From the 15th through the 18th centuries, the Mughal Empire sustained a powerful agricultural and trade-based economy with impressive military technology. But the logistic difficulties were more serious—and certainly more chronic. D Despite this impressive military technology, the Mughals fell behind the Europeans. [18]. [11], Babur, a seasoned military commander, entered India in 1526 with his well-trained veteran army of 12,000 to meet the sultan's huge but unwieldy and disunited force of more than 100,000 men. Contenders for the Mughal throne were many, and the reigns of Aurangzeb's successors were short-lived and filled with strife. [8] This definite, but limited, military superiority gave the Mughal polity some of its basic characteristics. [12], Although Indian Mughal rule technically lasted until the nineteenth century, its days of power extended from 1526 until the death of Babur's great-great-great-grandson, Aurangzeb in 1707. The Mughal empire was run by an emperor, who had complete power. The Mughal ruling class was Muslim, although many of the subjects of the empire were Hindu and also Sikh. [12] [4] [23] There were few major battles in Mughal history for that reason. [4] [5] [8] [4] By the middle of the century it had fragmented into a collection of squabbling successor statesan Empire only in name and easy prey for both regional and European aggressors. [2], At times, the Mughals experimented in establishing good inter-religious relations with the non-Hindu majority, employing Hindus in senior posts. An astute ruler who genuinely appreciated the challenges of administering so vast an empire, Akbar introduced a policy of reconciliation and assimilation of Hindus (including Maryam al-Zamani, the Hindu Rajput mother of his son and heir, Jahangir), who represented the majority of the population. Both rulers expanded the empire greatly and were able administrators. [4] They fought a series of border wars with the Mughals along the Afghan frontier, but they posed little threat to the coastline or shipping interests. Tools of War - Weapons, Equipment and Technology 4. The Mughal rulers made sure to bring in revenue by taxing these agricultural goods. [3] Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. At its peak, the Mughal Empire covered over 1.544 million square miles - the second largest empire to have existed on the Indian subcontinent. Humayun, son of Babur, took over the Mughal Empire after his father. [8] [3] Mughals made the Taj Mahal during Shah Jehan’s rule. [3] Technically, they still ruled as agents of the Mughal Empire, but were in practice exercising complete power. Under an initial treaty with the Mughals in 1616, the British first built factories; by 1765 in the Treaty of Allahabad they acquired tax raising and administrative power in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, after which the Mughal emperor became their puppet. [22] Technology in the Mughal Empire is a list of technological and scientific achievements in the Mughal Empire from 1526 to the mid-19th century.. The terms of incorporation defined the relationship of the emperor to his officers. [3], For most of its existence the Empire never faced a serious threat of invasion from either land or sea. [27], The gun-power technology that had given them military superiority, which remained unchallenged within India, could be challenged from the outside by armies with more advanced technology. The Mughal state was originally an inland empire with its roots in Central Asia. The production of desirable agricultural goods, and the taxes on those goods, made the Mughal economy soar. Despite this impressive military technology, the Mughals fell behind the Europeans. Tools of War - Weapons, Equipment and Technology 4. To quote only one of several contemporary Muslim aphorisms: 'Wars by sea are merchants' affairs and of no concern to the prestige of kings.'" 6. Once the Mughals gained control of Gujarat, they had effective control of these roots. [4] The Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force). With one stroke the Mughals had acquired a powerful new squadron of war galleys, complete with experienced and highly capable crews. Waging War – Tactics and Operations . The navy of the Mughals was very weak as compared with the Europeans. The frontiers of the Mughal Empire would not reach the sea for decades after its foundation in 1526, but the rudiments of a navy would nonetheless emerge very quickly. [29], When Nadir Shah invaded India in 1739 the jazair or swivel guns employed by his troops were superior to anything the Mughals could bring against them. Because grain could be carried overland only by grain-eating animals, it was difficult to do so in quantity over any distance. This article critiques explanations of the rise of the West in the early modern period premised on the thesis that military competition drove the development of gunpowder technology, new