The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c23.18

c23.18

The objective was the elephant of the opposite leader, and round it the fiercest of the battle raged. The centre was the ultimate object of attack and every effort was made to get closer and closer to it. As a rule, a battle in India was a series of isolated skirmishes, the contending bodies holding themselves at first at some distance from each other, and ending in close individual fighting. One European observer, writing at rather a late period, declares that numbers always decided the day, that the smaller invariably gave way before the larger force. This view may have some truth in it, but cannot be laid down as an axiom. Accident as frequently as not was decisive, while treacherous desertion or half-hearted support was a frequent occurrence.