India: Military History and Notable Events

110 - Fourth Buddhist Council (All Facts)

• Held in Kashmir

• Proceeded under the direction of Asvaghosha

• Divided Buddhism into two branches of belief: Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism

1398 - Sack of Delhi (All Facts)

• Event in which Tamerlane and the Timurids crossed the Indus River and, with the pretext of the toleration of the namesake Sultanate’s Muslim rulers’ toleration of Hindu idolatry, invaded and ravaged the namesake city and Sultanate, leading to its collapse

• Event in which Tamerlane scattered Mahmud Shah’s forces which included 10K cavalry, 40K infantry, and 120 war elephants; which Tamerlane “drove off like cows”

1417 - 1419 - Bahmani–Vijayanagar War (All Facts)

• War in which the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire defeated Sultan Firuz Bahman Shah and the Muslim Bahmani Sultanate

1508 - 1573 - Gujarati–Portuguese Wars (All Facts)

1508 - Battle of Chaul (All Facts)

• Battle in which the Gujarati and Mamelukes defeated Lourenco de Almeida and his forces

• Battle in which a Portuguese fleet had been surprised and sunk off the namesake settlement on the west coast of India

1510 - Conquest of Goa (All Facts)

• Incident in which Alfonso de Albuquerque and his men invaded, defeated, and conquered the namesake Indian city on an island

• Battle after which Vasco da Gama became Viceroy of Goa

1526 - 1752 - Mughal-Afghan Wars (All Facts)

1526 - First Battle of Panipat (All Facts)

• Babur and his Mughal forces defeated Ibrahim Khan Lodi and his Delhi forces

• Battle in which Babur and his Mughal forces conquered the Delhi Sultanate

• Battle in which Sultan Ibrahim Khan Lodi led an army of 100K soldiers with 100 armored elephants

• Battle in which Babur led an army of barely 12K soldiers and was protected behind a circular barricade of 700 carts

• Battle in which Babur and his Mughal forces

  • opened up with artillery guns against the Delhi Sultanate, a weapon unknown for Sultan Lodi and his Delhi forces

    • This military technology thus allowed Babur and his Mughal forces to win, severely outnumbered by the Delhi Sultanate

  • within hours, sufficiently weakened the Delhi forces and delivered the classic rear attack

  • laid to dust the mighty Delhi forces in “half a day”

1527 - 1770 - Mughal-Rajput Wars (All Facts)

1527 - Battle of Khanwa (All Facts)

• Battle in which Babur and his Mughal forces defeated the Rajput forces and (nearly) conquered their Kingdom of Mewar

• Battle after which Babur and his Mughal forces removed the main Hindu rivals to Muslim Mughal power in northern India

• Battle after which the Kingdom of Mewar continued to resist the Mughal Empire, never being fully conquered but having declined rapidly

1529 - Battle of Ghaghra (All Facts)

• Battle in which Babur and his Mughal forces defeated the Afghan chiefs of Bihar and Bengal

• Battle after which Mughal power stretched from Kabul (Afghanistan) in the West to Bengal (Bangladesh) in the East

1538 - Siege of Diu (All Facts)

• Battle in which Portugal defeated Hadim Suleiman Pasha of Ottoman Egypt and his Ottoman forces, preventing them from taking the namesake Gujarati city in India

1540 - Battle of Kannauj (All Facts)

• Battle in which Sher Shah Suri and his Afghan forces defeated Humayun and his Mughal forces during the Mughal-Afghan Wars

1546 - Siege of Diu (All Facts)

• Battle in which Portugal routed (defeated) the Gujarati in India

1556 - Second Battle of Panipat (All Facts)

• Battle in which Bairam Khan and his Mughal forces defeated Hemu Vikramaditya and his Hindu forces, (re)capturing Delhi and Agra and thus securing control of the Mughal Empire

• Battle in which victory appeared to be favoring Hemu Vikramaditya until he was struck by an arrow in the eye

• Battle in which Hemu’s Hindu forces, upon seeiming him slumped on his famous war-elephant Hawai, fled

• Battle in which Hemu was dragged before Akbar and Bairam Khan and beheaded in front of the victorious Mughal forces

1565 - Battle of Talikota (All Facts)

• Battle in which the five (Islamic) Dekhan Sultanates defeated Rama Raya and his forces, and then captured and sacked the Vijayanagar Empire

• Battle in which Rama Raya fought against Husain, Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar

• Battle in which Rama Raya’s brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri fought the Bijapur Sultanate and Golkonda Sultanate

• Battle in which thousands of men were involved on both sides along with war elephants and artillery

• Battle which occurred after Rama Raya called up a vast army of levies to meet the invasion, being confident of victory

• Battle in which the Hindus were initially winning, but, when a furious elephant rushed at Rama Raya’s litter, his bearers dropped him and he was captured and beheaded by Husain, Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar

  • When Rama Raya’s head was stuck on a long spear, the gory sight of it made his army flee

1567 - 1568 - Siege of Chittorgarh (All Facts)

• Battle in which Akbar and his Mughal forces defeated and captured the namesake Rajput city

• Battle after which the Rajput women performed the rite of jauhar to save themselves from dishonor

1568 - Siege of Ranthambore (All Facts)

• Battle in which Akbar and his Mughal forces defeated and captured the namesake Rajput city

• Battle after which independent Rajput power in India was effectively brought to an end

1572 - 1573 - Mughal Conquest of Gujarat (All Facts)

• Conflict in which Akbar and his Mughal forces conquered the namesake fertile region of India

1574 - 1666 - Mughal Conquest of Bengal (All Facts)

• Series of conflicts in which Akbar (and his successors) and his (their) Mughal forces conquered the namesake richest province of northern India

1585 - 1589 - Mughal Conquest of Kashmir (All Facts)

• Series of conflicts in which Akbar and his Mughal forces conquered the namesake “kingdom” of India

1590 - 1593 - Mughal Conquest of Odisha (All Facts)

• Series of conflicts in which Akbar and his Mughal forces conquered the namesake region of India

1612 - Battle of Swally (All Facts)

• Battle in which the British East India Company defeated the Portuguese off the west coast of India and after the battle, established its first factory at Surat

1622 - 1623 - Third Mughal-Safavid War (All Facts)

• War in which Shah Abbas and his Safavid forces defeated Emperor Jahangir and his Mughal forces, taking from them the fortress city of Kandahar

1616 - 1624 - Bubonic Plague (All Facts)

• Period in which the namesake epidemic raged throughout northern and western India, dying down by the latter namesake date