First Battle of Panipat

Author: peterhutch


The first battle of Panipat took place in northern India, and marked the beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder firearms and field artillery. In 1526, the forces of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the ruler of Kabul and of Timurid descent, defeated the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodhi, the ruler of the large North Indian Delhi Sultanate.The battle was fought on April 21 near the small village of Panipat, in the present day Indian state of Haryana, an area that has been the site of a number of decisive battles for the control of Northern India since the twelfth century.

The battle started at six in the morning. Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi advanced rapidly . At about 400 yards Babur's Cannons opened fire, noise and smoke from the artillery terrified the Afghans and the attack lost momentum. Seizing the movement Babur sent out his flanking columns to envelop the Sultan's army. Here the Afghans met for the first time the real weapon of Mongols 'Turko-Mongol Bow'. Its superiority lay in the fact that it was the weapon of the nobles, of the finest warriors. Such a bow in the hands of a Mongol warrior would shoot three times as rapidly as musket and could kill at 200 yards.

Attacked from 3 sides the Afghans jammed into each other. Elephants hearing noise of cannon at close range ran wildly out of control. Ibrahim Lodhi and about 6000 of his troops were involved in actual fighting. Most of his army stretching behind up to a mile never saw action. Battle ended in about 3 hours with the death of Ibrahim Lodhi who was at forefront.

After capturing Punjab, Babur proceeded towards Delhi to meet Ibrahim Lodhi. The Sultan got the message that Babur was proceeding towards Delhi with a huge army and strong artillery. But Ibrahim Lodhi's army was much bigger and he had war elephants. But Babur defeated the army with organization and skilled maneuvering. This historic battle of Panipat took place on April 21st (1526) at the place called Panipat which is located in modern day Haryana. This place has been the site many important battles in the history of India.

Second Battle of Panipat (1556 AD)

On 24th January 1556 AD Mughal ruler Humayun slipped while climbing down the steps of his library and fell to his death. His son Akbar was only thirteen years old when he ascended the throne. At the time of Akbar's accession to the throne, the Mughal rule was confined to Kabul, Kandhahar, and parts of Punjab and Delhi. Akbar was then campaigning in Punjab with his chief minister Bairam Khan. On February 14, 1556, in a garden at Kalanaur, Akbar was enthroned as emperor. Hemu (Hemchandra) was a military chief of the Afghan King Muhammad Adil Shah who had established himself at Chunar and was seeking to expel the Mughals from India. Taking advantage of Humayun's death, Hemu marched to Agra and Delhi in October and occupied it without difficulty, and became the ruler under the title 'Raja Vikramaditya'.