Historical Turning Points during Empire and Struggles

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Battles, annexations, and reform waves from the Khalsa ascendancy until 1849 CE.

Showing 1–18 of 18 articles

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  1708–1716 Banda Singh Bahadur Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Following the passing of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708 CE, the Sikh community entered a turbulent yet highly resilient phase. Under the military campaign of Banda Singh Bahadur (1708–1716 CE), Sikhs waged aggressive guerril…
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  1710 Battle of Chappar Chiri Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Banda Singh Bahadur led the Khalsa army to a decisive victory against the Mughal Governor Wazir Khan. This victory led to the capture of Sirhind and established the first sovereign Sikh state, which minted coins in the …
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  1715–1716 Siege of Gurdas Nangal & Martyrdom Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle After an eight-month-long Mughal siege, Banda Singh Bahadur was captured and brought to Delhi. He, alongside hundreds of his soldiers, refused to convert to Islam and was brutally tortured and executed in June 1716
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  May 1746 Chhota Ghallughara / The Lesser Holocaust Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Mughal forces under Lakhpat Rai ambushed and massacred an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Sikhs in the dense marshes of Kahnuwan.
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  1748 Formation of the Dal Khalsa Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Under Nawab Kapur Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the fragmented warrior bands merged into a unified standing army. This military coalition paved the way for the 12 Sovereign Misls (confederacies).
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  February 1762 Vadda Ghallughara / The Great Holocaust Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali caught the moving caravan of the Dal Khalsa near Malerkotla. Between 20,000 and 35,000 Sikh men, women, and children were slaughtered in a single day.
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  1762 Battle of Pippli Sahib & Rebuilding Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Despite the massacre, the Dal Khalsa retaliated months later, defeating Abdali’s forces, liberating Amritsar, and rebuilding the defiled Harimandir Sahib.
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  1783 The Capture of Delhi Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Misl forces led by Sardar Baghel Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia marched into Mughal Delhi, capturing the Red Fort. They negotiated a treaty allowing the construction of seven historical Gurudwaras across the capital.
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  1799 Maharaja Ranjit Singh captures Lahore Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia Misl captured Lahore from the Bhangi Misl. This event unified the fractured Misls / confederacies and marked the formal establishment of the sovereign Sikh Empire (Sarkar-i-Khals…
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  1809 Treaty of Amritsar Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle To avoid an immediate conflict with Western forces, Maharaja Ranjit Singh signed a defensive treaty with the British East India Company, establishing the Sutlej River as the permanent border between their empires.
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  1813 Battle of Attock Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle The Khalsa Army secured its first major victory over the Durrani Empire on the banks of the Indus River, capturing the strategic Attock Fort.
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  1818–1819 Annexations of Multan & Kashmir Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Under the tactical command of Diwan Mohkam Chand and Hari Singh Nalwa, the empire annexed the wealthy trade hubs of Multan (1818) and Kashmir (1819).
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  1834 Conquest of Peshawar Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle General Hari Singh Nalwa annexed Peshawar, the gateway to the Khyber Pass. This victory pushed the borders of India to the Afghan frontier and permanently halted centuries of West-Asian invasions into the subcontinent.
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  1837 Battle of Jamrud Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle In a fierce defensive stand against Afghan forces, the legendary general Hari Singh Nalwa was martyred while successfully holding the fort.
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  1845–1846 First Anglo-Sikh War Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Following the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839, political instability fractured the Lahore Court. Due to the betrayal and treachery of commanders Lal Singh and Tej Singh, the Khalsa Army lost a series of bloody ba…
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  March 1846 Treaty of Lahore Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle The defeated empire was forced to cede the fertile Jalandhar Doab and Jammu & Kashmir to the British. A British Resident was installed to control the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh.
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  1848–1849 Second Anglo-Sikh War Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle Triggered by widespread anti-British rebellions in Multan and Hazara, the Khalsa army fought with great ferocity, inflicting catastrophic casualties on the British at the Battle of Chillianwala. However, the Sikhs suffe…
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  29 March 1849 Annexation of Punjab Historical Turning Points Empire & Struggle 29 March 1849, Governor-General Lord Dalhousie formally annexed the Punjab into the British Empire. The eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was deposed, the sovereign line of the Khalsa Empire ended, and the legendary…