Maharana Kumbha

Rana Kumbha or Kumbhakarna Singh, died 1468 AD) was the ruler of Mewar, a state in western India, between 1433 and 1468 AD, and belonging to the Sisodia clan of Rajputs. Kumbha was a son of Rana Mokal of Mewar by his wife Sobhagya Devi, a daughter of Jaitmal Sankhla, the Parmara fief-holder of Runkot in the state of Marwar.

Rana Kumbha was the vanguard of the fifteenth century Hindu resurgence in northwestern India. A very tall and powerful man, he held the Mewar flag flying high in an age when several Indian kings like Kapilendradeva of east India, Deva Raya II of south India and Man Singh Tomar of central India defeated the Turkic invaders in different parts of India and expanded their kingdoms. Mewar was one of the major states ruled by an Indian ruler and owing sovereignty to no one but the Lord Eklingaji (Shiva).

The ruler of Nagaur, Firuz (Firoz) Khan died around 1453-1454. This set into motion a series of events which tested Kumbha's mettle as a warrior. Shams Khan (the son of Firuz Khan) initially sought the help of Rana Kumbha against his uncle Mujahid Khan, who had occupied the throne. After becoming the ruler, Shams Khan, refused to weaken his defenses, and sought the help of Qutbuddin, the Sultan of Gujarat (Ahmad Shah died in 1442). Angered by this, Kumbha captured Nagaur in 1456, and also Kasili, Khandela and Sakambhari.

In reaction to this, Qutbuddin captured Sirohi and attacked Kumbhalmer. Mahmud Khilji and Qutbuddin then reached an agreement (treaty of Champaner) to attack Mewar and divide the spoils. Qutbuddin captured Abu, was unable to capture Kumbhalmer, and his advance towards Chittor was also blocked.

Mahmud Khilji captured Ajmer and in December 1456, conquered Mandalgarh. Taking advantage of Kumbha's preoccupation, Rao Jodha (the son of Ranmal Rathore) captured Mandore. It is a tribute to Rana Kumbha's skills that he was able to defend his kingdom against this multi-directional attack. The death of Qutbuddin in 1458 and hostilities between Mahmud Begara (the new ruler of Gujarat) and Mahmud Khilji allowed Rana Kumbha to recapture his lost territories.

Rana Kumbha successfully defended Mewar and expanded his territory at a time when he was surrounded by enemies like Mahmud Khilji of Malwa, Qutbuddin of Gujarat,and Shams Khan of Nagaur and Rao Jodha of Marwar.

Uday Singh did not live long and was killed by a lightning strike in Delhi after he went to offer his daughter in marriage to the Delhi Sultan. In five years of his reign, he lost much of Mewar territory and made Abu Deora Chief independent and gave Ajmer, Sakambhari to Marwar's Rathore king Jodha as a token of friendship (they were cousins). Udai Singh was succeeded not by his son but another brother, Raimal of Mewar. Raimal sought help of Sultan of Delhi and a battle ensued at Ghasa in which Sahasmall and Surajmall, the rebel brothers were defeated by Prithviraj, second son of Raimal.

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Akbar

Abu’l Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar I, (15 October 1542- 27 October 1605) and later the Akbar the Great was the Mughal Emperor from the 1556 until his death. Akbar was the third and one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal Dynasty in India.

Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under the regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in India.

The last emperor of India, Bahadur Shah, was forced into the exile in Burma by Britain during the Sepoy Rebellion or the First Indian War of Independence.

Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include nearly all the Indian Subcontinent north of the Godavari River. Akbar power and influence, however, extended over the entire country because of Mughal military, political, cultural and economic dominance. Akbar established the centralised system of administration throughout his empire and adopted the policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy.

During the Akbar, the Mughal Empire tripled in size and wealth.  He created the powerful military system and instituted effective political and social reforms.

Mughal Empire weakens:

Shah Jahan’s third son, Aurangzeb, seized the throne and had all of his brothers executed after the protracted succession struggle in 1658. At the time, Shah Jahan was still alive, but Aurangzeb had his sickly father confined to the Fort at Agra. Shah Jahan spent his declining years gazing out at the Taj, and died in 1666.

The Aurangzeb proved to be the last of the “Great Mughals”. Throughtout his reign, he expanded the empire in all directions.

The three year long revolt by the Mughals, long time ally, the Pashtun, began in 1672. In the aftermath, the Mughals lost much of their authority in what is now Afghanistan, seriously weakening the empire.

Death and Legacy:

On 3 October 1605, Akbar fell ill with an attack of the dysentery, from which he never recovered. He is believed to have died on or about 27 october 1605, after which his body was buried at the mausoleum   in the Sikandra, Agra.

Akbar left behind the rich legacy both for the Mughal Empire as well as the Indian subcontinent in general. He firmly entrenched the authority of the Mughal empire in India and beyond, after it had been threatened by the Afghans during his father reign., establishing its military and diplomatic superiority. 

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Shivaji

Shivaji Bhonsle, also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian warrior king and the member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out an enclave from declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad.

