Maratha Confederacy, 1720–1761 CE
Autocracy · Empire · South Asia · Enlightenment era
The Maratha Confederacy, a militarized Hindu polity of allied chiefs under the Peshwas that supplanted the Mughals across much of India.
The Maratha polity expanded under the Peshwas from its western Indian base into a confederacy of largely autonomous chiefs (Scindia, Holkar, Gaekwad and others) whose light cavalry and revenue demands spread across the subcontinent as Mughal power collapsed. Coordination among the chiefs was loose and often contentious. A crushing defeat by an Afghan-led coalition at Panipat in 1761 checked their expansion.
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Dominant patterns
- External Expansion
- Militarization
- Imperial Decline
- Succession Crisis
- Institutional Decay
Political-science factor profile
Each factor 0–100; higher = stronger authoritarian / crisis pole (except institutional stability, where higher = stronger institutions).
| Centralization of Power | 40 |
| Media Control | 42 |
| Repression | 45 |
| Nationalism | 55 |
| Militarization | 82 |
| Economic Stress | 45 |
| External Conflict | 82 |
| Cult of Personality | 50 |
| Elite Fragmentation | 78 |
| Institutions | 45 |
| Social Polarization | 50 |
| Corruption & Patrimonialism | 52 |
| Ideological Mobilization | 55 |
| External Sovereignty | 88 |
Economy & society
| GDP per capita | $750 (intl-$) |
| Population | 50.0M people |
| Share of world population | 6.4% |
| Territory | ~2.5M km² |
| Capital population | ~60k |
Closest historical twins
The country-eras whose structural profile most resembles Maratha Confederacy 1720–1761 CE, by similarity score (0–100).
- Ayyubid Sultanate, 1171–1250 CE – similarity 97/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Parthian Empire, 100 BCE–1 CE – similarity 97/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Xiongnu, 120–60 BCE – similarity 96/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Ottoman Empire, 1730–1774 CE – similarity 93/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Ottoman Empire, 1789–1808 – similarity 92/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Qajar Persia, 1789–1834 – similarity 91/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Holy Roman Empire, 1220–1250 CE – similarity 90/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
- Armenia, 95–55 BCE – similarity 90/100 · shared: External Expansion, Militarization, Imperial Decline, Succession Crisis, Institutional Decay
What followed
- Dominance over much of the subcontinent.
- The catastrophic defeat at Panipat in 1761.