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Importance of Panipat/Karnal

Śakra

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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone? From Babur’s invasion of India, Hemu and Akbar’s war, to Nadir Shah’s invasion of India, they all haopened here. Why was this place so important in our itihaas?
 
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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone?
Simple. From a geographic point of view this is the entry zone into the damp, high population Ganga River Valley. The region to the west is dry, semi arid extention of the Indus Basin. If you passed this "gate" to the Ganga you had it by the udders.

And a 100 million half naked Indians waited to become slaves to be squeezed for wealth and treasure.
 
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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone? From Babur’s invasion of India, Hemu and Akbar’s war, to Nadir Shah’s invasion of India, they all haopened here. Why was this place so important in our itihaas?

Grab a map Sakra. This ones easy.
 
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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone? From Babur’s invasion of India, Hemu and Akbar’s war, to Nadir Shah’s invasion of India, they all haopened here. Why was this place so important in our itihaas?

the weather in the Indus valley is relatively cool and dry compared to rest of India. the invading armies handled it well. Once they hit the hot wet tropics they faced resistance from the natives.
 
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the weather in the Indus valley is relatively cool and dry compared to rest of India. the invading armies handled it well. Once they hit the hot wet tropics they faced resistance from the natives.

Tell that to the Khilijis, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Tughlaqs, Mughals, Kushans, British, Durranis, etc.
 
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Tell that to the Khilijis, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Tughlaqs, Mughals, Kushans, British, Durranis, etc.

The British came from the sea. They were smart to hire the natives to do the grunt work

to some degree the Khiljis, Mughals did the same. They set up camp in Delhi and hired the natives to do the grunt work.
 
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Here are few reasons:

1) Availability of huge plain land

2) Proximity to Khyber pass and Delhi

3) Historically these places have been flourishing since a long time. So this meant better resources, more development and thus better forces.

4) Traditionally you know that this place had already seen many wars, so people of the area were aware of the fighting skills.

5) Easier availability of food resources because of many rivers nearby.

6) Forces had enough resting place, to put on their huge number of tents, rest for animals. Remember the armies were very huge.

7) It was easier to get back up forces.

8) The area was more suited for the animal movement.

9) The attackers normal destination was Delhi, so this place was en route to Delhi and the person ruling in Delhi would like to stop such attacker outside Delhi only.

10) It was not possible to move the forces through deserts of Rajasthan or the other Northern area as that had dense forests and other such issues.

11) The temperature in other near by areas was more extreme than this area.

12) Other routes would have many tribals and that would have created further complexity which no war strategist would like.

13) Sur Empire had well established this road by 1550 and the second and third battle of panipat took place in 1556 and 1761. So for those battles the road must have been useful for the fighters.

14) People of Punjab were relatively richer in resources and thus that region was looted for resources. Punjab is close to these battle grounds.

15) This region had monsoon rainfall for the least number of weeks compared to other areas making it easier to fight. First battle in April 1526, second in november 1556, and third January 1761. You see at none of those times there was rainfall as it happens in rainy season.

16) Lastly the iron smiths of these areas were much more advanced than other regions making it easier for forces to replenish their war material. Iron smiths were more advanced because of the earlier use of iron here since a long time and the skill had transferred from generation to generation.

https://www.quora.com/Why-were-so-many-battles-fought-at-panipat
 
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Here are few reasons:

1) Availability of huge plain land

2) Proximity to Khyber pass and Delhi

3) Historically these places have been flourishing since a long time. So this meant better resources, more development and thus better forces.

4) Traditionally you know that this place had already seen many wars, so people of the area were aware of the fighting skills.

5) Easier availability of food resources because of many rivers nearby.

6) Forces had enough resting place, to put on their huge number of tents, rest for animals. Remember the armies were very huge.

7) It was easier to get back up forces.

8) The area was more suited for the animal movement.

9) The attackers normal destination was Delhi, so this place was en route to Delhi and the person ruling in Delhi would like to stop such attacker outside Delhi only.

10) It was not possible to move the forces through deserts of Rajasthan or the other Northern area as that had dense forests and other such issues.

11) The temperature in other near by areas was more extreme than this area.

12) Other routes would have many tribals and that would have created further complexity which no war strategist would like.

13) Sur Empire had well established this road by 1550 and the second and third battle of panipat took place in 1556 and 1761. So for those battles the road must have been useful for the fighters.

14) People of Punjab were relatively richer in resources and thus that region was looted for resources. Punjab is close to these battle grounds.

15) This region had monsoon rainfall for the least number of weeks compared to other areas making it easier to fight. First battle in April 1526, second in november 1556, and third January 1761. You see at none of those times there was rainfall as it happens in rainy season.

16) Lastly the iron smiths of these areas were much more advanced than other regions making it easier for forces to replenish their war material. Iron smiths were more advanced because of the earlier use of iron here since a long time and the skill had transferred from generation to generation.

https://www.quora.com/Why-were-so-many-battles-fought-at-panipat

Perfect, this is the exact sort of answer I was looking for, a thorough breakdown of why. Thanks so much!
 
