Timur's Sack of Delhi (1398)

By the late 14th century the Delhi Sultanate was weakened by infighting, with two sultans claiming power at once. In 1398 Timur crossed the Indus with a large army, took Multan and turned towards Delhi; in India he was after the country's wealth more than its land.

On 17 December 1398, near Delhi, Timur met the army of Sultan Nasir al-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq and his minister Mallu Iqbal, which included war elephants. Timur had ditches dug and iron caltrops laid before his lines and, according to legend, sent camels loaded with burning straw against the elephants. The elephants panicked and turned, and the Indian army was defeated.

Timur entered Delhi, and for several days the city suffered a terrible sack and massacre; according to the sources, many prisoners had already been killed before the battle. Timur carried off great wealth, elephants and craftsmen from Delhi, some of whom worked on the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand. The Delhi Sultanate took a long time to recover.