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Babur

1483 CE – 1530 CE

Retrace Babur's life across the map — 17 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

Life journey

1. Battle of Qarabagh1469 CE
   The Battle of Qarabagh was fought on February 4, 1469, between Aq Qoyunlu under Uzun Hasan, and the Timurids of Samarkand under Abu Sa'id Mirza, resulting in the latter's defeat, imprisonment and execution. After the battle, the Timurids forever lost any hopes of gaining Iraq or Iran back into their kingdom.
2. Siege of Samarkand1494 CE
   The sieges of Samarkand (1494-1496) were two failed sieges of Samarkand during the chaotic years of civil war that preceded the fall of the Timurid Empire in 1501.
3. Siege of Samarkand1497 CE
   The siege of Samarkand (1497) was a successful siege by the two armies of Emir Babur of Fergana and Sultan Ali of Bukhara of the city of Samarkand. In May 1497, the city was captured after seven months of siege.
4. Battle of Sar-e-Pul1501 CE
   After the Uzbeks were driven out of Samarkand in early 1501 CE, they regrouped in Bukhara. Muhammad Shaybani began to prepare for another attempt to take Samarkand in April - May 1501 CE. Babur, the Timurid leader, decided to meet this threat before it arrived at the city. The two armies met at Sar-e-Pul, where a decisive battle was fought which decided the fate of the Timurids and of the region, resulting in gradual conquest of Transoxiana, Khwarezm and Khorasan by the Uzbeks.
5. Siege of Samarkand1501 CE
   The siege of Samarkand was the third and last campaign against the city between Mughal and Uzbeks. Four years after its recapture by the forces of Babur, he lost his kingdom and capital following a rebellion. In 1501, Babur and his army besieged the city again. However, his invasion attempt was beaten off by Shaybani, an Uzbek tribal chief whose conquests were known across Central Asia.
6. Battle of Akhsi1503 CE
   In the early 16th century, Sultan Mahmud Khan, the Chagatai khan of Western Moghulistan, and Sultan Ahmad Alaq Khan, the Chagatai khan of Eastern Moghulistan, decided to counter the growing power of the Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani. Sultan Ahmed Tambol had rebelled against his Timurid master Babur and declared his independence. But when Babur tried to reconquer his territory with the help of his uncles, Ahmed Tambol sought the assistance of the Uzbeks. The two Moghul brothers united their forces and launched a campaign against Tambol, but Muhammad Shaybani surprised the khans and proved victorious in battle of Akhsi and took them both prisoner.
7. Siege of Kabul1504 CE
   In 1504, Babur besieged Kabul and took the city from the Arghuns under Mukim Beg Arghun, to become the new ruler of Kabul and Ghazni regions. The territory gave him respite from his Uzbek troubles in Central Asia. It allowed him to build his nascent kingdom into a strong and formidable power in later years, enough to conquer northern India.
8. Campaign against Sultan Masudi Hazaras1505 CE
   The Campaign against Sultan Masudi Hazaras was a campaign of the Mughal Emperor, Babur in the early 16th century against Hazaras.
9. Battle of Qalat-i-Ghilzai1505 CE
   Babur had planned an expedition against Kandahar in 1506, which was governed by Shah Shuja better known as Shah Beg Arghun. Babur had marched towards Shniz where Wardak Afghans were residents. He had not decided yet whether or not to proceed against Kandahar when he held a war council in which his brother Jahangir Mirza II and Baqi Cheghaniani suggested instead of taking Qalati Ghilji. Qalati Ghilji was bestowed on Mukim Beg Arghun by his father Dhul-Nun Beg Arghun. Mukim's partisans, Farrukh Arghun and Kara Bilut, held it at this time on his part. On reaching Tazi, Sher Ali Chihreh and Kuchek Baqi Dewana, with some others, had formed the plan of deserting. Babur instantly had them seized, Sher Ali Chihreh was executed, having deprived the others of their arms and horses, he let them go.
10. Eastern Afghanistan Operations1507 CE
