Baji Rao II

Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851) was the 13th and last Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. He served from 1796 until his deposition in 1802, and again from 1803 to 1818. Initially installed as a nominal ruler by powerful Maratha nobles, Baji Rao II's authority was soon undermined by internal factionalism. Following his defeat by rival chiefs, he fled from the Maratha capital at Poona and, in 1802, signed the Treaty of Bassein with the British East India Company.

This led to the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805), which ended with a British victory and Baji Rao II's restoration as Peshwa under British protection. Still, there were some skirmishes between the Maratha Empire and the East India Company because of Bajirao's support to Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1817, tensions with the British resurfaced when they supported the Gaekwads of Baroda in a revenue dispute, prompting Baji Rao II to join other Maratha chiefs in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818). After a series of defeats, he surrendered to the British and was abolished, which ultimately overthrew the Maratha Empire and made the Company as the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent. After his deposition, he was exiled from Deccan to Bithur, near Kanpur, where he was granted an estate along with an annual pension, only under British protection.