Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire explained in less than 7 minutes (Sikh history documentary)

[Music] the homeland of the Sikh people and faith lies within the Fertile river valleys of the Punjab region of northern India and Pakistan for thousands of years the Punjab has been the battleground of kingdoms and empires the Sikh faith was established in the later 15th century by guru nanaka he was the first of ten Sikh gurus who were spiritual leaders during the religions formation and rapid growth beginning in the early 16th century the Punjab as well as most of the Indian subcontinent was conquered by the Mughal Empire Mughal emperors claimed descent from Tamerlane as well as Genghis Khan and inherited their ability for conquest on a massive scale for many years the Muslim moguls were largely tolerant of India's numerous religions in 1567 the Emperor Akbar joined the Sikhs for a meal at a community kitchen called a langar where a free meal is served to all visitors regardless of religion caste gender or ethnicity afterwards akbar met with the third Sikh guru who he had a very favorable impression of as the Sikh faith continued to grow later Mughal emperors viewed the gurus as a potential political threat after the fifth Guru was executed for not following the Emperor's orders the Sikhs began to arm themselves numerous battles were fought between the sikhs and local mogul governors in the Punjab who sought to disarm them tension subsided as the moguls became embroiled an internal dynastic conflict until again in 1675 the ninth guru was executed for not following the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb the slain guru son succeeded him Cobin Singh the tenth Sikh guru further militarized his followers forming the Khalsa warrior community upon being initiated into the kalsa the name Singh meaning lion was adopted as a family name by all male warriors Groban's Singh continued the struggle against the Mughals and at times took refuge in the forests and mountains northeast of the Punjab Aurangzeb brought the Mughal Empire to its maximum territorial extent but its vast armies or diminished and his Treasury depleted by the time of his death in 1707 as Gobind Singh travelled to make peace with Aurangzeb successor he was assassinated before passing away he ordered that the Sikh holy scriptures the Guru Granth Sahib would succeed him is the final eternal living guru during the following years the Sikh Khalsa armies under the leadership of general banda singh bahadur carved out a short-lived state in the punjab the hereditary aristocracy of the punjab was abolished and property ownership was granted to anyone who tilled the soil after a siege banda singh bahadur was captured tortured and executed by the Mughals the Punjab was reconquered and many Sikh soldiers and civilians were massacred surviving Sikhs again fled to the forests in the mountains and waged a guerrilla war against the Mughals by the early 1730's the exhausted Mughals made peace with the sikhs and allowed them to return to settle their land and a degree of self-rule in 1738 the weakened Mughal empires capital city of Delhi was ravaged sacked and plundered of its great wealth by the Iranian after a dynasty of nader shah shortly after the Marathas subjugated the remnant of the Mughal Empire as its fassl the Punjab was overrun by the Afghan armies of Ahmed Shah Durrani who defeated the Marathas while suffering massive casualties at the Third Battle of Panipat despite repeated invasions and massacres of Sikh civilians in the later half of the 18th century the Afghans were never able to fully subdue the Sikhs since the death of Banda Singh Bahadur the Sikhs were organized in a loose confederation of sovereign communities ruled by the cows of eternity of Sikh warriors after gaining control of the eastern Punjab these small states began fighting against each other whenever not threatened by the Afghans until they were all united by the 20 year old warlord Ranjit Singh in 1801 he was crowned Maharaja of the Sikh Empire he repeatedly defeated the Afghans and major battles driving their armies out of the Indian subcontinent as far as the mouth of the Khyber Pass during his 38 year long reign seek control expanded over the entire Punjab and to the north and south the Empire was prosperous and internally peaceful his inclusive reformed government and military included Sikhs Hindus Muslims European military experts and soldiers of fortune the army was rigorously trained and modernized especially in the use of artillery the Sikh Empire only lasted for ten more years after Ranjit Singh's death he had maintained peace with the British East India Company while it had conquered the Hindu Maratha Confederacy to South the next three Sikh Maharaja's that succeeded Ranjit Singh were all assassinated the Empire was thrown in a turmoil as the next Maharaja was a young child the Sikh army doubled in size and assumed much of the practical control of the Empire a British observer at the time described the Empire has been ruled by a dangerous military democracy taking advantage of this internal instability the British East India Company began amassing troops on the Sikh border war broke out with both sides accusing the other of the first hostile actions after several costly battles peace was negotiated where the northern territories of Jammu and Kashmir were ceded to the British as well as valuable territory in the Eastern Punjab tensions remained high and a second anglo-sikh war broke out only two years later during the sikh wars both sides gained a mutual respect for each other's fighting prowess by the end of which the British East India Company had annexed to the Sikh Empire during the following company and British colonial rule in India Sikhs were both feared and respected for their martial ability despite only accounting for approximately two percent of India's population hundreds of thousands of Sikhs served in the Army during the british raj sikhs were noted for their loyalty skill and bravery particularly during the first and second world wars after overcoming centuries of adversity today there are over twenty seven million Sikhs worldwide with a majority still living in the Punjab this has been uh Pammy theas be sure to LIKE comment and subscribe and hit the bell icon and get notifications every time I make a new video like this

Channel: Epimetheus

Views: 790,356

Keywords: Sikh, sikhs, Sikh Empire, india, indian history, sikh history, guru, indian empires, history, documentary, Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire, mughal empire, maratha empire, mughal sikh, afghan sikh, british skih, Guru Nanak, Banda Singh Bahadur, Hargobind, Guru Gobind Singh, singh sikh, punjab, punjabi history, sikh history documentary, sikh empire documentary, sikh confederacy, Guru Granth Sahib, Anglo-Sikh, Sikh Misl, india history documentary, sikh guru history, sikh maratha, map

Id: cBcvMiY8b2k

Length: 6min 39sec (399 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019