tactics, and the Westphalian state, innovations that enabled European trans-continental conquests. Waging War – Tactics and Operations 5. [10] An Unfinished Revolution . [7] The overall organization of the navy closely resembled that of the Mughal army. At the same time that the Mughal Empire was losing power, England was beginning its Industrial Revolution. [18] Artillery remained an important part of the Mughal military, in both field deployment and incorporation into defensive forts, however, transportation of the extremely heavy guns remained problematic, even as weapon technology improved during the reign of Akbar. The same combination of artillery and mounted archers that enabled the Ottomans to defeat the Safavids, Mamluks, and Hungarians and the Safavids to defeat the Uzbeks gave the Mughals a definite but limited military superiority in the subcontinent. ( Log Out /  [8] [24] The first Mughal ruler, Babur, was a talented warrior who also possessed a taste for art and music. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, were in the armies of central Asia, its essential form and structure was established by the empires third emperor. If You Can Be Seen, You Can Be Killed:The Technological Increase in Killing Zone during the American Civil War. The most prominent features of the administrations of the different rulers have already been noted, but a general view is necessary in order to understand the Mughal contribution. [2] Military and religious factors gave rise to all three of these empires. [17] Any further development of the Mughal navy was halted by the Empire's decline and fall in the 18 th century. The Mughal Empire is known as a “gunpowder empire.” The word “Mughal” is the Indo-Aryan version of “Mongol.” Babur was a descendant of Chingis Khan. Akbar is known for ushering in the Mughal style of architecture, which combined elements of Islamic, Persian and Hindu design, and sponsored some of the best and brightest minds of the era—including poets, musicians, artists, philosophers and engineers—in his courts at Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Ultimately the Mughal navy was an organization designed to support and supplement shore installations and ground forcesnot to act independently on the open sea. [25] Succeeding his father Humayun at a critical stage, he slowly enlarged the extent of the Mughal Empire to include almost all of the Indian sub-continent. BEFORE following the fate of the Mughal empire under Aurangzeb's successors in the eighteenth century, it will be useful to outline the main features of administration under the four great emperors. [4] Babur was the great-grandson of Timur Lenk (Timur the Lame, from which the Western name Tamerlane is derived), who had invaded India and plundered Delhi in 1398 and then led a short-lived empire based in Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan ) that united Persian-based Mongols (Babur's maternal ancestors) and other West Asian peoples. [12] …moment have turned the whole Mughal Empire into a company-sponsored state. [4] Every government official holding a military or civil post was enrolled in the army list and treated as the commander - real or nominal -of a specified number of horsemen. The Mughals did use elephants in war, particularly in their early campaigns, but not as their primary striking force. Unlike the Ottomans, the Mughals did not engage directly in the manufacture of gunpowder but purchased it on the open market. On Wednesday, February 15, Dr. Andrew de la Garza will introduce his latest book, The Mughal Empire at War: Babur, Akbar and the Indian military revolution, 1500-1605. [3] Panikkar published India and the Indian Ocean: An Essay on the Influence of Sea Power on Indian History in 1945, on the eve of his country's independence. The Mughal Empire came under the control of the British by the end of the 18th century. In 1529 Babur routed the joint forces of Afghans and the sultan of Bengal but died in 1530 before he could consolidate his military gains. Abul Fazl claims the manufacture of handguns (flint-locks) without matchcord in Akbar’s arsenal but they were produced on a limited scale probably for Akbar’s personal use. [4] Mughal superiority in cavalry derived first and foremost from Mughal control of the horse trade. This paper examines the various military developments that took place during the reign of Akbar [22] The absence of sea power in its modern form was not a significant factor in the fall of the Mughal Empire. The Mughals neither produced nor employed firearms as well as the Europeans or the Ottomans did. © Copyright 2017, Power Text Solutions, All [8] The perennial question of who was the greatest of the six "Great Mughals" receives varying answers in present-day Pakistan and India. [4] Akbar built up the Mughal Empire military by granting land revenues to officers in exchange for their service in the military. [4] After this