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Third Battle of Panipat

Third Battle of Panipat
The Third battle of Panipat 13 January 1761.jpg
The Third Battle of Panipat, 14 January 1761, Hafiz Rahmat Khan, standing right of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who is shown sitting on a brown horse.
Date 14 January 1761
Location Panipat
(in present-day Haryana, India)

29°23′N 76°58′E / 29.39°N 76.97°E / 29.39; 76.97
Result Decisive Afghan victory
Territorial
changes
Marathas lost suzerainty over Punjab till north of Sutlej river to the Afghans. Ahmad Shah Durrani vacates Delhi soon after the battle.
Belligerents

Durrani Empire

Maratha Empire
Commanders and leaders
Flag of Herat until 1842.svgAhmad Shah Durrani (Shah of Durrani Empire)
Flag of Herat until 1842.svg Timur Shah Durrani
Flag of Herat until 1842.svgWazir Wali Khan
Flag of Herat until 1842.svgShah Pasand Khan
Flag of Herat until 1842.svgJahan Khan
अवध ध्वज.gif Shuja-ud-Daula
Rampur flag.svg Najib-ud-Daula

Rampur flag.svgHafiz Rahmat Khan
Rampur flag.svgDundi Khan
Rampur flag.svgBanghas Khan
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgSadashivrao Bhau (commander-in-chief of Maratha Army)
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Vishwasrao
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Malharrao Holkar
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Mahadji Shinde
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Ibrahim Khan Gardi
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgJankoji Shinde
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgBhivrao Panse
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Bhoite
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgPurandare
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgVinchurkar (Infantry & Cavalry)
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svgSidoji Gharge
Strength
42,000 cavalry
38,000 infantry
10,000 reserves
4,000 personal guards
5,000 Qizilbash
120–130 pieces of cannon
large numbers of irregulars
totally an army of 100,000.
40,000 cavalry
15,000 infantry(divided to 9 battalyons of Gardi rifle infantry)
15,000 Pindaris
200 pieces of artillery. The force was accompanied by 300,000 non-combatants (pilgrims and camp-followers)
totally an army of 70,000.
Casualties and losses
Estimates between 20,000 and 40,000 combatants killed. Estimates between 30,000 and 40,000 combatants killed in the battle. Another 40,000-70,000 non-combatants massacred following the battle.

Durrani Empire

The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 at Panipat, about 60 miles (97 km) north of Delhi, between a northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Empire and invading forces of the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali, supported by two Indian allies—the Rohilla Afghans of the Doab, and Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh. Militarily, the battle pitted the French origin artillery and cavalry of the Marathas against the heavy cavalry and mounted artillery (zamburak and jizail) of the Afghans and Rohillas led by Ahmad Shah Abdali and Najib-ud-Daulah, both ethnic Afghans (the former is also known as Ahmad Shah Durrani). The battle is considered one of the largest and most eventful fought in the 18th century, and has perhaps the largest number of fatalities in a single day reported in a classic formation battle between two armies.

The specific site of the battle itself is disputed by historians, but most consider it to have occurred somewhere near modern-day Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road. The battle lasted for several days and involved over 125,000 troops. Protracted skirmishes occurred, with losses and gains on both sides. The forces led by Ahmad Shah Durrani came out victorious after destroying several Maratha flanks. The extent of the losses on both sides is heavily disputed by historians, but it is believed that between 60,000–70,000 were killed in fighting, while the numbers of injured and prisoners taken vary considerably. According to the single best eyewitness chronicle--the bakhar by Shuja-ud-Daulah's Diwan Kashi Raj--about 40,000 Maratha prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood the day after the battle. Grant Duff includes an interview of a survivor of these massacres in his History of the Marathas and generally corroborates this number. Shejwalkar, whose monograph Panipat 1761 is often regarded as the single best secondary source on the battle, says that "not less than 100,000 Marathas (soldiers and non-combatants) perished during and after the battle."


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Wikipedia

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