Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Bajirao I" in English language version.
Balaji Vishwanath died in 1720. Against the objections of other ministers, Shahu appointed Balaji's son, Bajirao. Here we meet, after Shivaji, the most charismatic and dynamic leader in Maratha history. He was only twenty years old and already had a reputation for rapid decisions and a passion for military adventure. Bajirao had been on the expedition to Delhi in 1719, and was convinced that the Mughal Empire was breaking up and could not resist a Maratha drive to the north into Malwa and beyond. This was the major theme of the next twenty years of his ceaseless military and administrative activity.
Baji Rao, by all accounts, was one of the greatest organizers and Generals of his time. Shahu had been ignorant of all experiences, of war and administration because of the peculiar circumstances in which he was brought up in the Mughal court. Balaji gave him the moorings while it was Baji Rao who established his sovereignty and carried his arms far and wide. Even the great soldiers like Nizamul-Mulk considered Baji with awe, if not respect.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)pg 70: The Nizam decided to prevent their junction by all means and bring about their destruction by meeting them separately. Both the antagonists solicited the Peshwa's help : but Shahu ordered Bajirao to remain neutral and watch the game from a distance so as to turn it to his own advantage.....pg 71: The Saiyads' agent Shankaraji Malhar did his best to bring Maratha support to Alam Ali much against Shahu's explicit orders.
Baji Rao was a great warrior and a brilliant military commander, a capable administrator and farsighted as a diplomat and statesman. He was by far one of the greatest military generals of his time, and the second greatest leader of men, after Shivaji, produced by the Marathas on the crest of their political awakening and grim struggle for freedom from the yoke of Mughal imperialism. Baji Rao was a conqueror, 'a liberator', and an empire builder par excellence. His imperial instincts were akin to those of Samudragupta and Akbar, who stood for political unification of the country and establishment of an Indian empire under the Maratha sway. The credit for the consolidation of Maratha state and its transformation into an empire goes to him.
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery -- the British war hero who defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942 -- was a keen student of military history. Field Marshal Montgomery observed that Bajirao was possibly the finest cavalry general ever produced by India.