Thread by @authorAneesh

Lived around 1800

Fought the British

Tried to stich various alliances against British

Defeated British in various battles

EIC sent their best against him

No not Tipu Sultan. I am talking of Yashwantrao Holkar. Heard of him ?

At the fort of Deeg in Bharatpur , he repulsed Brits 4 times . But the ruler of Bharatpur jumped parties :(

Even after what Bajirao II had done to one of his relations , he still called on Bajirao II for stitching an alliance in 1806.

He tried to get the Sikhs on board , but the latter stuck to the Treaty of Sutlej

The fort of Deeg , Bharatpur

Credit : Wiki commons

Although the criticism holds , that he remained neutral when Scindia and Bhosale fought the British; his own effort when he did fight was 100%

Scindia had trusted his French generals too much. They conveniently deserted the army when the going got tough against the British. Holkar beheaded the three Englishmen in his army ,, Vickers , Tod and Ryan to pre empt any such nonsense.

Col Monson harassed in Malwa

Holkar's defeat of Monson and successful defence of Deeg got talks of a grand pan India alliance going.

Daulatrao Scindia and Yashwantrao Holkar buried the hatchet and agreed on an alliance against the British. Unfortunately it lasted only two months.

The Jat king of Bharatpur switched sides. The alliance with Scindia fell apart

So Holkar moved to Ajmer , then Jaipur and finally into the Punjab. He crossed the Sutlej and entered today's Himachal Pradesh ; seeking help of local kings.

Holkar then moved to Amritsar (1805) , where he had an audience with Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Sikhs initially promised him full co operation

Meanwhile General Gerard Lake camped at a place near Ludhiana and sent his ambassador to wean Ranjit Singh away from the alliance

Yashwantrao Holkar also managed an attack on Delhi , but was repulsed by the British Resident Outram.

" Everyone is fighting for himself " lamented Holkar before finally deciding to come to terms with the English

Holkar's commander Amir Khan

People Holkar approached for alliance against British

Scindia
Nagpur Bhosales
Peshwa
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Jat ruler Ranjit Singh
Hill chieftains of Punjab (basically today's HP)
Afghanistan ruler

Essentially whole of North India

Wellesley (of Waterloo and Bonaparte fame) praised Ochterlony's defence of Delhi against Holkar

We never found out Holkar threatened Delhi in the first place

Indeed , failure to bury differences to fight the British was our biggest drawback. Past rivalries and ego bore too much on present dangers.

Yashwantrao Holkar

Someone asking about flintlock matchlock in thsi thread. Can't find it , so here goes