victory, it was rare for any forces to engage the Mughals in a pitched battle. [3] The Mughal Empire had a well trained army but was defeated. [17], Army of the Mughal Empire - The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Guru Arjun supported Prince Khursaw, another contestant to the Mughal throne, in the civil war that developed after Akbar's death. Although the Mughals neither constructed nor conquered fortresses built or adapted to defeat siege guns, such citadels as Chitor and Ranthambor had such strong natural locations that it was extremely difficult to deploy guns … [9] Although they recognized the Ottoman claim to the title of caliph, they saw the Ottomans as just another Muslim empire like themselves, especially as they shared a similar pedigree. [4] World History Connected | Vol. As the Empire decreased in size and the smaller kingdoms began to gain significant power, the Mughal Empire was unable to compete. Following the decisive Ottoman victory over the Safavid Empire at the 1514 Battle of Chaldiran, Babur incorporated artillery, although authorities disagree about how many cannons he brought to India, Baburs artillery played a key role in the establishment of the Mughal Empire. [9] Though the gunpowder empire of India did exploit military technology at first, the Mughal Empire eventually fell to European imperialism and colonialism. The Mughal economy supplemented agricultural output with international trade. In each instance Mughal galleys blocked the approaches, keeping Company ships at bay while ground forces routed the English flying columns and then closed in on their home bases. [26] Supporting War - Logistics and Non-Combat Operations . [4] [3], There were also specialized defensive formations, reminiscent of the wagon laagers often employed by Mughal ground forces. [2], Mughal cannon were primarily bronze or brasscast iron guns were not yet widely available in India. They dissolved the empire in 1857, having already gained control of substantial territory in India, winning the competition against the French and Dutch. Surjan became a Mughal officer and Bundi a subordinate principality of the Mughal Empire. [10] 4. [17] The Mughal Empire was unprepared to deal with the threat posed by European intruders. FORUM: The Military in World History Command of the Coast: The Mughal Navy and Regional Strategy Andrew de la Garza The Indian historian K.M. Mughal emperors maintained a small standing army. [3] [4] Under his rule, the Mughal Empire grew to its largest size because of successful expansion campaigns. [18] [8], Born on October 15, 1542 in Umarkot, India, and enthroned at age 14, Akbar the Great began his military conquests under the tutelage of a regent before claiming imperial power and expanding the Mughal Empire. [4] Supporting War - Logistics and Non-Combat Operations 7. The Mughals, as well as their opponents, expected Mughal victories in battle. [27] [3] [3] [5] Their combination of field artillery and cavalry supplanted a military system based on war elephants. Babur, the first Mughal Emperor, assembled large fleets of boats and small shipsas many as 400 at a timefor his campaigns in the Ganges valley. In the mountainous zones of the north Mughal armies found themselves precariously extended on their supply lines. Mughal-paintings regularly depict matchlocks. [10] [10], Map showing the empire during Babur, Akbar and Aurangzeb with the, cities and boundaries, where they ruled. …English found the Portuguese enjoying Mughal recognition at the western Indian port of Surat. Babur's victorious Central Asian army used a combination of traditional horse cavalry tactics and new-fangled cannons; the cannon fire spooked Lodi's war-elephants, which turned and trampled their own army in their hurry to escape the fearsome noise. 1 | Andrew de la Garza: Command of the Coast: The Mughal Navy and Regional Strategy, The Mughal Dynasty: Stories Of The Emperors Who Built And Destroyed The Empire - WorldAtlas.com, The Mughal Empire: Economy, Technology & Trade - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com, Mughal dynasty | History, Map, & Facts | Britannica.com, The Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal, Military and Goverment Structure - Mughal Empire, The Reasons Behind the Decline of the Mughal Empire Essay | Bartleby, Military Under the Mughal Empire by Louie Lovelace on Prezi, Brief notes on the Military structure of Mughal Empire, Category:Military of the Mughal Empire - WikiVividly, Ottoman Empire and Mughal empire Flashcards | Quizlet, The Ottoman Empire had a powerful military the consisted of Horse Soldiers and, Akbar the Great Biography - Facts, Life History of The Mughal Emperor, Mughal Empire and Warfare in Afghanistan: 1500-1810 - Oxford Scholarship, The Mughal Empire at war : Babur, Akbar and the Indian military revolution, 1500-1605 in SearchWorks catalog, The East India Company: How a trading corporation