Army of the Mughal Empire

The army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the <a href="/facts/Mughal_emperors/WJnl1jIP">Mughal emperors</a> established <a href="/facts/Mughal_Empire/yRg2kAy5">their empire</a> in the 16th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, were in the cavalry-based armies of central Asia, its essential form and structure was established by the empire's third emperor, <a href="/facts/Akbar/e92T534P">Akbar</a>. The regular forces were mainly recruited and fielded by <a href="/facts/Mansabdar/oolj0mmM">Mansabdar</a> officers.
During the 17th century, the Mughal empire possessed the largest military on earth, with its strength numbering 911,400-4,039,097 infantry and 342,696 cavalry. Alternatively, according to the census by <a href="/facts/Abul_Fazl/xMaMYpyo">Abul Fazl</a>, the size of the army was roughly about 4.4 million, with less than half a million trained as cavalry;: 89–90  and modern India historians suggest there were 26 million personnel.
The Mughals were considered a dominant military force in India, employing their superior engineering to military affairs and logistic mastery. Historians have compared the Mughal army with <a href="/facts/Roman_army/f6IYbVcR">that of the Roman Empire</a> or the <a href="/facts/United_States_Armed_Forces/NHVsU9Id">United States Armed Forces</a> in terms of their brute force,: 276 : 158  while in logistical superiority alone, the Mughals were comparable with the <a href="/facts/British_Army_during_the_Victorian_Era/9HfC2YDS">British Army during the Victorian Era</a>. Historian Stephen Morillo also noted that Western scholarship generally overlooked the destructive scale of Asian empires such as the Mughals in their military operations, not unlike the Roman Empire.
British historian <a href="/facts/Jeremy_Black_(historian)/tbxRxBAY">Jeremy Black</a> viewed that the Mughal army's struggles until their decline in the wake of <a href="/facts/Nader_Shah%27s_invasion_of_India/DTy7r9D9">Nader Shah's invasion of India</a> reflected the Asiatic military development in the 17th century. Black's evaluation contrasted other modern military historians who opined that the Asian empires' military during the 17th century was influenced by the <a href="/facts/Military_Revolution/d0LyDYN4">Military Revolution</a> in Europe.
Other experts such as <a href="/facts/Irfan_Habib/xhk75LsN">Irfan Habib</a> and Farhat Hasan noted that Mughal cavalry was practically unmatched in military organization in South Asian conflicts. The superiority of their heavy cavalry discipline and shock <a href="/facts/Charge_(warfare)/lGQNUIre">charge</a> were a staple of Mughal cavalry. By the period of 16th-17th century, the horses for Mughal empire were imported mostly from the countries of Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Central Asia.
Due to their military patronage of gunpowder warfare, <a href="/facts/Marshall_Hodgson/zrwKUPxP">Marshall Hodgson</a> and his colleague <a href="/facts/William_H._McNeill_(historian)/BrC2fwRE">William H. McNeill</a> considered the Mughals as one of the <a href="/facts/Gunpowder_empires/CfxvRd0h">gunpowder empires</a>. The Mughal army employed <a href="/facts/Cannons/IH7VkIpm">heavy cannons</a>, light artillery, <a href="/facts/Grenade/Du3rHfGB">grenades</a>, <a href="/facts/Rocket_(weapon)/yTtyeLsj">rockets</a>,: 133  and heavy <a href="/facts/Mortar_(weapon)/2vs8xEBx">mortar</a> among other weapons. Heavy cannons were very expensive and heavy for transportation, and had to be dragged by elephants and oxen into the battlefield.
The Mughal naval forces were named the Amla-e-Nawara. In <a href="/facts/Dhaka/8IYAkBh9">Dhaka</a> alone, the Mughal naval fleet contained 768 ships with 933 foreigner crews of Portuguese origin and 8,112 artillery personnel in the eastern part. They maintained fleets of warships and transport ships.

Army of the Mughal Empire open-in-new

Army of the Mughal Empire