Warefare 17th century Indian battles

Most attacks were direct assaults, predominantly by infantry, armed with sword, spears, bow and arrows, mostly by day.

Limited mobility; the cavalry was the manoeuvring element and was the pride of any army. The elephants were primarily used as mobile elevated observation posts by Generals/Chiefs and crack marksmen. They were also used for gate crashing forts/castles.

The battle fields were known and based on the availability of water and were relatively on flat hard terrain.

Forts built on commanding heights had inherent defence potential. Ditches with water around the forts (moats) were the most common man made obstacles in use.

Use of cannons was not unknown; however, the killing zone of the cannons in use was 50 to 75 yards. They were used for the protection of gates of the fort and to lower the enemy moral.

Soldiers in battlefield, in order to help achieve the commander’s aim, relied primarily upon their personal valour and skill in the use of weapons. Tactics were little known and it was up to the individual to carry out the chiefs orders to his own ability.

The commander/chiefs had to be present and easily available to the troops on the battlefield, otherwise, more often than not, their armies retreated.

The element of surprise and deception was very primitive in both nature and concept.

Soldiers, throughout the span of the battle remained self sustained.

After the battle, it was common that the dead were left to perish and the wounded unattended.

After a victory the soldiers were free to loot, plunder, and indulge in arson and all other heinous crimes against the civilian population of the subjugated chief. Women were molested and taken as slaves, there were, in fact, no moral or ethical codes of soldiering

Infantry weapons in use were bow and arrows, cutlasses, daggers, two-edged dirks, muskets, flexible swords, pikes, lances, scimitars and spears.

Organised training was not given any importance by rulers or their Faujdhars who had standing armies. For a major battle, the armies from differing provinces were pooled and marched under one command, nominated by the king. The commander thus had no direct contact with his troops. In fact, he was invariably an unknown person for a majority of the troops.

Attackers stormed forts from all sides and besieged the defenders cutting then completely from the rest of the world. The defenders gave up and surrendered due to sheer starvation, thirst and exhaustion.