Military History of the Subcontinent: From Ghaznavids to Mughals

Abstract

This article surveys the evolution of warfare in the Indian subcontinent from the Ghaznavid incursions (11th century) through the consolidation of the Mughal Empire (16th–17th centuries). It traces how changing geostrategies, manpower systems, and technologies reshaped campaigns and state formation: from mounted shock tactics and elephant corps to gunpowder artillery, matchlock infantry, and bureaucratized revenue–military institutions. We analyze logistics across the Hindu Kush–Punjab corridor, the iqṭāʿ and later mansabdār systems of recruitment and pay, the rise of composite forces, and the interplay of fortification, siegecraft, and field maneuver. Case studies (Somnath, Tarain, Panipat, Rajput–Mughal wars, Eastern frontiers) illustrate how environment and technology conditioned victory. The paper argues that military adaptation—especially firearms, artillery trains, and standardized pay—interlocked with imperial administration to produce durable rule under the Mughals while also generating frontier pluralities that shaped post-Mughal polities.