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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone? From Babur’s invasion of India, Hemu and Akbar’s war, to Nadir Shah’s invasion of India, they all haopened here. Why was this place so important in our itihaas?
I will let you know next week.
 
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Why were so many of India’s most important battles fought in this 30 mile zone? From Babur’s invasion of India, Hemu and Akbar’s war, to Nadir Shah’s invasion of India, they all haopened here. Why was this place so important in our itihaas?

Three words - Location, Location,Location

Here are excerpts from a book written about a Century ago , this gives a brief history which would establish the relevance of Karnal .
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No District of India can boast of a more ancient history than Karnal, as almost every town or stream is connected with the sacred legends of the Mahabharata. The city of Karnal itself,from which the modern District has taken its name, is said by tradition to owe its foundation to Raja Kama ( Karna ?), the mythical champion of the Kauravas in the great war which forms the theme of the national epic, while the greater part of the northern uplands are included in the

Kurukshetra or battle-field of the opposing armies of the Kauravas and Pandavas. From the same authority we learn that Panipat, in the south of the District, was one of the pledges demanded from Duryodhan by Yudisthira as the price of peace in that famous conflict.

In historical times, the plains of Panipat have three times been the theatre of battles which decided the fate of Upper India. It was here that Ibrahim Lodi and his vast host were defeated in 1526 by the veteran army of Babar, when the Mughal dynasty first made good its pretensions to the Empire of Delhi.

Thirty years later, in 1556, the greatest of that line, Akbar, re-asserted the claims of his family on the same battle-field against the Hindu general of the house of Sher Shah, which had driven the heirs of Babar from the throne for a brief interval. Finally, under the walls of Panipat, on the 7th of January 1761, was fought the battle which shattered the Maratha confederation, and raised Ahmad Shah Durani for a while to the position of arbiter of the entire empire.

It was at Karnal town that the Persian Nadir Shah defeated the feeble Mughal Emperor, Muhammad Shah, in 1759. During the troublous period which ensued, the Sikhs managed to introduce themselves into the country about Karnal; and in 1767, one of their chieftains,

Desu Singh, appropriated the fort of Kaithal, which had been built during the reign of Akbar. His descendants, the Bhais of Kaithal,were reckoned amongst the most important cis-Sutlej princes. The country immediately surrounding the town of Karnal was occupied about the same date by the Raja of Jind ; but in 1795 was captured by the ubiquitous Marathas, and bestowed by them upon George Thomas, the military adventurer of Hariana. He was, however, almost immediately dispossessed by the Sikh Raja, Gurdit Singh of Lddwa, who held it till 1805, when it was captured by an English force, and confiscated as a punishment for the Raja having actively opposed the British after the battle of Delhi in September 1803.

Karnal was included in the Conquered Provinces which we obtained from the Marathas by the treaties of Sarji-Anjangaon and Poona(1803-44).

In pursuance of the policy of Lord Cornwallis, Kaithal, and the numerous petty States which bordered Karnal on the north-west, remained in the hands of their Sikh possessors, while the remainder of the District was parcelled out among those who had rendered us service. Of these

latter, the Pathan Nawab of Kunjpura, and a Hindu family who still enjoy the revenue of the town and pargand of Karnal, alone retain their grants, all the others having lapsed on the death of the holders.

Under Sikh rule, the sole object of the local governments appears to have been the collection of the largest possible revenue. Every rupee that could be extracted from the native cultivators was pressed into the fiscal bag of their Sikh over-lords, while cattle-lifting and open violence went unpunished on every side. Sir H. Lawrence, who effected the land settlement of Kaithal after the British occupation in 1843, described the Sikh system as one of ' sparing the strong and squeezing the weak.'

Much of the District had formed a sort of No-Man's land between the Sikhs and the Marathas, and when we took it in 1803, ' more than four-fifths was overrun by forests, and the inhabitants either removed or were exterminated.

In 1819, the Delhi territory was parcelled out into Districts, one of which had its head-quarters at Panipat. The northern portion of the present District, held by the Sikh princes, lapsed from time to time into the hands of the British.

Kaithal fell to us on the death of Desu Singh's last representative, in 1843. The disorder of the Sikh Government was immediately suppressed by prompt measures ; two large cattle-lifting raids weremade within a week of the British occupation, and the timely severity with which the culprits were apprehended and punished taught the predatory classes what treatment they might expect from the hands of their new masters.

The petty State of Thanesar lapsed in 1850, and its capital was made for a time the head-quarters of a separate District, in which Kaithal was included ; but after the Mutiny of 1857, when the Delhi territory was transferred to the Punjab, Thanesar District was broken up, and its pargands redistributed in 1862 between Karnal and Ambala (Umballa). The course of events during late years has been marked by few incidents, and nothing more than local marauding occurred during the troubles of 1857. The towns are not generally in a flourishing condition, and the opening of the railway on the opposite bank of the Jumna has somewhat prejudicially affected the trade of Karnal. But although the District cannot compare with its wealthy neighbours in the Doab, it still possesses great agricultural resources and considerable commerce.
 
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