Akbar the great was the 16th century Mughal ruler of India who led his empire to never-before-seen heights in a land of countless cultures and religions his reign is almost universally revered today not just for its impressive military conquests but also its incredible administrative reforms that ushered in a new age of progressive multiculturalism which United India for the first time in over a millennia today we'll be reliving the rise of the Mughals and the reign of Akbar the Great this video was made possible by our patrons who requested today's fascinating topic the era we are looking at is the tail end of the medieval period in India for several centuries the subcontinent had seen a long succession of powers vying for control of the region increasingly this had included external forces the rise of Islam in the 7th century and the ensuing Muslim conquests for instance ratcheted up the intensity of northwestern raids which had long been a feature of Indian history invading Muslim forces managed to gain a foothold which was eventually expanded into the Delhi Sultanate in the 1200s and went on to control much of the subcontinent the mongols too would launch several invasions in the 13th and 14th centuries which managed to occupied the border regions but were ultimately rebuffed by the already entrenched Delhi Sultanate at the same time there would be many counter conquests led by the native Hindus with the dizzying amount of consolidation and fragmentation taking place across India this swirl of action made it a truly transformative period of cultural and religious mixing thus by the end of the 15th century when our story begins we see an India that is split up into a variety of regional powers to the far north are the remnants of the declining in Delhi Sultanate there flanked to the east by the separatist Sultanate of Bengal the tribal Hindu kingdoms of Gondwana and Orissa and the expanding multi-ethnic kingdom of a home to the west they are flanked by the rush put Hindu States and numerous dynasties in River Valley regions like the Sindh in the center of India are the five Deccan sultanates fragmentary remains of the BOK mana kingdom which had itself broken off from the Delhi Sultanate to their South lies the predominantly Hindu power of the Vijayanagara Empire which had coalesced to ward off invading Islamic armies and further south are the island inhabitants of Lanka and perched over all of this were the remnants of the Turco Mongol Empire of the Tim raids it is from this central asian group that the Mughals would arrive and in fact drive their name the Mughal Empire was founded by Babur as one of the many Tim Red princes vying for control of the vast territory he launched numerous campaigns from its holdings in modern news Baku Stan however after more than a decade of fighting baba proved unable to make much headway in the west and instead turned east in 1504 his forces seized Kabul in Afghanistan and later took the strategic region of Kandahar in 1522 from here he would launch five successive raids into Northwest India the last one in 1525 saw an elite army of over 10,000 descend on the delhi sultanate armed with a strong cavalry force and state-of-the-art artillery Babur would pick up additional allies and mercenaries on the way which raised his numbers to around 20,000 however they were countered by a massive army of the Lodi dynasty which is reported to have fielded over 50,000 men and 1,000 elephants the two would clash decisively at the Battle of Panipat in 1526 the engagement began with Bob are setting up fortifications to deal with the approaching enemy he anchored his right flank against the city of Pawnee pod while his left flank was protected by a trench the center was reinforced with the long barricade made from hundreds of carts and additional breastworks breaks in the line were created to allow the army to Sally out when necessary when Barber deployed his troops he sent forth light skirmishers to form a screen in front of a formidable entrenched gun line made of bowmen mash locks and cannons behind them with the core of the infantry and heavy cavalry ready to plug gaps in the front line or sally out in attack on both flanks were then deployed light cavalry and horse archers for harassment and envelopment duties on the opposite side of the battlefield Sultan Ibrahim Lodi deployed a front line of armored elephants with heavy cavalry flanks protecting a center of inferior but numerous foot troops when battle began the novelty of the gunfire terrified the elephants which panicked and made a mess of the approaching enemy infantry Barbara's screen fell back behind the defense's drawing the enemy in while his cavalry wings and mobile reserves swung around the sides to slam into the deli flanks these tactics devastated the enemy which dissolved into a rout losing their commander and nearly 15,000 men in the process the battle of Panipat was a turning point in the invasion in the aftermath baba went on to capture the major cities of Delhi and Agra overthrowing the Delhi Sultanate and founding the Mughal Empire however his position would not go unchallenged and over the following years many battles would be fought with local powers much of the violence took on a religious angle as the Muslim armies wrought particularly bloody carnage on the Hindu and Sikh communities they encountered ultimately however Babur would successfully defend the new empire yet he would not have much time to consolidate his holdings or enjoy the spoils of war as within five years the newly crowned Emperor died of illness in 1530 Babur would be succeeded by his two eldest sons Humayun who inherited the new Indian territories in the east and Mirza who inherited the older territories to the west the 22 year old who maroon faced the daunting task of pacifying and consolidating the freshly-minted realm his primary opposition in these matters came from Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat to the south and the former Mughal ruler Sher Shah Suri