumbered, the Maratha army was decimated. The war left the British, under the auspices of the British East India Company, in control of virtually all of present-day India south of the Sutlej River. The famed Nassak Diamond was seized by the Company as part of the spoils of the war. The Peshwa's territories were absorbed into the Bombay Presidency and the territory seized from the Pindaris became the Central Provinces of British India. The princes of Rajputana became symbolic feudal lords who accepted the British as the paramount power.

Key Findings:

• Some historians have credited the Maratha Navy for laying the foundation of the Indian Navy and bringing significant changes in naval warfare.
• Nearly all the hill forts, which dot the landscape of present-day western Maharashtra were built by the Marathas.
• During the 18th century, the Peshwas of Pune brought significant changes to the town of Pune, building dams, bridges, and an underground water supply system.
• Queen Ahilyabai Holkar has been noted as a just ruler and an avid patron of religion. She has been credited for building, repairing and numerous temples in the town of Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh and across North India.
• The Maratha rulers of Tanjore (present-day Tamil Nadu) were patrons of fine arts and their reign has been considered as the golden period of Tanjore history. Art and culture reached new heights during their rule
• Several majestic palaces were built by Maratha principalities which include the Shaniwar Wada (built by the Peshwas of Pune).