became an imperial ruler - History Extra, Book Launch: The Mughal Empire at War | Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, Mughal Dynasty Indian History AP World History. [3] Although the Mughals were very war-like, that was not the only thing that they did. [10], Industrialization and mass production in Europe started to eclipse Mughal production in global trade by the late 18th century. [4] [18] [3] [26] [20], Despite these internal conflicts, Aurangzeb's military prowess helped him to secure key areas that had long eluded Mughal efforts: Bijapur, Golconda and much of the Maratha lands of the _________region of South Central India. [3], Under Akbar the Great, the empire grew considerably, and continued to expand until the end of Aurangzeb's rule. 12 No. [25] Attempts by the Mughals to create a uniform system of taxation and military obligation among so many minority rulers at the rural level, comprising nearly ninety percent of the subcontinent's population, had to go through the clan council, a body made up of a network of "village chiefs" known as _________, who conducted most of the real business. Introduction 1. Terms & Conditions  | Cotton was one of the many lucrative trade goods that, along with agricultural production, made the Mughal economy boom. [4] They fell behind the Europeans in military technology only in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when flintlock muskets sup- planted matchlocks and cast iron artillery became standard. ( Log Out /  The invasion of the kingdom of Arakan is one of the best-documented naval campaigns, providing an excellent demonstration of how all of these elements worked in concert. The Military and the Government are two important structures in every empire. [8], Less powerful but closer at hand were the Uzbeks of Central Asia, who fought for control of Herat in western Afghanistan and for the northern regions as well where neither the Mughals nor the Safavids were in strength. [4] Aurangzeb restored Mughal military dominance and expanded power southward, at least for a while. [16], Ottoman and Roman military are both similar in the way that they both invited either janissaries for ottoman and germans for the Roman empire to join their military and serve. [3] [3], The Mughal intervention in Afghanistan started with the Chaghtai Turkish warlord named Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur. [24] [11] It took the Mughals nearly a month of enormous effort to bring guns to bear against the fort, but once in place they swiftly breached its walls. [4] [3] [3] They numbered only in thousands. [3] Mughal rule under Jahangir (1605-1627) and Shah Jahan (1628-1658) was noted for political stability, brisk economic activity, beautiful paintings, and monumental buildings. The borders of the Empire reached their greatest extent under Aurangzeb's rule, but within a few decades of his death in 1707 the state would be torn apart by factionalism, rebellion and the machinations of foreign powers. [6], Mughal dynasty, Mughal also spelled Mogul, Arabic Mongol, Muslim dynasty of Turkic-Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century. Supporting War - Logistics and Non-Combat Operations 7. The Mughal state took conscious interest in the promotion of agriculture, trade and commerce along with technological innovations as the prosperity of the state depended entirely on the taxes collected and deposited in treasury by bureaucracy. [4] The first leader of the Mughal Empire in India was Babur, who reigned from 1527-1530. [3], This book argues that, on the contrary, the military establishment built by the Emperor Babur and his successors was highly sophisticated, an effective combination of personnel, expertise, technology and tactics, drawing on precedents from Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and India, and that the resulting combined arms system transformed the conduct of warfare in South Asia. Mirroring the situation on land, the Mughal navy fought a decades-long war of attrition against this enemy, only gradually gaining the upper hand. Babur, emperor (1526–30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of northern India. Jahangir, the son of Akbar, ruled the empire between 1605 and 1627. [3], The empire was founded by the Mongol leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Afghan Lodi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat, where they used gunpowder for the first time in India. [8] After Aurangzeb died in 1707, the empire started a slow and steady decline in actual power, although it maintained all the trappings of power in the Indian subcontinent for another 150 years. He expanded the military, gained more territory for the empire, and produced one of the best-performing economies in the world. The Mughal difficulty in sieges had tactical and logistic causes. During his half-century-long reign from 1556 to 1605, Akbar's repeated victories enabled him to build a multi-regional empire from the territories of defeated kingdoms. [3], Technically, the title "Emperor" as used by British monarchs referred only to India, but popularly the term "empire" applied to all the British overseas territories and protectorates. [2] Akbar was successful in his quest; at the end of his rule, the Mughal Empire encompassed most of the northern, western, and central regions of India. