What are the most important battles in Indian history?

Among the most important are the Hydaspes, the Second Battle of Tarain, the three battles of Panipat (two are in this guide), Haldighati, Plassey, Buxar, Assaye, Saragarhi and Kohima.

Which battle founded the Mughal Empire?

The First Battle of Panipat in 1526, where Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi.

Which battle began British rule in India?

Plassey in 1757 gave the East India Company control of Bengal, and Buxar in 1764 secured its right to collect Bengal's revenues.

What was the bloodiest battle in Indian history?

The Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 is often named among the bloodiest, with tens of thousands killed in a single day.

Did Alexander the Great fight in India?

Yes. He defeated King Porus at the Hydaspes river in the Punjab in 326 BC, before his army refused to march further east.

The Greatest Battles in Indian History

The history of India has been decided again and again on a few great battlefields. Some opened the subcontinent to new empires, like Tarain and the first battle of Panipat; others ended them. This guide gathers ten of the most important, from Alexander the Great on the banks of the Hydaspes to the stand at Kohima that stopped Japan's invasion of India in 1944.

Ten battles that shaped India

The Hydaspes, 326 BC · Alexander the Great crosses a flooded river in a storm and defeats King Porus and his war elephants.

Baroque painting of Alexander on horseback receiving the captive Porus amid soldiers — The wounded King Porus is brought before Alexander after the battle of the Hydaspes, in Charles Le Brun's painting of 1673. Public domain

Second Tarain, 1192 · Muhammad of Ghor defeats Prithviraj Chauhan, opening the way to the Delhi Sultanate.

First Panipat, 1526 · Babur's guns and cavalry defeat Ibrahim Lodi and found the Mughal Empire.

Mughal miniature painting of cavalry and elephants clashing on a battlefield — The first battle of Panipat, 20 April 1526, in an illustrated manuscript of the Baburnama, the memoirs of Babur, painted in 1598. National Museum, New Delhi. Public domain

Haldighati, 1576 · Maharana Pratap of Mewar fights the Mughals in a mountain pass and becomes a symbol of defiance.

Plassey, 1757 · Robert Clive and the East India Company win Bengal, helped by treachery in the Nawab's army.

Eighteenth century plan of the Plassey battlefield beside a river with troop positions — A Plan of the Battle of Plassey, fought 23 June 1757 by Colonel Robert Clive against the Nawab of Bengal, published in The London Magazine around 1760. Public domain

Third Panipat, 1761 · the Durrani coalition crushes the Maratha Empire in one of the bloodiest battles of the century.

Buxar, 1764 · the Company defeats the Mughal emperor and two nawabs and wins the revenues of Bengal.

Assaye, 1803 · the future Duke of Wellington defeats a much larger Maratha army in the Deccan.

Saragarhi, 1897 · twenty-one Sikh soldiers hold a frontier post to the last man.

Kohima, 1944 · British and Indian troops stop Japan's invasion of India on the ridges of Nagaland.

Annotated black and white photograph of the Garrison Hill battlefield at Kohima — Garrison Hill at Kohima in 1944, the key to the British defences, photographed with the British and Japanese positions marked. Army Film and Photographic Unit. Public domain

Empires won and lost

Several of these battles mark the rise of new powers. Victory at Tarain in 1192 led to the Delhi Sultanate; at Panipat in 1526 Babur ended that sultanate and founded the Mughal Empire. In the eighteenth century the East India Company turned trade into rule through Plassey and Buxar, while the Maratha Empire, the greatest Indian power of its day, was shattered at the third battle of Panipat and later fought the Company at Assaye.

Courage remembered

Not every great battle is remembered for the empire it won. Haldighati made Maharana Pratap a lasting symbol of resistance, the twenty-one defenders of Saragarhi are honoured every year, and the defenders of Kohima, many of them Indian soldiers, turned back an invasion in 1944. For more of the world's decisive battles, see the greatest battles of all time.

The Greatest Battles in Indian History

At a glance

Ten battles that shaped India

Empires won and lost

Courage remembered

Frequently asked questions

Command the battles that shaped India