The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 17: 1526 & 1556 Panipat—Babur & Akbar in India

the experienced general, Bairam Khan. Akbar was present, though

he seems to have been stationed well to the rear and probably

played little role in the actual oversight of the battle.

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wing, a larger center block, a substantial advance force, and a reserve,

all fronted by war elephants, with their leaders in the center.

x Hemu’s right and left wings ferociously attacked their Mughal

counterparts, led by the heavily armored elephants and backed up

by elite cavalrymen. Both the Mughal wings began to give ground

before the vicious onslaught, but the Mughal soldiers did not panic

and maintained their formations.

x Meanwhile, elements of the Mughal cavalry on the extreme right

and left sides rode in wide, sweeping arcs around the edges of

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the forces immediately around him and organized a series of

counterattacks, which succeeded in driving off the harassing

Mughal cavalry columns.

x He then turned his attention to a renewed frontal assault against

the Mughals. Some sources claim that this attack was on the verge

of breaking the Mughal formation, which almost certainly would

have led to victory, when an arrow found the weak spot of Hemu’s

helmet and pierced his eye. Seeing their general fall, his soldiers

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Effects of the Second Battle

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door for their advance into India, and the second, 30 years later,

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x Akbar ruled for a half-century, becoming the greatest of the

Mughal emperors. He and his armies conquered much of the Indian