to the east who may own first made a push to drive back the forces of Bahadur which were now being equipped with gunpowder weaponry provided by the Portuguese the campaign proved successful at first until Humayun was forced to yield ground to counter an invasion coming in from Sher Shah this new threat proved far more dangerous as the eastern commander was a fierce warrior and clever general over several months the invasion woodcarver path through the Mughal Empire which was suffering from revolt and betrayal within the royal family bested at the Battle of Casa in the Battle of bill Grom the pressure grew so great that Humayun was forced to flee as a refugee towards Sindh in the southwest effectively turning his domains over to Sher Shah Suri while in exile humayan's pregnant wife would give birth to a son in 1542 his name Jalal Dean Mohammed Akbar as an emperor in exile Humayun had to engage in much travel and politicking to safeguard his current position and future prospects as a part of these arrangements the young heir would be sent to the stronghold of Kabul for safekeeping under the watchful eye of his extended family here akbar would spend his youth according to chroniclers he is reported to have been educated as a warrior which included the typical tropes of hunting running and fighting though these came at the expense of learning to read and write the youth had an inquisitive mind and would routinely have servants recite passages to him in the evenings at 14 akbar was made Viceroy of the Afghan province and married to his nine-year-old cousin in commemoration of this event emperor Humayun lavished on his son great wealth attendants and soldiers meanwhile back in India Sher Shah Suri had been hard at work expanding and reforming the conquered Mughal domains his achievements would be greatly influential to the region and lay the groundwork for much that was to come however these efforts would be cut short in 1545 when Sher Shah was killed unexpectedly by an explosion whilst conducting a siege this triggered a chaotic period of succession that ultimately resulted in the fracturing of the Suri Empire within a few years this moment of opportunity would be seized upon by human who led a swift reconquest of his throne that captured Delhi by 1555 however tranquillity once again proved fleeting within just a few months the Emperor too would be dead falling prey to illness and passing on the crown to the teenage Akbar for the time being the young region served mostly as a figurehead while his guardian bærum Khan ruled on his behalf the situation was precarious the death of Akbar's father had once again weekend the crown and opened the floodgates two armed contenders the cerise now swept back in recapturing lost land and pushing on delhi one of the greatest adversaries to rise out of this period would be hay Moo a gifted Hindu general who's reported to have won over twenty consecutive engagements his furious assault was on the verge of forcing the complete withdrawal of Mughal forces from the east to make matters worse the Mughals of the West in Kabul were facing their own invasion and proved unable or unwilling to offer help to meet this crisis Akbar and his guardian Byram Khan re marshaled the Mughal army in India they then led this force out striking at the most powerful of their enemies several encounters would follow with another huge clash at the Second Battle of Panipat here the fighting once again featured huge numbers of cavalry gunpowder units and armored elephants the enemy general hae mu even personally led his troops from atop his tank of a war elephant and launched into the thick of the fighting when Hema was injured however his army despaired thinking him dead and fell into a rout this great victory proved a turning point in Akbar's early campaign to consolidate his rule over the next six months the Mughals would win several more major battles against their opponents securing the important cities of Lahore Multan and ashmar by 1558 Akbar's position was stabilized but he had plans to do more than just that in a departure from his father and grandfather Akbar now ordered the relocation of much of his political infrastructure from Kabul to the east India would be his domain the young Emperor was now 18 and ready to take on the full mantle of his position as such he dismissed his guardian Bairam Khan following a court dispute and ordered him to go on a Hajj to Mecca the elder man took up arms in response but was ultimately defeated by Mughal army forgiven by Akbar and soon after assassinated by an unknown enemy following this brief court intrigue Akbar was now free to take the reins of the Empire he began by launching military campaigns into Malwa and northern Gondwana these conquests successfully expanded the borders of the realm and bra with them many spoils of war on the surface it proved the continued strength of the Mughal military with its powerful elephants heavy Calvary and gunpowder units however beneath the surface these campaigns revealed the fault lines within the Mughal nobility as powerful figures squabbled amongst one another four pieces of the spoils and even challenged the Emperor the infighting proved so pervasive that there was even an assassination attempt on Akbar ordered by a noble in his own court something had to be done to combat the fractious nature of this current system Akbar launched a series of reforms aimed at centralizing the administration of the Mughal Empire some of the major changes included restructuring the civil and military ranks under the non-hereditary months of dari system putting the Emperor in charge of all appointments and promotions paying officials directly from the Imperial Treasury or through land grants creating new financial positions to supervise revenue collection and reorganizing the network of news writers who reported important events to the Emperor while these efforts would take time to implement they successfully transformed the Mughal Empire into a more efficiently managed state at the same time the military was also undergoing its own transformation this was largely tied to the men some dari system we briefly mentioned in essence what it did was establish a clear hierarchical system of ranks for military officers each of which was in command of an increasing number of troops starting from 10 men to as high as 10,000 their responsibility was not just to lead but also to raise these forces in accordance to specific quotas paid for by their salary for instance one might be obligated to maintain 340 horses 100 elephants and 400 camels in addition to another 300 spare horses 100 mules and 160 carts thus the Mughal military enjoyed a high state of readiness and quality with armies being able to coalesce and mobilize quite quickly when needed Akbar would go on to use this apparatus to conduct further military campaigns the next major target was the land of the rush puts its clans and Kings had long eluded conquest due to their fierce reputation as warriors and their numerous strongholds however Akbar would succeed where others by a careful policy of warfare and diplomacy the end result is that the rash boots were allowed to retain control over their land in exchange for paying tribute supplying troops and acknowledging Akbar as their Emperor furthermore the doors of Mughal administration were open to the rush boots and many would fill its ranks in the years to come this policy of conciliatory conquests would lead to unprecedented levels of cooperation between non-muslim subjects and the Islamic Mughal government which was to become one of the great legacies of Akbar's reign in 1572 at the age of 30 Akbar launched new campaigns into Gujarat in the West followed shortly by invasions of Bengal in the East the Emperor and his armies were victorious in numerous battles and succeeded in conquering the regions within five years these efforts hugely expanded Mughal power as they took control of incredibly fertile regions with impressive industrial outputs and numerous seaports the previously landlocked Mughals now spanned the entire breadth of India with control of trade hubs that granted them access to the far-flung markets of the east and west this led to a huge commercial expansion which was further encouraged by Mughal policies meant to stimulate trade such as the levying of reduced custom duties the improvement of transportation infrastructure and the establishment of patrols and forts to safeguard trade routes for the next decade Akbar would preoccupy himself with settling domestic issues some of this involved military action aimed at crushing revolts or rebuffing incursions from its neighbours however much of it was aimed at uniting the far-flung lands of his religiously and culturally diverse Empire this was accomplished by adopting a policy of tolerance and reconciliation between groups for instance within the Muslim community he would curb shia-sunni conflict and ensured that his government remained neutral when it came to internal sectarian struggles when it came to non-muslims like the Hindus and Jains Akbar abolished the jizya tax and lifted decrees which had previously been used to elicit forced conversions all were also welcomed into his government which led to an incredible degree of bridge-building and cooperation between the faiths which many identify as having contributed to the foundations of modern India it's fascinating to also realized that many of these decisions stemmed from Akbar's own interest in philosophy and religion despite being illiterate himself the Emperor was a huge patron of learning who established many libraries and centers of Education he engaged deeply with the matters at hand organizing and often participating in lively discussions with theologians mystics and even atheists Akbar sought defined wisdom in all teachings and is said to have adopted a wide variety of customs and holidays from his subjects it's this sort of thinking that led him to actually reconcile the beliefs of many faiths through the creation of the syncretic religious movement called the divine faith while this may have opened him up to attack from some of the Orthodox Muslim subjects it went a long way in further promoting unity within the realm thus Akbar came to be seen as a great philosopher King however we should remember that he wore many crowns and still remained a warrior King as well this fact would become quite evident in the following decade and 1581 Akbar s realm would come under attack from his relative Mirza who is based out of Kabul in response the Emperor led an army to repel the invaders pushing them all the way back to Afghanistan and ultimately taking the region for many years additional campaigns were waged in these northern frontiers to conquer and pacify the area in the 1590s Mughal armies also gained control of Sindh and began to wrestle over territory with the Deccan Sultan's thus by 1600 the Mughal lands of Akbar had more than tripled since the time of his father surely the Emperor had yet more ambitious plans in the works however in 1605 he fell victim to illness and died within a month at the age of 49 he would leave behind an incredible legacy of conquest diplomacy and reform which justifiably earned him the title of Akbar the great in the short term his reign kicked off a new golden age and paved the way for further Mughal rule which would soon encompass almost the entire subcontinent and lasts over 200 years their stewardship and the precedent set by Akbar proved deeply impactful to the history of modern India with one of the most lasting contributions being the evolution of pluralism and tolerance in a deeply multicultural and multi-ethnic State I hope you've enjoyed this fascinating look into the rise of the Mughals and the reign of Akbar the great I learned so much in the preparation of this documentary and can't thank our patrons enough for suggesting the topic and funding its production definitely let me know what topics you would like to see us cover see you in the next one