Indo-Afghan War

Dear you may refer to my other post by the name of (History of Afghanistan) which clearifies all your questions but still if you want it in short the answer is that in 1747 the country was found and the name "Afghanistan" was formed for it and it was done so by Ahmad Shah Durani (localy known as Ahmad Shah Baba).

THE SUN RISES FROM THE EAST and sets in the west.

You post good articles Gharanai.I assume they arn't written by you or maybe they are,since you don't provide any link.

The Third Battle of Panipat took place on January 14, 1761 at Panipat (Haryana State, India) about 80 miles (130 km) north of Delhi, between the Maratha forces of north-western India aiding their allies, the Mughal Empire, and Afghan forces under Ahmad Shah Abdali. It is believed that nearly 100,000 people either died or were injured on both sides in the one-day battle, though some historians estimate the total to be nearer to 60,000.

The battle pitted the French-supplied and trained artillery of the Marathas against the famous light cavalry of the Afghans. The matchup would have been rather one sided in favor of the Marathas had not their own cavalry decided to charge prematurely leading to their defeat. Both forces were so heavily attritted that the Mughal Empire fell, the expansion of the Maratha's power ended, and Ahmad Shah's Durrani Empire suffered continual attacks by the growing Sikh power and eventually retired to the north of Kandahar. The Marathas had also pursued his fleeing army right up to Attock at the foothills of Afghanistan in 1756 under Raghobadada.

Prelude to Panipat

The Mughal Empire of north-western India had been in decline for some time after Ahmad Shah's first attacks against them in 1749, eventually culminating in his sacking of Delhi in 1757. He left them in nominal control however, which proved to be a fateful mistake when his son, Timur Shah, proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining control of the Afghan troops. Soon the local Sikh population rose in revolt and asked for the protection of the Marathas, who were soon in Lahore. Timur ran for the hills of Afghanistan.

Ahmad Shah could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1759 raised an army from the Pashtun tribes with help from the Baloch, and invaded India once again. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore, but Marathas continued to pour into the conflict and by 1760 had formed a single army of over 100,000 to block him.

There followed much maneuvering, with skirmishes fought at Karnal and Kunjapura. After the Marathas failed to prevent Abdali's forces crossing the Yamuna River, they set up defensive works in the excellent ground near Panipat, thereby blocking Ahmad's access back to Afghanistan just as his forces blocked theirs to south. Abdali slowly tightened the noose by cutting off the Maratha Army's supply lines. Sikhs and Jats (with the exception of Ala Singh) did not support Marathas because of their refusal to sack Delhi, which was at that time a Maratha protectorate. Their supplies and stores dwindling, the Marathas then moved in almost 150 pieces of modern long-range rifled French made artillery. With a range of several kilometers, these guns were some of the best of the times.

Siege

The Afghan forces arrived in late 1760 to find the Marathas in well-prepared works. Realizing a direct attack was hopeless, they set up for a siege. The resulting face-off lasted two months. During this time Ahmad continued to receive supplies from locals, but the Marathas own supply line was cut off.

Realizing the situation was not in their favor, the Marathas under Sadashivrao Bhau decided to break the siege. His plan was to pulverize the enemy formations with cannon fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Muslims were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he would move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they were assured supplies.

The line would be formed up some 12km across, with the artillery in front, protected by infantry, pike men, musketeers and bowmen. The cavalry was instructed to wait behind the artillery and bayonet wielding musketeers, ready to be thrown in when control of battlefield had been fully established.

Behind this line was another ring of 30,000 young Maratha soldiers who were not battle tested, and then the roughly 30,000 civilians entrained. The civilians were irrationally confident of the Maratha army, regarding it as one of the best in the world, and definitely one of the most powerful in Asia. Behind the civilians was yet another protective infantry line, of young inexperienced soldiers.

Battle opens

Before dawn on January 14, 1761 the Maratha forces emerged from the trenches, pushing the artillery into position on their pre-arranged lines, some 2km from the Afghans. Seeing that the battle was on, Ahmad positioned his 60 smoothbore cannon and opened fire. However, because of the short range of the weapons, the Maratha lines remained untouched. Ahmad then launched a cavalry attack to break their lines.