Shivaji established the competent and progressive civil rule with the help of the disciplined military and well structured administrative organisations. He innovated the military tactics, pioneering the guerrilla warfare methods, which leveraged the strategic factors like the geography, speed and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies.

Battle of Pratapgarh:

In ensuing the Battle of Pratapgarh fought on 10 November 1659, Shivaji’s forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultante’s forces. The agile Maratha infantry and cavalry inflicted rapid strikes on bijapuri units, attacked their cavalry before it was prepared for the battle, and pursued retreating troops towards Wai. More than 3,000 soldiers of the Bijapur army were killed and two sons of Afzal Khan were taken as prisoners.

Unexpectedly, victory made Shivaji the hero of Maratha folkare and the legendary figure among his people.

Battle of Kolhapur

To counter the loss at the Pratapgad and to defeat the newly emerging Maratha power, another army, this time numbering over the 10,000, was sent against the Shivaji, commanded by the bijapur’s Abyssinian  general Rustamjaman. With the cavalry force of 5,000 Marathas, Shivaji attacked them near the Kolhapur on the 28 December 1659. In the swift movement, Shivaji led the full frontal attack at the centre of the enemy forces while two other portions of his cavalry attacked the flanks. This battle lasted for several hours and at the end Bijapuri forces were soundly defeated and Rustamjaman fled the battlefield. Adilshahi forces lost about the 2,000 horses and the 12 elephants to the Marathas. This victory alarmed the Aurangazeb, who now derisively referred to Shivaji as the “Mountain Rat” and prepared to address this rising Maratha threat.

Death and Succession: 

In the late March 1680, Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery, dying around 3-5 April 1680 at the age of 52, on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti. Some rumours followed his death, with Muslims opining he had died of curse from the Jan Muhammad of Jalna, and some Marathas whispering that his second wife, Soyarabai had poisoned him so that his crown can pass to her 10 year-old son Rajaram.

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Maharana Mokal

Mokal or Mokal Singh (ca. 1409 - 1433), was the Maharana (r. 1421 - 1433) of Mewar Kingdom. He was a son of Mahanara Lakha.

In his reign, Marwar invades Mewar and Mokal is assassinated at age 24. He died 1433.
Maharana Mokal was a great builder and he inherited this trait from his father, Maharana Lakha. He created various buildings along with completing those commenced by his father. The duty to transform their motherland thus flowed down the veins of the Sisodiyas.

Maharana Lakha, the 45th Maharana of Mewar died in war leaving young Mokal as his successor. Being a minor, his eldest brother Choonda began to look after the state of affairs as promised to Rana Lakha. But Mokal’s mother Hansa Bai did not like the influence that Choonda had over the nobles of Mewar. She questioned his integrity and doubted his intentions. Her resentment made Choonda leave Chittor and retire to Mandu, capital of Malwa. Rani Hansa Bai attained help from her brother Ranmal of Marwar to administer the state of affairs on behalf of Mokal until he was a minor.

Maharana Mokal had a brief stint as the ruler of Mewar but rose to fame as the most celebrated warrior of his race. He defeated Nagour, Gujarat and repelled an invasion by the Delhi Sultan. But most importantly, he completed palaces that were commenced by his father Maharan Lakha and conspired to build more aesthetic structures.

Rana Kumbha who was only 13 years old at the time of Mokal’s death, ascended the throne at a crucial juncture in the history of Mewar. The young Kumbha may have had the most unfavourable situation after his father’s untimed death but the valour and vision of his father, Maharana Mokal inspired him to emerge as one of the greatest rulers Mewar ever knew.

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Peter the Great

Peter the Great, Peter I or the peter Alexeyevich, was born in 1672 and he died in 1725. He ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from the 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before the 1696 with his half brother.

Peter the great led a cultural revolution that replaces some of the traditionalist and the medieval social and political systems with the ones that were modern, scientific, westernized and based on the Enlightenment. Peter’s reforms made the lasting impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government traced their origins to his reign.

Early Rule

Peter the Great was born Pyotr Alekseyevich on June 9, 1672 in Moscow, Russia. Peter the Great was the 14th child of Czar Alexis by his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V room from 1682, when the Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially declared sovereign of all Russia. Peter inherited the nation that was severely underdeveloped compared to the culturally inherited the nation that was severely underdeveloped compared to the culturally prosperous European countries. While the Renaissance and the Reformation swept through Europe, Russia rejected westernization and remained isolation from modernization.

During his reign, Peter undertook the extensive reforms in attempts to re-establish the Russia as a great nation. Peter overcome opposition from the country’s medieval aristocracy and initiated the series of changes that affected all areas of the Russian life.

Peter the Great is credited with dragging the Russia out of the medieval times to medieval times to such extent that by his death in 1725, Russia was considered as the leading eastern European state. He centralised government, modernised the army, created the navy and increased the subjugation and subjection of the peasants. His domestic policy allowed him to execute an aggressive foreign policy.

