Battle of Karnal

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Battle of Karnal

Date	February 24, 1739
Location	Karnal, India
Result	Decisive Afsharid victory.

Belligerents

Commanders

Strength

55,000

15,000, plus a large number of noncombatants

Casualties and losses

Light^{[citation needed]}

20,000+ killed or wounded^{[citation needed]}

The Battle of Karnal (February 24, 1739), was a decisive victory for Nader Shah the emperor of Persia during his invasion of India. Shah's forces defeated the army of Muhammad Shah, the Mughal emperor, paving the way for the sack of Delhi by the Persians.

The battle took place at Karnal, 110 km (70 miles) north of Delhi, India. Muhammad and his army were defeated soundly. Nadir's army consisted of about 55,000 troops, and Muhammad's army is said to have numbered approximately 15,000. Muhammad was also accompanied by a large number of noncombatants, and thus heavily outnumbered the army of Nadir Shah in numbers. It is said that Indians were using war elephants in battle which had long blades on their trunk and were taught to wave them at enemy.

When Nadir Shah was told about this he ordered some camels to be put in front of the Iranian Army with pots full of oil on them. When the battle started he ordered to the pots to be lit aflame, and after some period of time the heat annoyed the camels who began baying and sprinting towards the enemy, which frightened the war elephants whom turned around and charged back at their own army killing many while running away. The camels themselves when brought down lit up the ground and burned many Indian troops as well further depleting the already crippled Mughal army^{[citation needed]}.

Within three hours, clearly outmanoeuvred by the Iranians the great Mughal forces had suffered heavy losses and over 20,000 people (including combatants and noncombatants) had been killed or wounded but the Persian army lost very few combatants. The rest of the Mughal Indian army was scattered. Muhammad Shah was captured and taken hostage. On 11 March Nadir Shah entered with him into Delhi, two weeks after the battle, and massacred its inhabitants seizing amongst other treasures the famous Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan and the Koh-i-noor diamond^[1].