Two Battles of Panipat - 1526 and 1556 - Mughal Empire DOCUMENTARY

This video was suggested and sponsored by our Patreon supporter Ibrahim Raman. Patreon is the best way to propose and sponsor new videos. History tends to repeat itself, and as terrain, logistics, and proximity to economic centers often dictate the locations of battles, many decisive battles have happened in the same places. For India, this location is Panipat. Two battles that occurred there, three decades apart, changed the fate of the entire subcontinent for the next three centuries. The expansion of the Muslim Caliphate changed the balance of power in Asia, and one of the results of it was the Islamization of the Turkic tribes in Central Asia. The Caliphate was slowly getting decentralized, and the Turkic nomads began their migration in all directions. By the middle of the 10th century, the north of India was under constant Turkic raids, and in 1206 this slow invasion allowed the warlord Qutb ad-Din Aybak to establish a state called the Delhi Sultanate in the northern part of India. This new state managed to stop the Mongolian attacks in the 12th and early 13th centuries, and by 1320, reached its peak, with most of India conquered by the Delhi Sultanate. However, ineffective rulers, local rebellions, and the Timurid invasion weakened the Sultanate, and by the end of the 14th century, only northern India was under its control. A new dynasty of Afghan descent, the Lodi, was able to come to power and stabilize the Sultanate in the second half of the 15th century, but the state was still in decline. To the north, Central Asia was in turmoil, as various successors of Tamerlane were vying for his empire. One of them, Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad, was just 11 years old when he inherited Ferghana from his father in 1494. This conqueror, who would later be known as Babur, which means tiger in Persian, managed to take the traditional center of the region, the city of Samukand, by his 16th birthday. Soon, the enemies of Babur counterattacked, and he lost control of both of these regions. He had to find refuge elsewhere. Through many hardships, Babur was finally able to form a small army and took Kabul in 1504. Babur was too ambitious to be confined to his small domain, and he turned his attention to India. By 1519, he reached the Chenab River in modern Pakistan. The Lodi dynasty was struggling with internal dynastic strife, and a few of its representatives rebelled against the Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. They appealed to Babur, who used this to start his invasion. Punjab changed hands a few times until Babur became the master of this region in 1525. Ibrahim Lodi left Delhi early the next year and started moving to the north, while Babur moved to Panipat on the 12th of April. The two armies stood facing each other for eight days, and the battle that decided the fate of these lands took place on April 20th, 1526. Babur's army consisted of Turks, Mongols, Persians, and Afghans. It was built around a veteran corps which had been campaigning alongside him for over a decade, and thus the troops and commanders were confident and familiar with each other. Horse archers with their deadly Turco-Mongol composite bows formed the main body of the army, while his infantry consisted of foot archers, also armed with composite bows, and matchlock musketeers. Babur also had 20 cannons. He received his gunpowder weapons either from the Ottomans or the Safavids, according to different sources. Babur's army and his tactics were a mix of two military traditions, the Ottoman and the Mongol Timurid. Meanwhile, the army of the Delhi Sultanate was based around war elephants and cavalry. This army was of a feudal nature and had no gunpowder units. Ibrahim Lodi's army at Panipat may be estimated to have had 50,000 men and 400 war elephants. Perhaps 25,000 of these were the heavy cavalry of Afghan descent, the rest being feudal levies or mercenaries of less value. The infantry was very much cannon fodder. Wait not while your foe fits arrow to bowstring, when you can send your own arrow into him. Babur had his cavalry in the second line, divided into three groups, with his right flank next to the city of Panipat, and his left side protected by a ditch and stakes. He and his guard were in the center. The first line consisted of infantry, which was stationed on wagons chained to each other, which turned each wagon into a miniature fortress and gave archers and musketeers much-needed elevation. There were gaps left between the carts to allow cannons to shoot. Ibrahim Lodi's army had elephants in the vanguard, with cavalry in the second line and infantry in the third. The sultan himself, with his 5,000-strong guard, stayed in the rear. He was sure that his numbers would decide the day, so he ordered almost all of his troops to attack head-on. The elephants in the front were scared by the unfamiliar sound of gunpowder and were stopped in their trance, which bogged down the charge. Ibrahim's cavalry on the left flank attempted to attack the enemy's right, but the latter was reinforced from the center, and this attack was repelled. As the elephants were either getting killed or retreating in panic, any semblance of order was lost, and Babur sent both his right and left flank cavalry to attempt a pincer move. That forced his foes left and right flanks to turn towards the horse archers, and the sultanate's army was pinned, leaving it open to shots from the wagons and artillery behind it. Babur himself joined the attack, moving his guard around the cart from the right side. The sultan's forces were now half surrounded, and Ibrahim Lodi stepped forward to help the morale of his troops. But it was too late to change the course of the battle, and when the sultan himself was killed, the action was over. The sultanate lost more than 20,000 troops and ceased to exist, while Babur's Mughal empire that replaced it had few casualties. Delhi was now under Babur's control, and in 1527 he scored another impressive victory against the local Rajput confederation at Kanwar. This success once again showed the dominance of the Mughals' weaponry and tactics. Most of northern India was now part of Babur's domain, but his death in 1531 stopped the consolidation process. His heir Humayun slowly started losing territory under pressure from the newly formed Sur empire of Sher Shah Suri, and even had to take refuge in the Safavid court by 1541. Humayun spent more than 10 years in exile and was only able to return to India in 1554. During the next year he defeated the new ruler of the Sur empire Sikandar and re-established control over parts of northern India. Unfortunately for the Mughals, Humayun died in an accident in 1556. This allowed the Suri empire to counterattack. Chief minister Hemu moved swiftly and in early October of 1556 claimed Delhi. Surprisingly, he also declared independence from the Sur empire and was The new Mughal leader Akbar was just 13 years old, but his guardian Bairam Khan was a capable commander. He moved the Mughal army towards Delhi. In early November, Mughal forces reached the area near Panipat and were confronted by Hemu. The Mughals were once again outnumbered, with something over 10,000 against 30,000 enemy troops. Bairam Khan selected a battle location with a deep ravine dividing the two sides to level the playing field. The Mughal army seemingly only had cavalry and elephants and was split into five groups of horse archers and a vanguard consisting of elephants, while Hemu had cavalry in the first line, infantry in the second with elephants in front. Hemu himself was riding one of the beasts. The battle started with Hemu's right and left wing cavalry and elephants moving forward to attack their counterparts. This attack succeeded and the Mughal flanks were forced to slowly retreat under this pressure. Bairam Khan sent his second line cavalry behind the charging enemy to attack it from the rear. Mughal horse archers were superior to those of their enemy and their volleys were more successful. So Hemu had to push back against the flanking forces which retreated. The ravine was making it hard to mount a proper attack and when Hemu decided to move forward he had to move around it. Only a portion of his force was able to attack the enemy center and yet sources claim that the Mughal forces were on the brink of defeat. The battle was decided by an arrow that found the slit in Hemu's helmet. His army panicked upon seeing the death of their commander and broke their lines. The Mughals once again lost very few warriors while killing more than 5,000 enemies. Akbar continued consolidating territory and by the time of his death more than half of India was under Mughal control. The Mughal empire lived on until 1857. Thank you for watching our video on the two battles of Panipat. We would like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters who make the creation of these videos possible and especially Ibrahim Rahman who sponsored this documentary through Patreon. The video was narrated by me officially Devin. Don't forget to stop by my channel for some narrative let's plays. This is the Kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one.