Without doubt, Peter the Great’s childhood toughened his outlook on life. He was constantly under threat from the factions surrounding the two widows of his father. When his father, Alexis, died in January 1676, Peter’s elder brother succeeded as the Theodore III.

Peter the Great died on February 8, 1725, without nominating an heir. He is entombed in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, located in the St. Petersburg.  

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Napoleon

Napoléon Bonaparte , born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European affairs for over a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, rapidly gaining control of continental Europe before his ultimate defeat in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide and he remains one of the most celebrated and controversial political figures in Western history. In civil affairs, Napoleon had a major long-term impact by bringing liberal reforms to the countries that he conquered especially the Low Countries, Switzerland, Italy, and large parts of Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe. His lasting legal achievement, the Napoleonic Code, has been adopted in various forms by a quarter of the world's legal systems, from Japan to Quebec.

Napoleon was born in Corsica to a relatively modest family of noble Tuscan ancestry. Serving in the French army, Napoleon supported the Revolution from the outset in 1789 and tried to spread its ideals to Corsica, but was banished from the island in 1793. Two years later, he saved the French government from collapse by firing on the Parisian mobs with cannons. Appointed General of the Army of Italy at age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies, scoring a series of decisive victories that made him famous all across Europe. In 1798 he commanded a military expedition to Egypt, conquering the Ottoman province after defeating the Mamelukes and launching modern Egyptology through the discoveries made by his army.

Napoleon engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. With the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon restored the religious powers of the Catholic Church but kept the lands seized by the Revolution. The state nominated the bishops and controlled church finances. He extended his political control over France until the Senate declared him Emperor of the French in 1804, launching the French Empire. Intractable differences with the British meant the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to his elimination of the Holy Roman Empire. In October 1805, however, a Franco-Spanish fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar, allowing Britain to impose a naval blockade of the French coasts. In retaliation, Napoleon established the Continental System in 1806 to cut off European trade with Britain. The Fourth Coalition took up arms against him the same year because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. After quickly knocking out Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, Napoleon turned his attention towards the Russians and annihilated them in 1807 at Friedland, which forced the Russians to accept the Treaties of Tilsit, the high water mark of the French Empire.

Hoping to extend the Continental System, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War, noted for its brutal guerrilla warfare, lasted six years and culminated in an Allied victory. Fighting also erupted in Central Europe as the Austrians launched another attack against the French in 1809. Napoleon defeated them at the Battle of Wagram, dissolving the Fifth Coalition formed against France. By 1811, Napoleon ruled over 70 million people across an empire that had domination in Europe, which had not witnessed this level of political consolidation since the days of the Roman Empire. He maintained his strategic status through a series of alliances and family appointments. He created a new aristocracy in France while allowing for the return of nobles who had been forced into exile by the Revolution.

Tensions over rising Polish nationalism and the economic effects of the Continental System led to renewed confrontation with Russia. To enforce his blockade, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia in 1812 that ended in catastrophic failure for the French. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France and, by October 1813, a large Allied army defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig. The next year, the Allies invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. He was exiled to the island of Elba. The Bourbons were restored to power and the French lost most territories they had conquered since the Revolution. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and returned to power, only to find him at war against another coalition which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June. He was captured by the British who imprisoned him on the remote island of Saint Helena. His death in 1821, at the age of 51, was received by shock and grief throughout Europe. In 1840, a million people witnessed his remains returning to Paris, where they still reside at Les Invalides.

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Maharana Pratap

Maharana Pratap or Pratap Singh (09 May 1540 – 29 January 1597) was the ruler of Mewar, a region in north-western India in the present day state of Rajasthan.He was the eldest son of Maharani Jayawantabai and Maharana Udai Singh II, founder of Udaipur. He belonged to the Sisodia clan of Rajputs.

At a young age, Pratap Singh II granted the district of Lakhola to Deep Singh; the younger son of Umaid Singh of Bundi, without seeking his father’s consent. This infuriated his father Maharana Jagat Singh II, who along with his brother planned to arrest him and sent him to prison. Pratap Singh II was summoned into a trap where he was arrested and thrown into the palace prison. During his time in prison, people attempted to kill him by poisoning his food as he was the heir to Jagat Singh II, but they failed in their attempts.

After his father’s death, he ascended the throne. Unlike Maharana Pratap, Pratap Singh II was a weak ruler who turned his back on the adversities that Mewar was facing since his father’s rule and continued to pay the huge amount of money to the Marathas as his security. The courtiers continued fighting amongst each other weakening the roots of Mewar. Maharana Pratap Singh II ruled for merely three years which were marked with dealing continuous invasions and marauding of Mewar. Maharana Pratap Singh II married a daughter of Raja Jai Singh of Amber from whom he had a son Maharana Raj Singh II who succeeded him at a small age of eleven years after his father’s death.
This was probably the weakest time in the history of Mewar with frequent invasions and unrewarding succession of weak rulers. The fate of Mewar had been sealed and the Sisodiya rule began to collapse.

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