How "thunder-sticks" and "thunder-logs" helped the Timurids to get India

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

India has always attracted with its riches. The ruler of Afghanistan from the Timurid clan Babur could not resist the temptation. He was not afraid of the huge army of the Delhi Sultanate, since he had a trump card - guns and cannons.

Descendant of Tamerlane and Genghis Khan

The future founder of the Mughal Empire was born in mid-February 1483. He was named Zahir ad-din Muhammad Babur. Babur's father was a direct descendant of the legendary Tamerlane, since his family began from one of the sons of the formidable commander. Mother was no less noble birth. Its roots go back to Genghis Khan himself.

Of course, Babur was very proud of his ancestors. And as a boy, he dreamed that he could create an empire worthy of the memory of his great ancestors. In 1494 he became the ruler of the large city of Fergana. In constant battles with the Uzbek sultans and khans, Babur showed himself as a talented commander and a wise strategist. And soon he became the padishah of the main Afghan city of Kabul.

Having fortified himself on the territory of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, Babur turned his gaze to the south. He, like any ruler of Central Asia, was attracted by rich India. But it was too dangerous to invade the lands of the Delhi Sultanate. The enemy army was too numerous, the war promised to turn into a protracted confrontation, fatal for the economy.

But in fact, the enemy in the person of the Delhi Sultan was not as formidable as Babur initially thought. The sultanate began its history from the thirteenth century, when after a two-hundred-year war, the Turkic Muslims managed to subjugate India. Delhi became their capital, after which the newly formed sultanate got its name.

Muslims did not stand on ceremony with the heritage of Indian rajas. They systematically destroyed temples, erecting mosques in their place. Representatives of the nobility received rich lands for special services. In a short time, the Turks were able to completely "rebuild" India on their own. And the attempts of the rajas to regain their former greatness failed. The Muslims were too formidable a force, so formidable that they did not even flinch before the Mongol invasion, which took place in the same thirteenth century. The nomads were defeated, and the Delhi Sultanate, in fact, reached the peak of its greatness.

But, as often happens, after a quick but short take-off time, an equally fleeting decline began. The sultanate, torn apart by internal unrest, began to weaken. Therefore, the invasion of Tamerlane's army was the final chord for him. The commander appeared in India in 1398, but instead of a formidable enemy, he met a decrepit and weak state, unable to withstand his power. Tamerlane destroyed the army of Sultan Nusrat Shah and occupied Delhi. The inhabitants were so scared that they did not even try to defend their city. Then it seemed that India would be under the conqueror's boot for many years, but this did not happen. Tamerlane, together with his army, suddenly left India. He faced a fierce confrontation with the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks.

In 1399, the Delhi Sultanate fell apart. In its place, several sultanates were formed, which, for the most part, waged desperate wars with themselves. They simply did not have external enemies. The Hindus did not dare to impose a struggle, and the Turkic tribes were engaged in other "affairs".

Babur knew none of this at the beginning of the Indian campaign. He was sure that he would have to fight a strong enemy. A descendant of Tamerlane and Genghis Khan made the first campaign in 1519. And I was surprised to find that the seizure of India is a completely solvable task. But then the padishah simply did not have enough people for a full-fledged war, and he left India.

He made the second campaign in 1522. Then Babur's waxes managed to capture strategically important Kandahar. At the same time, Timurid found out that a huge territory was divided between numerous warring shahs, sultans and rajs. In addition, popular uprisings constantly broke out there. All this greatly facilitated his task.

In 1526, Babur decided to strike a powerful blow against the once great Delhi Sultanate. He also found allies - some influential families of Delhi decided to betray, because they understood that the time of their state was up.

Battle of Paninat: Mughal triumph

Babur was opposed by the young and extravagant Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. When the Turks invaded India, the Delhi ruler managed to quickly assemble a huge army, but besides the large number, it had no other advantages. Intelligence reported that the enemy is poorly armed, poorly trained and experiencing food problems. In addition, Babur learned that the only tactic the Sultan used was a banal onslaught. The Delhi did not use any tactical tricks. All this only confirmed Timurid's unconditional victory.

Babur's troops set up camp in the spring of 1526 and began to prepare for battle. Timurid fielded an army of fifteen thousand men. The small number was more than offset by firearms and artillery. Since the Turks themselves did not know how to handle cannons, Ottoman mercenaries helped them in this matter.

First, the padishah took Lahore. The capture of the city opened the way for him to Delhi. Ibrahim Lodi prepared for the general battle. He opposed the enemy with an army of more than forty thousand people, as well as several hundred war elephants. It seemed that Ibrahim's troops would be able to crush the Turks in mass. But … sabers and bows were unable to compete with firearms.

While Ibrahim's soldiers looked at the enemy, not daring to attack, Babur's soldiers from carts built a kind of defensive fortress, leaving room for the shooters. In the center are the cannons. When the preparations were over, Babur gave the signal to attack. A detachment of cavalry appeared from the fortress, which forced the enemy soldiers to go on the offensive. The tactical cunning of the descendant of Tamerlane succeeded. As soon as the Delhi army approached at close range, numerous volleys of weapons were heard. In the meantime, the arrows were reloading their weapons, they were covered by archers. Panic broke out among the Delhi, but they did not know what the worst was yet to come. Artillery struck the squad of elephants. The frightened animals turned in horror and rushed back, destroying their own soldiers. As for the people, they behaved like elephants. They were frightened by the "thunder-sticks", and the "thunder-logs" instilled primitive horror, because none of the soldiers of the Delhi Sultanate had ever encountered firearms until that day.

The Delhi rushed into the loose. Ibrahim Lodi did not even try to stop his soldiers, on the contrary, he ran ahead of his troops. But they still could not escape from the light and fast cavalry of Babur. On that day, the Delhi Sultanate lost both its ruler and more than twenty thousand of its soldiers. The losses of the padishah's army were minimal. After the battle, Babur ordered to find the body of the Sultan. Soon they brought him the severed head of a defeated enemy. With her Timurid entered Delhi. Having seized the capital, he instantly turned into the padishah of the entire Hindustan.

The triumphant seizure of the Delhi Sultan allowed Babur to go down in history as not just a talented commander, but the founder of the Mughal Empire, which lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century.