Timur sacks Delhi (1398)

Timeline

1. 1398Indus River and Multan · PunjabTimur set out from Samarkand with over 90,000 troops, crossed the Indus on September 30, first sacked and massacred Tulamba, and captured Multan in October; his grandson Pir Muhammad simultaneously took Uchh and other places, and the strongholds of northern India fell one after another.
2. 1398Badaun fortress and Panipat · PunjabTimur's forces stormed the fortress of Badaun, annihilating its garrison, and routed local forces at Meerut and elsewhere; after a long march they reached Delhi's outskirts and camped near Panipat, while Sultan Nasir al-Din mustered war elephants and a coalition army for a decisive battle.
3. 1398Battlefield outside Delhi · DelhiTimur used trenches to block the war elephants' charge and set fire to camels to panic the elephants, throwing Delhi's coalition army into chaos; Timur's cavalry charged and routed Nasir al-Din Mahmud, and the sultan fled with his remnants as Timur's army entered Delhi.
4. 1398–1399City of Delhi · DelhiTimur's army sacked Delhi for days or weeks, massacring residents on a large scale and carrying off artisans and treasures to Samarkand; after installing the governor of Multan, Khizr Khan, as a puppet sultan, Timur withdrew north in early 1399, and the Delhi Sultanate never recovered.