Fall of the Maratha Empire, Vol. I (1796-1806) documents that significant transitional epoch in modern Indian history when the Marathas lost their hegemony in India and Peshwa Bajirao II became a subservient tool of British imperialism by concluding the Treaty of Bassain in 1802. The two resourceful Maratha chiefs Shinde and Bhonsle, fought against the British in the Second Anglo-Maratha War while Holkar remained quiescent. Shinde and Bhonsle were, however, defeated by the brilliant and meticulous planning of Governor-General Lord Wellesley and the British Generals. The vast amount of material available at the National Archives of India, New Delhi; the Secretariat Record Office, Bombay; and the British Library, London, along with the published documents contained in the several volumes of the Poona Residency Correspondence and the Wellesley papers in Montgomery Martin's volumes, have been fully utilized to reconstruct the fascinating story of the fall of the Marathas in this volume.