Important Battles And Wars In India

Battle of Hydaspes 326 B.C.—Alexander the Great, defeated Porus, the Paurava king. Impressed by the valour of Porus, ultimately Alexander returned his kingdom to him.

Battle of Kalinga 261 B.C.—Ashoka defeated the king of Kalinga. Ashoka embraced Buddhism and preached it during the rest of his life after this war.

First Battle of Tarain or Thaneswar A.D. 1191  Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated Mohammed Ghori. Second Battle of Tarain A.D. 1192—Mohammed Ghori defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Ghori’s victory paved the way for the establishment of Muslim rule in India.

First Battle of Panipat 1526—Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi. This laid the foundation of the Mughal rule in India.

Battle of Khanwah 1527— Babar defeated Rana Sanga of Mewar. This battle resulted in the defeat of the powerful Rajput confederacy.

Second Battle of Panipat 1556—Bairam Khan (Akbar’s General) defeated Hemu (the Hindu General and right-hand man of Mohd. Adil Shah). It also ended the Afghan Rule and Mughal Rule began instead.

Battle of Talikota 1564- 65—United alliance between Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmednagar and Golkonda under Hussain Nizam Shah defeated Ram Raja of Vijayanagar. It destroyed the Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar.

Battle of Haldighati 1576—Akbar’s forces headed by Raja Man Singh defeated Rana Pratap, the brave Rajput king. Though defeated, Rana Pratap refused to accept Mughal authority and carried on warfare till his death.

Battle of Plassey 1757— The English under Lord Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah.It brought Muslim Rule in Bengal to an end and laid foundations of the British Rule in India.

Battle of Wandiwash 1760—The English defeated the French. The battle sealed the fate of the French in India and paved the way for English rule in India.

Third Battle of Panipat 1761—Ahmed Shah Abdali defeated Marathas. It gave a terrible blow to the Maratha power. It made the field clear for the English.

Battle of Buxar 1764— Fought in 1764 between the forces of the English and the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah (Nawab of Oudh) and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam. The English victory at Buxar finally riveted the shackles of the Company’s rule upon Bengal.

First Mysore War (1767- 68)—In 1768, Haider Ali was defeated by the English relinquishing all his rights over Mysore in favour of the English.

Second Mysore War 1780— A grand alliance between Haider Ali, the Nizam and the Marathas was formed and Haider Ali. He defeated the English and took possession of Arcot and became the undisputed master of the Carnatic.

Third Mysore War 1790- 92—Fought between the English and Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan had to submit and was compelled to sign the Treaty of Seringapattam stripped him of half his territory.

Fourth Mysore War 1799— The British forces under Arthur Wellesley defeated Tipu Sultan, which brought the end of the Tipu Sultan. Maratha War 1803-05—It weakened the Maratha power. The English annexed Tanjore, Surat and Carnatic.

Fourth Maratha War 1817- 18—The British forces defeated Marathas and this campaign finally extinguished the Maratha Empire.

Battle of Cheelianwala 1849—Forces of the East India Company under Lord Hugh Gough defeated the Sikhs under Sher Singh.

Burmese War 1885—As a result of this War, the whole of Burma was occupied by the English and made a part of India.

Afghan War III 1919—As a result of this War, Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed by which Afghanistan was recognised as an independent State.

lndo-Pak War 1965—This was Pakistan’s second attack on India. While India had the upper hand, the fighting was brought to a stop by a call for ceasefire issued by the Security Council. Later on, Tashkent accord was signed between the two nations. lndo-

Pak War Dec 1971— Pakistan started the war attacking India on Dec 3. India defeated Pakistan on all fronts. Pakistani occupation forces, numbering about one lakh, in East Bengal (Bangladesh) surrendered. Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation.