22 Facts About Durrani Empire

Durrani Empire or the Afghan Empire, known as the Sadozai Kingdom, was an Afghan empire that was founded by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 and spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia.

In 1749, the Mughal Durrani Empire had ceded sovereignty over much of northwestern India to the Afghans; Ahmad then set out westward to take possession of Mashhad, which was ruled by the Afsharid dynasty under Shahrokh Shah, who acknowledged Afghan suzerainty.

The Durrani Empire is considered to be the foundational polity of the modern nation-state of Afghanistan, with Ahmad being credited as its Father of the Nation.

Durrani Empire placed some wheat or barley sheaves in Ahmad Khan's turban, and crowned him Badshah, Durr-i-Dauran.

The jirga concluded near the city of Kandahar with Ahmad Shah Durrani Empire being selected as the new leader of the Afghans, thus the Durrani Empire dynasty was founded.

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Durrani Empire belonged to a respectable family of political background, especially since his father had served as Governor of Herat who died in a battle defending the Afghans.

Durrani Empire sacked Delhi in 1757 but permitted the Mughal dynasty to remain in nominal control of the city as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad Shah's suzerainty over Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir.

Durrani Empire 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.

Ahmad Shah Durrani Empire was famous for winning wars much larger than his army.

From this time and on, the domination and control of the Empire began to loosen, and by the time of Durrani's death he had lost parts of Punjab to the Sikhs, as well as earlier losses of northern territories to the Uzbeks, necessitating a compromise with them.

Durrani Empire assaulted Lahore and, after taking their holy city of Amritsar, massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroyed their revered Golden Temple.

Durrani Empire's forces instigated the Vadda Ghallughara when they killed thousands of Sikhs in the Punjab in 1762.

Durrani Empire had succeeded to a remarkable degree in balancing tribal alliances and hostilities, and in directing tribal energies away from rebellion.

Durrani Empire earned recognition as Ahmad Shah Baba, or "Father" of Afghanistan.

Durrani Empire lost its control over Kashmir to the Sikh Empire in the Battle of Shopian in 1819.

Ahmad Shah made this decision without consulting with his tribal council, as a result the authority of the Durrani Emperor was put into question and created a growing rift that would toil the Durrani empire for years to come, as the tribal council had in majority, supported Ahmad Shah's eldest son and Timur Shah's brother, Sulaiman, the governor of Kandahar.

Durrani Empire left Kandahar with over 150 horsemen and had arrived at Prince Timur's force at Farah.

Painda Khan and the chiefs of the Nurzai and the Alizai Durrani Empire clans were executed, as was the chief of the Qizilbash clan.

Mahmud's second reign lasted 9 years, where he had further attempted to consolidate power, but was deposed by his brother in 1818, Mahmud's reign was disputed in 1810, while he was campaigning, another one of Timur Shah Durrani Empire's sons had seized the throne, but was defeated by Shah Mahmud in 1810.

The Durrani Empire lost its control over Kashmir to the Sikh Empire in the Battle of Shopian in 1819.

Durrani Empire military was based on cavalry armed with flintlocks who performed hit-and-run attacks, combining new technology in firearms with Turco-Mongol tactics.

The core of the Durrani Empire army were the 10,000 sher-bacha -carrying mounted ghulams of which a third were previously Shia soldiers of Nader Shah.