A thread on why the Mughal invasion of the Deccan that began in full force in 1681-1707 took a quarter century and still failed. 🧵 In 1677, Mughals captured Kalaburagi, which was midway between the 2 Deccan sultanate capitals- Vijayapura and Golconda. Neither had any defensible line of forts left.

In contrast, the Maratha capital Satara was behind multiple chains of forts

Dalrymple's Anarchy has so many false claims I don't know if anyone involved in publishing even did a google search for most of the claims.

The real anarchy is the extent of factual accuracy in the book. Few examples

Haider was never sultan. His position was Dalvai or army chief. Tipu was the first and last sultan.

Regardless, Shivaji is described as "war leader" despite a coronation as king.

Pic 1: Jadunath Sarkar's book "Military History of India" describing the battle of Balapur, where the Nizam defeated an army from Delhi w. a Maratha contingent. Claims the Maratha troops avoided battle and looted the camp.

Pic2: Actual letter from the Nizam describing the battle- left wing was Marathas, which made a flank attack on his right but repulsed. Camp/baggage was untouched.

Sarkar regularly mixes his own imagination with known facts, and if the result is completely different, he doesnt care.

Not the only instance, there are dozens of battles, army counts, state revenues, are completely different from what he has claimed.


to make it worse, Sarkar gives it a racist and technological angle, lol. Claims Central Asian bows and modernized artillery played a role.

In the Nizam's letter above, artillery is mentioned as barely used, let alone being decisive.

Most states in the Indian subcontinent ended the same way they began.

Mauryas: Rebellion against Nandas engineered by Chanakya. Ended by their minister, Pushyamitra Shunga rebelling.

Shungas: Came to power with coup, ended by a coup by their ministers, Kanvas.

1 Delhi sultanate: turkic soldiers from central asia defeat the ruler of delhi to found it. Ended by another turkic state (Babur) from NW who took Delhi, ending it.

Bahamanis: Broke away from Delhi. Ended by provincial governors breaking away.

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On 16 March 1527 was a very interesting battle in Indian history. Battle of Khanwa (Rajasthan), between Rana Sanga and Babur.
Babur won but it was quite close. Short 🧵 on the campaign and battle- In April 1526, Babur won at the 1st battle of Panipat, defeating Ibrahim Lodi and capturing Delhi and then Agra.

While these armies fought, Rana Sanga was intervening in the Gujarat sultanate in a civil war. By the time it ended, Babur had taken Delhi.

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