| Battle of Sialkot | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Indian Campaign of Ahmad Shah Durrani | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sukerchakia Misl |  Durrani Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,000 [5] | 12,000 [6] | ||||||
The Battle of Sialkot was fought between Durrani Empire and Sukerchakia Misl of Dal Khalsa in 1761.
Ahmad Shah Durrani raided India and defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat like he defeated them at Bararighat and Sikandrabad earlier in 1760. He gave a crushing blow to the Marathas which forced the Marathas to retreat back south to the Deccan and he also appointed Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II as the Emperor of India. Thereafter, he turned towards the Sikhs to defeat them and finish them once and for all because the Sikh insurgents kept harassing his forces in the Punjab region. So he sent his son Timur Shah Durrani along with 12,000 Afghan soldiers to chastise the Sikhs for attacking them near the river Chenab. [7]
Timur Shah Durrani advanced with his troops to punish the Sikhs but he was repulsed in the battle fought at Chenab River. Following repulsion, Timur Shah Durrani withdrew under siege to Sialkot, northeast of Punjab capital of Lahore. He was further attacked by the Sikhs at Sialkot. The attack was so ferocious that Timur Shah Durrani lost most of his men in the attack. But he, along with his remaining army, continued to battle the Sikhs. The Sikhs were very effective in the battle as they were using guerilla warfare hit-and-run tactics on the Afghan army. Soon, the Sikhs surrounded Sialkot and started a blockade from supplies coming from Kabul to Sialkot. The blockade was very effective as it started to starve the Afghan army who were running low on food. The food shortage made the Durranis desperate to escape from Sialkot. Soon, Timur Shah Durrani found an opening and led his army out of Sialkot. His tired and weary army was starved into surrendering and they quickly withdrew. However the Sikhs did not chase them. Instead, they captured Sialkot. The Afghans along with Timur Shah Durrani had run off to Kabul therefore the battle was a clear victory for the Sikhs.
After defeat at Sialkot, the Afghans were defeated by the Sikhs at the Battle of Gujranwala (1761) in the same year.
The Durrani Empire or the Afghan Empire, also known as the Sadozai Kingdom, was an Afghan empire that was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, that spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and the Indian Subcontinent. At its peak, it ruled over the present-day Afghanistan, much of Pakistan, parts of northeastern and southeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India. Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani Empire is considered to be among the most significant Islamic Empires of the 18th century.
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Confederacy and the invading army of the Durrani Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately 97 kilometres (60 mi) north of Delhi. The Afghans were supported by three key allies in India: Najib ad-Dawlah who persuaded the support of the Rohilla chiefs, elements of the declining Mughal Empire, and most prized the Oudh State under Shuja-ud-Daula. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who was third-highest authority of the Maratha Confederacy after the Chhatrapati and the Peshwa. The bulk of the Maratha army was stationed in the Deccan Plateau with the Peshwa.
Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali, was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. An ethnic Pashtun of the Sadozai clan, Zaman Shah became the third King of the Durrani Empire.
The Sukerchakia Misl was one of twelve Sikh misls in Punjab during the 18th century, concentrated in Gujranwala and Hafizabad districts in western Punjab and ruled from (1752–1801). The misl was founded by Charat Singh of Sandhawalia, grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The last Sukerchakia Misldar was Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh united all the misls and established an independent Sikh Empire.
Raghunathrao Bhat, also known as Ragho Ballal or Ragho Bharari, was the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He was known among the Hindus for his extremely successful Delhi and North-western campaign in 1757–59 and for his works to liberate the Hindu holy places of Kashi and Ayodhya.
The Durrani dynasty was founded in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani at Kandahar, Afghanistan. He united the different Pashtun tribes and created the Durrani Empire. which at its peak included the modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, as well as some parts of northeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India including the Kashmir Valley.
Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801. He founded the Kapurthala State in 1772.
Sardar Charat Singh, also romanised as Charhat Singh, was the founder of Sukerchakia Misl and father of Mahan Singh, and the grandfather of Ranjit Singh. He distinguished himself at an early age in campaigns against Ahmad Shah Abdali and along with 150 horsemen split from the Singhpuria Misl to establish the Sukerchakia Misl.
The Afghan–Sikh wars spanned from 1748 to 1837 in the Indian subcontinent, and saw multiple phases of fighting between the Durrani Empire and the Sikh Empire, mainly in and around Punjab region. The conflict's origins stemmed from the days of the Dal Khalsa, and continued after the Emirate of Kabul succeeded the Durrani Empire.
