1556
Second Battle of Panipat
The setting
Panipat, modern Haryana - the same plain as 1526 and 1761
Open plain; the Mughal army anchored its flanks and kept a reserve back, as Babur had.
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideMughal forces of Akbar, commanded by Bairam Khan
Recorded resultdecisive victory
Mughal victory. Hemu was struck in the eye by an arrow, captured unconscious, and executed.
How the atlas explains it
Hemu was winning. His wings had driven the Mughal flanks back and his elephants were through. A single arrow through the eye removed him from his own centre, and an army built entirely around one man's direction stopped being an army - the elephants had no orders, the wings had no anchor, and a victory in progress became a rout within an hour.
What followed
Secured the Mughal Empire for Akbar at the age of thirteen and ended the last serious attempt to restore indigenous rule at Delhi before the 18th century. ⚠ Hemu had himself crowned at Delhi weeks earlier, taking the title Vikramaditya - he was, briefly, a reigning Hindu emperor of North India, and he is largely absent from the popular narrative of the period.