Chapter 1: The young Henry VIII

Babur originally planned only to conquer the Punjab, India’s north-western region. However, he was soon tempted to go further. In 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim, the sultan of Delhi, at the Battle of Panipat. Here, Babur proved his skill as a general by beating an army that was said to be 100 000 soldiers (and many war elephants) with a force of only 12 000 men. Babur went on to seize Delhi, then conquered many of the Rajput states over the years that followed. He created an empire that stretched from Kabul in Afghanistan across most of northern India.

Humayun

In 1530, Babur’s eldest son, Humayun, fell very sick. Babur is said to have prayed by his son’s bedside for his own life to be taken instead. Humayun recovered – but Babur sickened and died. He was buried back in Kabul.

Humayun struggled to hold his father’s empire together. His four brothers all felt that kingship should be shared between them all, so they carved out their own kingdoms and refused to support him. Soon Humayun was driven from Delhi by Sher Shah (often known as Sher Khan), an Afghan warlord based in eastern India. After losing the Battle of Kanauj in 1540, Humayun fl ed India and was given shelter in the court of Shah Tahmasp I, ruler of the Safavid empire in Persia. Sher Shah was left to rule what had been Babur’s Indian empire. It was only ten years after Sher Shah’s death that Humayun dared to reclaim India. In 1555, with the help of Persian troops, he successfully returned and reconquered part of his father’s empire. Yet less than a year later in January 1556, he died by falling down a staircase in his library. Humayun’s son Akbar succeeded him aged only 13.

Fact

Babur was not impressed with India. He wrote that it had “no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk-melons or fi rst-rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bazaars, no hot baths, no colleges, no candles, no torches, and no candlesticks.”

Check your understanding

1. Why were Babur and the emperors of India who followed him known as Mughals? 2. How did the teenage Babur become a ‘wandering prince’? 3. How was Babur able to win the Battle of Panipat? 4. How was the Safavid Persian empire responsible for Babur’s dynasty continuing to rule India? 5. Why was Babur not fully enthusiastic about becoming ruler of northern India?

Unit 10: Edo Japan The Tokugawa shogunate

During the 16th century, Japan was divided between many different clans. Then a series of powerful warlords united the country under their rule.

There was an emperor in Kyoto, in central Japan, who in theory ruled all of Japan, but in practice his role had become symbolic. He no longer held much actual power over the many regional Japanese lords, known as daimyo. These lords fought each other constantly, and ordinary Japanese people were forced to live with prolonged civil war.

The unifi cation of Japan

In 1583, a powerful daimyo named Toyotomi Hideyoshi began a campaign of unifi cation. Hideyoshi had a major advantage: his armies used fi rearms. Guns had recently been brought to Japan by Portuguese traders, though the Japanese quickly learned how to manufacture guns themselves.

Hideyoshi successfully brought most of Japan under his control. He wanted to regulate Japanese society to avoid disruption and ensure lasting peace. In 1588, he supervised a great ‘sword hunt’ to take weapons away from all those who were not samurai warriors (see box). He also created a strict division of Japanese society into four classes: the samurai at the top, then the peasant farmers, then artisans, then merchants. Peasants, who made up about 80 per cent of the population, were ranked second because of the importance of rice-growing, while merchants were at the bottom because commerce and trade were seen as dishonourable work.

In 1592, Hideyoshi decided he wished to become emperor of China. To get there, he launched an invasion of Korea, beginning a disastrous series of campaigns that ended with his death in 1598. Hideyoshi left a fi ve-year-old son as his heir, but somebody else was waiting to seize control. Tokugawa Ieyasu was a mighty daimyo who had pledged his loyalty to Hideyoshi in 1585. He was a patient man who worked steadily to build up his own power while serving his lord. By the time of Hideyoshi’s death, Ieyasu had the largest army and the most productive lands in Japan, making him ideally placed to take over the system that Hideyoshi had built.

On 21 October 1600, Ieyasu’s army fought the remaining followers of Hideyoshi, now led by a daimyo named Ishida Mitsunari. The Battle of Sekigahara decided the political

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), founder and fi rst shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan