Babur Defeats the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat

On April 21, 1526, Babur, a Timurid prince from Fergana in Central Asia, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi's vastly larger army at Panipat north of Delhi. Commanding roughly 12,000 troops against an estimated 100,000, Babur employed gunpowder field artillery and prepared fortifications — tactics never before encountered on the Indian subcontinent. The victory founded the Mughal Empire, which would rule most of South Asia for over three centuries, shaping its architecture, administration, cuisine, and linguistic landscape. Babur documented the campaign in the Baburnama, one of the most detailed military memoirs of the pre-modern world.