Date:
Class:
Lesson No: 4
Title: How the Mughals won their battles
Previous homework:
Resources needed:
1) Access to the website 2) Related worksheets (optional)
3) Extra resources and Mughal books. 4) Large paper and pens.
5) Horses v. Elephants summary sheets.
Lesson objectives / desired learning outcomes:
To understand war tactics and military organisation used by the Mughals
To appreciate the (ongoing) relevance of the development of technology in warfare
To appreciate the relevance of natural terrain / geographical / cultural factors in warfare
Introduction:

Have already considered some of the significant factors that led to the Mughals' unlikely
success in conquering India, - despite the ambitious nature of this advance (recap points)

Going to look at the place and organisation of their warfare in this equation.
Lesson outline:
Time: /
Activity
Intro:
Remind pupils that for the Mughals to succeed as they did - a small
principality invading a large one - depended partly on their tactics as
warriors.
Groups
20 mins
HOW THE MUGHALS WON THEIR BATTLES:
Split the class into groups of 5 (or 10, doubling up topic headings).
Hand out either large sheets of paper and / or worksheets that will pull
together findings.
Using the website; (warfare cabinet, coin cabinet, timelines, emperor
books and atlas), and other resources, allocate each group one facet of
Mughal warfare to research:





Daggers and swords (handheld weapons)
Guns and cannon
Archery
Horses / cavalry
Elephants
Focus the pupils' search into these areas, using the following prompts
and/or look at worksheet suggestions.
Lesson outline:
Time: /
Activity

SUMMARIZE how your group's particular function of warfare
worked / was used. Encourage (and provide facilities for) printing
off examples of key related objects from the site - this may mean
that summary sheets can act as more attractive display posters.

Pull out the particular STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES consider for example, such factors as training, costs, availability,
reliability, and limitations according to weather or terrain.

Cite an historic example of when your group's 'weapon' was used,
and explain how.

Add any extra information that may be of general interest - e.g.
religious significance, unusual practice - anything that doesn't fall
into the above categories.
15 mins
Pull class back together for whole-class feed back - OR, could provide
a centralised digital table for each group to input data into. This can
then be edited (if necessary) and printed off.
15 mins
Classroom Debate - Elephants verus Horses?
Group together the research groups into:
 Elephants + Guns and cannon
 Horses + Archery
 (the final group, daggers and swords can be used to level out
numbers accordingly)
Handout summary sheets (plus the research they have already gained)
to debate which war animal was best. The better they know their
subject (and their ability to cite historical examples) the more likely
they are to 'win' the debate.
Try and set up debate with a 'motion' and chairperson etc.
Conclusion:
HORSES: some facts to think on….

The ancestors of the Mughal rulers in India were nomads from central Asia. They
learnt to ride and use the bow and arrows in early childhood so were famous for their
skill on horseback.

The expertise of a mounted archer was therefore difficult to replace.

In the 16th century, expert archers on horseback were often more effective than
soldiers with guns. This was because they could manoeuvre with ease and draw
another arrow quicker than a gun could (at that stage) be recharged.

The Mughals managed to keep well rehearsed in their horse-riding and archery skills
even in times of peace, through their love of hunting.

It was very difficult for armies without the expertise of the mounted archer, to train
up in their own to the same level of expertise. It was a great, and long practiced skill
to be able to travel at high speeds and aim and shoot arrows accurately, at the same
time.

Those in Southern India were at another disadvantage. It was more difficult to breed
horses South of the River Ganges and the River Indus, because it was too hot. Those
horses from further north, places like Iran, Arabia , central Asia and the Himalayas,
were far superior.

In addition to this disadvantage, the Mughals had control of those areas in the north
which controlled and supplied war horses, places like Gujarat and Bengal. The south
therefore, had no access to the routes used by horse traders.
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HORSES: some disadvantages…

Great expertise and years of experience were required to ride horses to their greatest
advantage.

To lose a skilled horse-mounted archer was therefore, a particularly long-term loss.

Horses were expensive.
ELEPHANTS: some advantages…

The obvious advantages of elephants are their weight and size. Elephants were used
for heavy warfare - for demolishing the walls of strongholds in siege situations for
example.

With their great strength, elephants could carry cannon and other heavy artillery, and
then pull them into position. They could also be used to lift logs and planks to create
makeshift bridges across rivers, which could help soldiers escape from, or quickly
pursue enemy armies. Elephants were also used to carry people and equipment across
rivers - or even from a 'pathway' with their own bodies!

Elephants were used as the main animal in war when the Muslim Sultans ruled in
Delhi before the Mughals. Their effect in battle could be incredible. Invaders from
the north were not used to the enormous beasts and were terrified of them. Lines of
elephants would trample armies as they tried to flee in terror.

There are even accounts of elephants carrying swords in their trunks!

When Emperor Babur noticed that elephants were vulnerable to injury in battle and
that they could not survive without their trunks, he invented armour for them.
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ELEPHANTS: some disadvantages…

Cost a lot to buy

Cost a lot to upkeep - eat an enormous amount of food (think about the significance
of this if an army has been on a campaign away from home for a long time).

Can be easily startled and then can rampage against its own army.

A slow-moving target - easy to hit.