The Capture of Peshawar took place in the spring of 1758 when the Sikh Confederacy and the Maratha Empire defeated the Afghan forces led by Timur Shah Durrani. The Marathas and Sikhs were victorious and Peshawar was annexed into the Maratha Empire. Before that, the fort of Peshawar was being guarded by Afghan troops under Timur Shah Durrani and Jahan Khan. When Raghunathrao and Malhar Rao Holkar left for the Deccan, Tukoji Rao Holkar was given the charge of Peshawar with 10,000 Maratha troops.
The Afghan-Maratha War was fought between the Afghan Empire under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Maratha Empire and the Sikh Confederacy between 1758 and 1761. It took place in north-west India, primarily the region around Delhi and Punjab.
The Battle of Kup was fought on 5 February 1762, between the Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Sikhs, under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Charat Singh. Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Afghan forces reached Malerkotla, west of Sirhind. Different sources give various estimates on how many sikhs were present. According to Tom Landsford, nearly 30,000 Sikh men, women, children, and elderly laid encamped. According to Narendra Sinha, 40,000 Sikhs were present. According to Hari Ram Gupta, 50,000 Sikh soldiers laid encamped at Kup while 5,000 non combatants laid encamped at Pind Garma. Abdali's forces outnumbered the Sikhs in hand-to-hand combat and the Sikhs couldn't use their usual tactics of hit and run, but had to engage in battle while protecting the civilians at the same time. With surprise attack, the Sikhs threw a human ring around civilians as protection and fought the battle killing several thousand Afghans. Abdali was able to break the ring and carried out a full scale massacre of the Sikh civilians. Ahmad Shah's forces killed several thousand Sikhs, and the surviving Sikhs fled to Barnala. According to various different estimates, as many as 5,000 to 30,000 Sikh men, women, elderly and children were killed in what is known as the second Sikh genocide.
The Battle of Gujranwala was fought between the Durrani Empire and the Sikh Confederacy in September 1761.
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire, invaded Indian subcontinent for eight times between 1748 and 1767, following the collapse of Mughal Empire in the mid-18th century. His objectives were met through the raids and deepened the political crisis in India.
The Battle of Manupur was fought between the Mughal Empire and the Durrani Empire in March 1748 near Sirhind which ended in victory for the Indian coalition.
The siege of Lahore took place in 1761 when the Sikhs besieged Lahore and captured it after facing no opposition from Durrani forces.
The Battle of Amritsar, also known as the Battle of Gohalwar, was fought between the Durrani Empire and Shaheedan Misl of the Dal Khalsa on 11 November 1757. Following the fourth invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani, his army was attacked by Sikh bands under the command of Ala Singh and Baba Deep Singh. Following the attacks, Ahmad Shah desecrated the Sikh holy site known as the Shri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. The news of the desecration reached Baba Deep Singh who vowed to liberate the holy site from the Afghans. This resulted in a pitched battle being fought in the village of Gohalwar, near Amritsar. The battle resulted in Baba Deep Singh being killed and an Afghan victory.
The Battle of Mahilpur was fought between the Sikh Misls and Adina Beg Khan against the Durrani Empire in December 1757.Following the 4th invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani, he would appoint Timur Shah as the viceroy of Punjab with Jahan Khan as his deputy.The Afghans would appoint Adina Beg Khan as the faujdar of the Jalandhar Doaba and exempted him from attending court at lahore, on the condition that Adina Beg pay revenue to the Afghan government.Soon a dispute regarding the payment of revenue occurred between Adina Beg and the Afghans.This dispute soon escalated which resulted in Jahan Khan sending an Afghan force to arrest Adina Beg.Adina Beg formed a military alliance with the Sikhs under the command of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Vadbhag Singh Sodhi.Adina Beg also gained the support of Sadiq Beg Khan, Khwaja Mirza Khan, and Raja Bhup Singh.Adina Beg along with the Sikh forces fought the Afghans at Mahilpur.The battle resulted in a victory for Adina Beg and the Sikhs and resulted in the entire Jalandhar Doaba being occupied and sacked by the Sikh forces.
The Battle of Attock was fought on September 1787 between the Sikh Army and Afghan forces led by Bakshi Madad Khan as part of the Afghan–Sikh Wars.
The Battle of Sialkot was fought in January 1789 by the Sikh forces led by Natha Singh and Afghan forces led by Timur Shah Durrani.
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