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most of the Hindu Kush area was hotly contested between the Mughals of India and the powerful Safavids of Iran. It is questionable whether the Mughals could have recouped the considerable expenses involved in creating a true blue water navy of their own. Happy to have trade come to them, the Mughals welcomed the establishment of European trading forts along the coast. Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, more famously known as Akbar the Great, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire, after Babur and Humayun. Many historians have viewed the Mughal Empire as relatively backward, the Emperor the head of a traditional warband from Central Asia, with tribalism and the traditions of the Islamic world to the fore, and the Empire not remotely comparable to the forward looking Western European states of the period, with their strong innovative armies implementing the "military revolution". Other professed pirates, however, were actually the agents of hostile governments, which sought to undermine the Mughals or simply profit at their expense. Even though they aptly demonstrated Mughal military strength, these campaigns drained the imperial treasury. True to their central Asian heritage, they relied primarily on mounted archers; lacking the tradition and practice of this difficult art, their rivals in the subcontinent could not field such a force. Babur's forces, using military tactics, technology and a strong cavalry, crushed the Muslim Lodi dynasty and defeated a Hindu confederation by 1527. Note: Footnotes & Links provided to all original resources. AGRARIAN CRISIS OF MUGHAL EMPIRE by IRFAN HABIB: Various explanations are put forward for the revolts which brought about the collapse of the Mughal Empire. Mughal administrators made their way to rural areas, and along with local leaders, urged villagers to clear forests for farming and harvesting various goods for market. Over time, his half-brother took control of the Punjab and Indus Valley territories, once part of the Mughal Empire. Intentionally, Jehangir set in motion the demise of the empire when he granted King James I's ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, permission for the British East India Company to build a factory at Surat. [1] The Mughal empire continued to expand and to deepen its administrative control from 1556 until 1689. Provincial administration was greatly improved under Akbar, and in this respect the Mughal period differs substantially from the sultanate. [17] [4] It was Shah Jahan who commissioned the building that represents the pinnacle of Mughal architectural achievement, the Taj Mahal, between 1630 and 1653. 5. ( Log Out /  [3] [4] Aurangzeb's long rule renewed the Mughal trend of expanding into the Northeastern areas controlled by the Ahoms, whom he ultimately succeeded in converting into _________after a military standstill, while in other areas potentially troublesome groups were lavishly bribed into joining the Mughal fold. Under the Mughals The Mughal's military was comprised of infantry, cavalry, navy, elephants, and gunners. [9] By the time the Empire reached the sea any nearby potential colonies had already fallen into European spheres of influence. Extended sieges thus denuded the surrounding countryside, often for miles. Portable cannons moved across battlefields, explosives destroyed city walls, and elite Mughal infantry units used effective small arms to expand the empire and control large amounts of territory. The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties established control over Turkey, Iran, and India respectively, in large part due to a Chinese invention - gunpowder. At Akbar’s death in 1605 the empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal and southward to what is now Gujarat state and the northern Deccan region (peninsular India). [4], The Empire was still more than capable of defending its coastline, and there was no Western power that posed even a remote military or political threat. [4] His policies were carried out by his son but the later Mughals were not so enthusiastic as their ancestor and yet their power continued to decline and ultimately the Europeans were able to grab power from Mughals and they also carried out the same state policies of Mughals but with certain modification. [24], The desire for a new Mongol empire, now allied with Islam, created opportunities for military action to unite and settle the nomadic tribes