Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Third Battle of Panipat
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 Afgan 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 Afganistan.
Ahmad Shah could not allow this to go unchecked, and in 1759 rose 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 huge single army of over 100,000 to
block him.
Setting up defensive works in the excellent ground near Panipat, they blocked
Ahmad's access back to Afganistan. They then moved in almost 150 pieces of
modern long-range rifled artillery from France. With a range of several
kilometres, these guns were some of the best in the world and a powerful force
that had previously made the Marathas invincible on the battlefield.
Siege
The Afgan 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 favour, the Marathas under Sadashiv
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 Afgans 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, pikemen, musketeers and bowmen. The cavalry was
instructed to wait behind the artillery, ready to be thrown in when control of
battlefield had been 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. Many were
middle class men, women and children on their pilgrimage to the Hindu holy
places and shrines, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Aryavarta (Aryan
Land). The civilians were supremely confident in 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 Afgans. 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 Afgan's heads and
inflicted very little damage, but the Afgan attack was nevertheless broken by
Maratha bowmen and pikemen, along with some musketeers stationed close to the
artillery positions. The second and subsequent salvos were fired at point blank
range, and the resulting carnage sent the Afgans reeling back to their lines.
The European-style plan had worked just as envisioned.
The Marathas then started moving their formation forward, led by the
artillery. The Afgans responded with repeated cavalry attacks, all of which
failed. About 17,000 Afgan 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 Afgans 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 chiefs, decided to exploit the gaps in the enemy
lines – despite strict instructions not to charge or engage Afgan cavalry. They
Maratha horsemen raced through their own artillery lines and charged towards the
demoralized Afgans, intending to cut the faltering army in two.
The over-enthusiasm of the charge saw many of the Maratha horses exhausted
long before they had traveled the two kilometres to the Afgan lines, some simple
collapsed. Making matters worse was the suffocating odour of the rotting corpses
of men and animals from the fighting of the previous months.
In response, the Afgan officers stiffened their troops resistance. Abdali
called up his reserves and cavalry of musketeers, who fired an extensive salvo
at the Maratha cavalry, who were unable to withstand the rifled muskets of the
Afgans.
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 Afgan reserves protected by their
armoured leather jackets.
Attack from within
The Maratha Muslim logistics infantrymen (Rohillas), who had not been trusted
to fight in the front line because their loyalty was suspect—or, rather, who
were suspected of being loyal to the Koran or fellow Muslims and not to their
country— now responded to the calls of the Afgan army for jihad and revolted.
This caused brought confusion and great consternation to loyal Maratha soldiers,
who thought that the enemy has attacked from behind.
Sadashivrao Bhau, seeing his forward lines dwindling and civilians behind,
felt he had no choice but to come down from his elephant and take a direct part
in the battle on horseback at the head of his troops. He left instructions with
his bodyguards that, if the battle were lost, they must kill his wife Parvati
bai, as he could not abide the thought of her being dishonoured by Afgans.
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 Afgan sniper fire, shot in the head.
Sadashivrao Bhau and his bodyguard fought to the end, the Maratha leader having
three horses shot out from under him.
Rout
The Afgans pursued the fleeing Maratha army and the civilians, while the
Maratha front lines rrmained largely intact, with some of their artillery units
fighting until sundown. Choosing not to launch a night attack, made good their
escape that night. Parvati bai escaped the armageddon with her bodyguards, and
eventually returned to Pune.
The Afgan cavalry and pikemen ran wild through the streets of Panipat,
killing any Maratha soldiers or civilians who offered and resistance. About
6,000 women and children sought shelter with Shuja (allies of Abdali) whose
Hindu officers persuaded him to protect them.
Afgan officers who had lost their kin in battle were permitted to carry out
massacres the next day, also in Panipat and the surrounding area. They arranged
victory mounds of severed heads outside their camps. About 10,000 Maratha
civilians and soldiers alike were slain this way on 15th January 1761. Many of
the fleeing Maratha women jumped into the Panipat well rather than risk rape and
dishonour. Many others did their best to hide in the streets of Panipat when the
North Indian Hindus of the town refused to give them refuge.
Abdali's soldiers arrested about 10,000 women and another 10,000 young
children and men brought them to their camps. The women were raped, many
committed suicide because of constant rapes perpetrated on them. All of the
prisoners were exchanged or sold as sex slaves to Afganistan or North India,
transported on carts, camels and elephants in bamboo cages.
A conservative estimate places Maratha losses at 35,000 on the Panipat
battlefield itself, and another 10,000 or more in surrounding areas. The Afgans
are thought to have lost some 30,000.
Following the battle
To save their kingdom, the Mughals once again changed sides and welcomed the
Afgans to Delhi. However the news soon rose that Marathas in the south had
organized another 100,000 men to avenge their loss and rescue the prisoners. He
left Delhi two months after the battle, heading for Afganistan with his loot of
500 elephants, 1500 camels, 50,000 horses and about 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.
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. Their claims to empire were
officially ended in 1818.
Meanwhile the Sihks, the original reason Ahmad invaded, were left largely
untouched by the battle. They soon re-took Lahore. When Ahmad returned in March
1764 he was forced to break off his siege after only two weeks due to rebellion
in Afganistan. He returned again in 1767, but was unable to win any decisive
battle. With his own troops arguing over a lack of pay, he eventually abandoned
the district to the Sihks, who remained in control until 1849.
