Rana Sanga

Maharana Sangram Singh is commonly known as the Rana Sanga. Maharana Sangram Singh was the Rajput ruler of Mewar, which was located within the geographical boundaries of the present-day India’s modern state of Rajasthan.  Maharana Sanga ruled between the 1509 & 1527.

The scion of the Sisodia clan of the Suryavanshi Rajput, Rana Sanga succeeded his father, Rana Raimal as the king of the Mewar in 1509. He fought against the Mughals in the Battle of the Khanwa, which ended with the Mughal victory and he died shortly thereafter on the March 17, 1527.
The crisis of the succession led Maharana Sangram Singh to the throne and bringing the forth other mighty warrior son of the Mewar who fought for his kingdom till the last drop of his blood.

Conquest of Malwa:

After 1st ascending to throne of his home kingdom, Mewar , then the consolidating power there, Maharana Sanga moved his army against the internally troubled neighbouring of Malwa.
Under rule of Mehmod khilji, Malwa was torn by dissension. Wary of his Rajput Wazir Medini Rai’s politically weak Mehmod sought outside the assistance from both Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi and the Bahadur AShah of the Gujarat whereas the Rai on his part, request the Rana Sanga to come to his aid. Thus began prolonged the war between the Mewar against the Muslim sultans of the North India.

Battle of Khanwa

 The battle of Khanwa was fought near the village of the Khanwa about the 60 kilometres west of the Agra on the 17 Mar, 1527. The Battle of Khanwa was the second major battle fought in the India by the 1st Mughal Emperor Babur after the Battle of Panipat. As the Mughal Empire expanded it new opponents especially in the regions around the Agra and inside the Rajputana. After defeating the Ibrahim Lodi who reunites behind the prestigious Muslim Rajput ruler Khanzada Raja Hasan Khan Mewati of Mewat.

He had crushed the Gujarat and conquered the Malwa and now close to the Agra. It was at this juncture that he had heard that the Babur defeated and slain the Ibrahim Lodi and was now the master of Delhi Sultanate.

Maharana Sanga believed that the Babur had plans to leave the India, indeed from all information he was getting it seemed that the Babur was getting ready to consolidate his newly gained northern holdings, Rana Sanga decided in the miscalculation of the Barbur’s strength and the determination to wage the war against the Mughal invader.

As the first move, he coerced the Afghan princes like Mehmud Lodi and the Hasan Khan Mewati to join him. Then he ordered Babur to leave India. Initially he hoped to attain this by sending his vassal Sardar Silhadi of the Raisen as emissary. Silhadi who went to Babur’s camp was won over by Babur. Babur accepted that to rule North India he may have to engage in battle with Rana Sanga and hence had no desire for retreat. Babur and Silhadi hatched a plot. Silhadi, who held a large contingent of 30,000 men would join Babur’s camp at critical moment of battle and thus defeat Rana Sanga. Silhadi who went back to Chittor, told Rana that war is a must.

The battle, which lasted for not more than 10 hours, was bitterly contested and became an exceedingly brutal affair. At the critical moment of battle, the defection of Silhadi and his contingent caused a split in the Rajput forces. Rana Sanga while trying to rebuild his front was wounded and fell unconscious from his horse. The Rajput army thought their leader was dead and fled in disorder, thus allowing the Mughals to win the day.

Rana Sanga was whisked away to safety by the Rathore contingent from Marwar and once he became conscious he learnt of the defeat. But Rana Sanga, unwilling to admit defeat, set out once more to rebuild his military and renew war with Babur. He vowed not to set foot in Chittor till Babur was defeated by him.

It was also suggested that had it been the cannon guns of the Babur, Maharana Sanga might have achieved the historic victory.

 Rana Sanga died shortly after this battle in 1527 at the Baswa on Mewar's northern border.

Resources:
http://www.eternalmewarblog.com/rulers-of-mewar/maharana-sangram-singh/

Darius I

Darius I was the third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, also known as the Darius the great, he ruled the empire at its peak, when it included much of the West Asia, the Caucasus Central Asia as far as the Indus Valley, the eastern Balkans (Macedonia and Thrace) and the Pannonia, portions of north and the northwest Africa including the Egypt, eastern Libya and the coastal Sudan.

Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing Gaumata, the alleged magus usurper of Bardiya with the assistance of six other Persian noble families; Darius was crowned the following morning. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time. A major event in Darius's life was his expedition to punish Athens and Eretria for their aid in the Ionian Revolt, and subjugate Greece. Although ultimately ending in failure at the Battle of Marathon, Darius succeeded at the re-subjugation of Thrace, expansion of the empire via the conquest of Macedon, the Cyclades, and the island of Naxos, and the sacking and enslavement of the city of Eretria.

Darius organized the empire by dividing it into the provinces and placing satraps to govern it. He organized the new uniform monetary system along with making Aramaic the official language of the empire. The Darius also worked on the construction projects throughout the Empire, focusing on the Susa, Pasargadae, Babylon, Persepolis and Egypt.

Darius is mentioned in the Bibical books of Haggai, Ezra–Nehemiah, Zechariah and the Daniel.
The rise of the Darius to the throne contains two variations an account from the Darius and another from the Greek historians. Some modern historians have the inferred that Darius rise to the power might have been illegitimate. To them, it seems likely that the Gaumata was the fact Bardiya, and that under the cover of revolts, Darius killed heir to the throne and took it himself.

Darius's account, written at the Behistun Inscription states that Cambyses II killed his own brother Bardiya, but that this murder was not known among the Iranian people. A would-be usurper named Gaumata came and lied to the people, stating he was Bardiya.[14] The Iranians had grown rebellious against Cambyses's rule and on 11 March 522 BCE a revolt against Cambyses broke out in his absence.

 On 1 July, the Iranian people chose to be under the leadership of Gaumata, as "Bardiya".
Darius’s account, written at the Behistun inscription states that Cambyses II killed his brother Bardiya but that this murder was not known among the Iranian people. The would be the usurper named the Gaumata came and lied to the people stating he was the Bardiya.  On 1 July, the Iranian people chose to be under the leadership of Gaumata, as "Bardiya". No member of the Achamenid family would rise against Gaumata for the safety of their own life. Darius, who had served Cambyses as his lance-bearer until the deposed ruler's death, prayed for aid and in September 522 BCE, along with Otanes, Intraphrenes, Gobryas, Hydarnes, Megabyzus and Aspathines, killed Gaumata in the fortress of Sikayauvati.

During his actual lifetime though, the Khan had the tremendous influence on many aspects of the Asian history, primarily because of the Mongol Empire reached its height in many ways under his reign. He founded Yuan Dynasty in the China, which lasted in varying sizes from the 1279 to 1635. Nevertheless, despite his successful expansion of the empire, Mongol expeditions under his reign also demonstrated the limits of the Mongol expeditions under his reign demonstrated the limits of the Mongol expansionism.

Resources:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/darius/g/120707Darius.htm
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/darius/darius.php

Cyrus II of Persia

Cyrus II of Persia from c. 600 or 576 – 530 BC commonly known as the Cyrus the Great and also known as the Cyrus the Elder. Cyrus II of Persia was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of the south west Asia and much of the Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had been yet. Under his successors, the empire eventually stretched from the parts of the Balkans (Bulgaria-Pannonia) and the Thrace-Macedonia in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east.

His regal titles in full were The Great King, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Corners of the World. He also proclaimed what has been identified by scholars and archaeologists to be the oldest known declaration of human rights, which was transcribed onto the Cyrus Cylinder sometime between 539 and 530 BC. This view has been criticized by some as a misunderstanding of what they claim to be the Cylinder's generic nature as a traditional statement of the sort those new monarchs may make at the beginning of their reign.

The reign of the Cyrus the great lasted between the 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering the first the Median Empire then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo- Babylonian Empire. Either before or after the Babylon, he led the expedition into the central Asia, which resulted in the major campaigns that were described as having brought into the subjection every nation without the exceptions.

Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Sir Darya in December 530 BC.  He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.

Cyrus the great is also the well recognized for his achievements in the human rights, politics and military strategy as well as his influence on both the Eastern and western civilizations. Having the originated from the Persis, roughly the corresponding to the modern Iranian province of the Fars, Cyrus has played the crucial role in defining the national identity of the modern Iran. Cyrus and, indeed, the Achaemenid influence in the ancient world also extended as far as Athens, where many Athenians adopted aspects of the Achaemenid Persian culture as their own, in a reciprocal cultural exchange.

Resources:
www.ancient.eu
http://www.youtube.com