Second Battle of Panipat (1556)

 On November 5, 1556, the army of Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, popularly known as Hemu, the Hindu king of north India from Delhi, and Akbar's army battled the Second Battle of Panipat. Khan Zaman I and Bairam Khan, Akbar's generals, won a convincing victory.

Humayun, the Mughal emperor, died in Delhi on January 24, 1556, and was succeeded by his uncle, Akbar. Akbar was just thirteen at the time. Akbar was crowned on February 14, 1556, in Kalanaur, Punjab. Mughal rule was limited to Kabul, Kandahar, parts of the Delhi district, and Punjab at the time. Akbar had been campaigning with his guardian, Bairam Khan, in Kabul.

After defeating Akbar's army in the Battle of Delhi in 1556, Hemu became the emperor of North India. Previously, Hemu served as Prime Minister-in-Chief of Afghanistan's Army under Afghan dictator Adil Shah. He was a Hindu from Rewari, which is now in Haryana. Hemu had won 22 wars as Prime Minister-cum-Chief of the Army from Punjab to Bengal between 1553 and 1556.Hemu had just put down a revolt in Bengal, killing the Bengal king Muhammad Shah in the process, when Humayun died in January 1556. As he learned of Humayun's assassination, he told his commanders that he intended to take the Delhi throne for himself. He then waged a full-fledged insurgency, winning battles across northern India.As he launched his assault on Agra, the commander of Akbar's forces there fled without a contest. Hemu seized possession of the provinces of Etawah, Kalpi, and Agra, which included modern-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Hemu bolstered his army at Gwalior by recruiting more Hindus.

On October 6, Hemu defeated the Mughal army in the Battle of Delhi. Approximately 3,000 Mughals were slaughtered, and Mughal commander Tardi Beg fled with the survivors, leaving Delhi to Hemu. The next day, Hemu was crowned at Purana Qila fortress, restoring Hindu rule in north India after 350 years of Muslim rule.Hemu was preparing for an assault on Kabul, according to Abul Fazl in Akbarnama, and had made some changes to his army.

The fall of Delhi and Agra to Hemu, as well as the defeat of Mughal commander Tardi Beg Khan, caused consternation among the Mughals at Kalanaur. Many Mughal generals urged Akbar to withdraw to Kabul instead of confronting Hemu's greater armies. However, Bairam Khan wanted to go to battle. The army of Akbar marched into Delhi.On November 5, the armies met at Panipat, the ancient battleground where Akbar's grandfather, Babur, had defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat thirty years before.

The Mughal Army had 10,000 cavalry under the command of Shah Ali Quli Khan at its core. The light cavalry was led by Lal Khan of Badakshan to assault Hemu's positions. The vanguard of the Mughal Army was commanded by Muhammad Qasim (Mughal), whose brigade included mounted archers and the standard cavalry of Abdulla Khan (Mughal) and Iskander Khan.

Shah Ali Quli Khan isolated the elephant and captured Hemu after a Mughal archer fired an arrow that entered his eye, leaving him unconscious and in pain. Hemu was placed before the young Mughal Emperor Akbar, who executed him with his own sword and assumed the title "Ghazi" from then on.

Despite Hemu's superior numbers, Akbar's army won the campaign. Hemu was apprehended and beheaded. His skull was sent to Kabul and shown outside the 'Delhi Darwaza.' His torso was transported to Delhi and hung outside Purana Quila on a "gibbet" in order to harass the Hindu people.Hemu's wife fled from Purana Qila with the fortress's jewels and went unnoticed. Bairam Khan ordered mass Hindu killings, which lasted for several years. Many of Hemu's family and close Afghan allies were apprehended and beheaded.Minarets were built out of their skulls in various locations. After six months, Hemu's 82-year-old father, who had fled to Alwar, was apprehended and beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam.

First Battle of Panipat (1526)

 The First Battle of Panipat was fought on 21 April 1526 in North India between the occupying forces of Babur and the Lodi Empire. It was the start of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the first battles fought with gun powder and field artillery.

Babur introduced field guns at panipat, 1526

Until 1524, Babur's aim was to only extend his rule to Punjab, mostly to fulfill his ancestor Timur's legacy, as it had previously been a part of his kingdom. Sections of north India were ruled by Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty at the time, but the kingdom was collapsing and there were several defectors. He was invited by Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab, and Ala-ud-Din, Ibrahim's uncle.He sent an envoy to Ibrahim, pretending to be the legitimate successor to the country's throne; however, the ambassador was arrested in Lahore and released months later.

In 1524, Babur set out for Lahore, Punjab, only to discover that Daulat Khan Lodi had been forced out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi. The Lodi army marched out and was defeated when Babur arrived in Lahore. In reaction, Babur burned Lahore for two days before marching to Dipalpur, where he appointed Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi's, as governor. Alam Khan was deposed easily and fled to Kabul. In reaction, Babur supplied Alam Khan with soldiers, who later joined forces with Daulat Khan Lodi and besieged Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi with approximately 30,000 troops. He beat them and drove Alam's army away, and Babur realized that Lodi would not let him invade Punjab.

Babur's forces were reported to number about 15,000 troops and had between 20 and 24 pieces of field artillery. Babur reported that Lodi had about 100,000 men, though this included camp followers, and that the battle force totaled 30,000 to 40,000 men, including at least 1000 war elephants.

Babur defended his right flank towards the city of Panipat while digging a trench paved with tree branches to protect his left flanks after learning the strength of Ibrahim's force. He arranged 700 carts bound together with ropes in the middle. There were breastworks for his matchlock men between every two carts. Babur also made certain that his soldiers had enough room to rest and fire their weapons.

When Ibrahim's army landed, he discovered that the path to Babur's army was too small for an assau
lt. Though Ibrahim redeployed his troops to accommodate the narrower front, Babur easily exploited the situation to flank the Lodi army. Many of Ibrahim's soldiers were unable to participate in the fighting and left as it turned toward them. 

Ibrahim Lodi, along with 20,000 of his men, was killed on the battlefield. Timurids won a decisive military triumph at the Battle of Panipat. Politically, it acquired Babur new territories and began a new period of his long-lasting Mughal Empire's establishment in the center of the Indian Subcontinent.