Chaghatay, leading to the rise in the fourteenth century of _________, or Tamerlane. Predominately Muslim empire Ottoman empire but they had religious communities called millet they had great religious tolerance. [21] [19] The Mughal army was never an integrated force, but a heterogeneous force of different races. [2] [10] [2] Rights Reserved. Conclusion D. H. A. Kolff has demonstrated that Indian peasant men were normally skilled with weapons and frequently accepted military service far from their home villages. [6] (These were replaced during British rule by the somewhat large tehsils or talukas.). [18] Jahāngīr The feast of Nōrūz at Jahāngīr's court, with Jahāngīr in the upper centre; painting in the Mughal miniature style, early 17th century. He is the Mughal Emperor credited with spreading the Persian culture throughout the empire. [5] [8], Because European maritime and military prowess and technology was outdoing that of the Mughals, France and, more notably, England came to dominate the Indian Ocean trade routes. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This definite, but limited, military superiority gave the Mughal polity some of its basic characteristics. 2. [3], They also conducted trade much deeper in the Indian hinterlands, where they were reliant on Mughal protection. One of the most formidable navies of pre-colonial India was that fielded by the Mughal Empire. 18 As the Empire expanded and reached the sea, the need for a navy became clear. The five military branches were vital in the control and expansion of the Mughal Empire. The Mughals governed indirectly because they ruled an armed population. [25] Although the Mughals neither constructed nor conquered fortresses built or adapted to defeat siege guns, such citadels as Chitor and Ranthambor had such strong natural locations that it was extremely difficult to deploy guns against them. The Mughal army had no regimental structure, in this system each officer worked for government was a military officer, responsible for recruiting and maintaining his quota of horsemen. This was the case for most of the Rajput states during the Mughal period. Changing Ways of War 3. In 157374 Akbar classified the office holders in thirty-three grades, ranging from commanders of ten to commanders of ten thousand. [17] [4], The Mughals, Safavids, and the Uzbeks, despite being Muslim themselves, faced tough opposition from the Afghans. Company squadrons would attack Mughal shipping on the high seas and raid ports and coastal towns while expeditionary forces wreaked havoc inland. Naval administration is described in detail in the Ain-i-Akbari, a document that served as the official almanac of the early Mughal Empire. Shah Jahan also issued letters of marque and reprisal to English captains, authorizing them to attack any Portuguese vessels deemed a threat to Mughal shipping. Military technology: Guns and Pistols: Matchlocks technique (to fire a gun) was in use mostly till Aurangzeb. [3], In the early sixteenth century, descendants of the Mongol, Turkish, Iranian, and Afghan invaders of South Asia -- the Mughals -- invaded India under the leadership of Zahir-ud-Din Babur. Bābur’s son Humāyūn (reigned 1530-40 and 1555-56) lost control of the empire to Afghan rebels, but Humāyūn’s son Akbar (reigned 1556-1605) defeated the Hindu usurper Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) and thereby reestablished his dynasty in Hindustan. [16], The Mughal emperors made little apology for attacks on neighboring states and needed still less by way of provocation. [5] [9] By the mid-nineteenth century, the British were controlling vast tracts of the Mughal Empire and other principalities through a series of treaties and alliances. The empire could never have existed, of course, if the Mughals had not had sufficient military superiority to defeat their opponents. [23] In December of 1665 Shaista Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal sent 288 ships and more than 20,000 men east. [8], The Padshah Babar's mother was a Mughal, but throughout his memoirs Babar speaks with contempt and dislike of the race, by the name of which the Indians erroneously called his dynasty. Unable to defeat the Mughals in battle, their opponents used time and distance against them, defending fortresses and attacking Mughal lines of communication. The book traces the development of the Mughal Empire chronologically, examines weapons and technology, tactics and operations, organization, recruitment and training, and … The first true salt water navy was assembled by the Emperor Akbar in the late 16 th century after his conquests of Bengal and Gujarat finally provided the Mughals with access to the sea. The Military administration or the Mansabdari system was the backbone of the Mughal Empire which started in its crude form from Zahir-ud-din Babur till its refined form in the reign of Akbar. [3] An Unfinished Revolution Conclusion