The first defensive salvo of the Marathas went over the Afghans' heads and inflicted very little damage, but the Afghan attack was nevertheless broken by Maratha bowmen and pike men, along with some famed Maratha gardi musketeers stationed close to the artillery positions. The second and subsequent salvos were fired at point blank range, and the resulting carnage sent the Afghans reeling back to their lines. The European-style plan had worked just as envisioned.

The Marathas then started moving their infantry formation forward, led by the artillery. The Afghans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which failed. About 12,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle. Gaping holes were opened in their ranks, and in some places the Afghans and their Indian Muslim allies began to run away.

The Marathas cavalry charge

At this stage it looked as though Bhausaheb would clinch victory for the Marathas once again. However, some of the Maratha lieutenants, jealous of the exploits of their artillery chief (Commandant de la gard - Ibrahim khan Gardi), decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy lines & dash; despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afghan cavalry in hand to hand fight. The mass of Maratha horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the demoralized Afghans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.

The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the half starved Maratha horses exhausted long before they had traveled the two kilometers to the Afghan lines; some simply collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odor of the rotting corpses of men and animals left on the field from the fighting of the previous months. Still, a major mass of Maratha cavalry collided with the Fagan cavalry, initially taking down a few thousands Afghans.

In response, the Afghan officers stiffened their troop�s resistance. Abdali sent his body guards to call up his reserves of 10,000 from his camp and arranged it as column right in front his and cavalry of musketeers, and swivel mounted cannons on the back of camels. Because of their positioning on camels they could fire an extensive salvo over the heads of their own infantry and at the Maratha cavalry, who were unable to withstand the rifled muskets and camel-mounted swivel cannons of the Afghans.

With their own men in the firing line, the Maratha artillery could not respond, and about 7,000 Maratha cavalry and infantry perished before the hand to hand fighting began at around 2PM. By 4PM the tired Maratha infantry began to succumb to the onslaught of attacks from fresh Afghan reserves, protected by armored leather jackets.

Sadashivrao Bhau, seeing his forward lines dwindling took flight from battle. Unable to accompany the womenfolk he left instructions with his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his wife Parvatibai, as he could not abide the thought of her being dishonored by Afghans.

Some Maratha soldiers, seeing that their general had disappeared from his elephant, panicked and began to flee. Vishwasrao, the son of Prime Minister Nanasaheb, had already fallen to a stray shot, in the head. Sadashivrao Bhau and his loyal bodyguards fought to the end, the Maratha leader having three horses shot out from under him.

Rout

The Afghans pursued the fleeing Maratha army and the civilians, while the Maratha front lines remained largely intact, with some of their artillery units fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their escape that night. Parvatibai escaped the Armageddon with her bodyguards, and eventually returned to Pune.

The Massacre

The Afghan cavalry and pike men ran wild through the streets of Panipat, killing any Maratha soldiers or civilians who offered resistance. About 6,000 women and children sought shelter with the north Indian local ruler, the Shuja-ud-Daula (alley of Abdali), who was actually undecided before the war whether to join the Marathas or Abdali. His Hindu officers persuaded him to protect the Maratha women and children. A conservative estimate places Maratha losses at 35,000 on the Panipat battlefield.

Following the battle

To save their kingdom, and in the name of Islam, the Mughals once again changed sides and welcomed the Afghans to Delhi, forgetting that Marathas had just lost 100,000 men and women for their cause. However, the news soon arrived that Marathas had organized another 100,000 men in the south to avenge their loss and to rescue the captured prisoners. He left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afghanistan with his loot of 500 elephants, 1500 camels, 50,000 horses and at least 22,000 women and children.

The Mughals remained in nominal control over small areas of India, but were never a force again. The empire officially ended in 1857 when its last emperor was accused of being involved in the Sepoy Mutiny and exiled.

This 3rd battle of Panipat saw an enormous number of casualties and deaths in a single day of battle, perhaps unmatched even today in the later wars. The Marathas expansion was stopped in the battle, and soon broke into infighting within their empire. They never regained any unity, and were soon under increasing pressure from the British.

In March 1761, Ahmad Shah Abdali was returning triumphant. He had destroyed Maratha power in Haryana at the battle of Panipat.