    Eastern Afghanistan Operations was when Uzbek Khan and Muhammad Shaybani surrounded Kandahar, Babur found his developing Kingdom of Kabul in danger. He feared that Kabul would be the next target of the Uzbeks.
11. Battle of Ab Darrah Pass1511 CE
    Battle of Ab Darrah Pass, or Battle of Pul-i Sangin, was the battle that took place in 1511 in the place called Ab Darrah between Uzbeks and Babur of Timurids. The battle ended with the decisive Timurid victory which enabled Babur to regain Transoxiana and briefly reunite the whole of the ancestral part of the Timurid Empire. Such a decisive and significant battle is not mentioned in Babur’s Memoirs (Baburnama), in which there is a break from the year 1508 to the beginning of 1519.
12. Battle of Ghazdewan1512 CE
    The Battle of Ghazdewan occurred near the city of Ghijduvan, what is now Uzbekistan in November 1512 AD between Safavid army, supported by the Mughal Empire, and the Uzbek army.
13. Bajaur massacre1519 CE
    The Bajaur massacre or Battle of Bajaur was a military conflict waged by Babur against the Gabari Swati tribe inhabiting the Bajaur region, on 6–7 January 1519. Babur, a Timurid ruler from Fergana who captured Kabul in 1504, launched this assault with the purpose of solidifying his authority in the Kabulistan. It took place in Bajaur, located in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. After capturing the Fort of Bajaur, Babur massacred at least 3,000 Bajauris, and set up a tower of their skulls, charging them of being "false to Islam."
14. Battle of Panipat1526 CE
    The First Battle of Panipat, on 21 April 1526 was fought between the invading forces of Babur against Ibrahim Khan Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, in North India. Babur's forces, employing gunpowder firearms and cannons, defeated Ibrahim. This was one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder arms on the Indian subcontinent. The victory marked the beginning of Mughal rule in India.
15. Battle of Khanwa1527 CE
    The Battle of Khanwa was fought at Khanwa in modern-day Rajasthan on 16 March 1527, between the Mughal Empire, led by Babur, and the Kingdom of Mewar, led by Rana Sanga for supremacy of Northern India. The battle ended in a Mughal victory and was a major event in medieval Indian history. The Kingdom of Mewar under the rule of Rana Sanga, had turned into one of the strongest powers in northern India. The battle was among the most decisive battles in the Mughal conquest of northern India. It was one of the first battles in Northern India where gunpowder was used. The battle resulted in heavy casualties for both Timurids and Rajputs.
16. Battle of Chanderi1528 CE
    The Battle of Chanderi or Siege of Chanderi took place in the aftermath of the Battle of Khanwa in which the Mughal Emperor Babur had defeated the Rajput Confederacy and firmly establish Mughal rule while crushing regrowing Rajput powers as the battle was fought for supremacy of Northern India between Rajputs and Mughals. On receiving news that Rana Sanga had renewed war preparations to renew the conflict with him, Babur decided to isolate the Rana by inflicting a military defeat on one of his vassals Medini Rai who was the ruler of Malwa. Consequently, in December 1527, taking a circumlocutious route Babur marched to the fortress of Chanderi in Malwa which was the capital of the kingdom of Malwa. Upon reaching Chanderi, on 20 January 1528, Babur offered Shamsabad to Medini Rai in exchange for Chanderi as a peace overture but the offer was rejected by Rai.
17. Battle of Ghaghra1529 CE
    The Battle of Ghaghra, fought in 1529, was a major battle for the conquest of India by the Mughal Empire. It followed the first Battle of Panipat in 1526 and the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. The forces of Mughal Emperor Babur of the emerging Mughal Empire were joined by Indian allies in battle against the Eastern Afghan Confederates under Sultan Mahmud Lodi and the Sultanate of Bengal under Sultan Nusrat Shah.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].