Editing Durrani Empire (section)

====Third Battle of Panipat====
{{Main|Third Battle of Panipat}}
[[File:The Third battle of Panipat 13 January 1761.jpg|thumb|[[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] and his coalition decisively defeat the [[Maratha Confederacy]], during the [[Third Battle of Panipat]] and restored the [[Mughal Empire]] to [[Shah Alam II]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ikram |first=S. M. |author-link=S. M. Ikram |year=1964 |chapter=XIX. A Century of Political Decline: 1707–1803 |editor-link=Ainslie Embree |editor-first=Ainslie T. |editor-last=Embree |title=Muslim Civilization in India |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press}}<!-- access-date is meaningless with no URL --></ref>]]

The [[Mughal power]] in northern India had been declining after the death of Emperor [[Aurangzeb]], who died in 1707. In 1751–52, the ''Ahamdiya'' treaty was signed between the [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]] and [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]], when [[Balaji Bajirao]] was the [[Peshwa]].<ref name="Panipat">Patil, Vishwas. ''Panipat''.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=August 2021}} Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled virtually the whole of India from their capital at [[Pune]] and the Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (the Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India. Ahmad Shah [[Sack of Delhi (1757)|sacked the Mughal capital]] and withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent [[Raghunathrao]]. He defeated the Rohillas and Afghan garrisons in Punjab and succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule.<ref name=K.RoyIHB>{{cite book|last=Roy |first=Kaushik |title=India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil |year=2004 |publisher=Permanent Black, India |pages=80–81 |isbn=978-81-7824-109-8}}</ref> Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad was forced to return to India and face the formidable attacks of the Maratha Confederacy.

[[File:Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769, Muslim from Afghanistan (愛烏罕回人).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Muslim man from Afghanistan (愛烏罕回人). [[Huang Qing Zhigong Tu]], 1769]]
Ahmad Shah declared a [[jihad]] (or [[Islam]]ic holy war) against the [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], and warriors from various Afghan tribes joined his army, including the [[Baloch people]] under the command of [[Khan of Kalat]] Mir [[Nasir I of Kalat]]. [[Suba Khan Tanoli]] (Zabardast Khan) was selected as army chief of all military forces. Early skirmishes were followed by victory for the Afghans against the much larger Maratha garrisons in Northwest India and by 1759 Ahmad Shah and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. Ahmad Shah Durrani was famous for winning wars much larger than his army{{fact|date=February 2023}}. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau. Once again, [[Panipat]] was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761), fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies was waged along a twelve-kilometer front. There were rebellions in the north in the region of [[Bukhara]]. The Durranis decisively defeated the Marathas in the [[Third Battle of Panipat]] on 14 January 1761.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpXijlqeRpIC&pg=PA84 |title=India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil |first=Kaushik |last=Roy |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2004 |pages=84–94|isbn=9788178241098}}</ref> The defeat at Panipat resulted in heavy losses for the Marathas, and was a huge setback for Peshwa Balaji Rao. He received the news of the defeat of Panipat on 24 January 1761 at [[Bhilsa]], while leading a reinforcement force. Besides several important generals, he had lost his own son [[Vishwasrao]] in the Battle of Panipat. He died on 23 June 1761, and was succeeded by his younger son [[Madhavrao I|Madhav Rao I]].<ref name="GSC_2005">{{cite book |first=G. S. |last=Chhabra |title=Advance Study in the History of Modern India |at=Volume 1: 1707–1803, pp. 29–47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkDi6rVbckoC&pg=PA19 |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-81-89093-06-8 |access-date=2 October 2022 |archive-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106001415/https://books.google.com/books?id=UkDi6rVbckoC&pg=PA19%20 |url-status=live}}</ref>