I know very little about history, this was so easy to understand and interesting to know as a science student.

I agree with the opinion presented by Abhijit, just to share one incident regarding Chhatrapti Shivaji. During the siege of Panhalgad, when Henry Revigton brought his British cannons, Shivaji noted that these cannons are different. The cannon balls were exploding post impact. We need such advance cannons. Regarding mobile artillery, Shivaji did have something called Otiv Tof (cannon) which were light in weight & can be manufactured by simply joining mutiple metal bangles. But those cannons were untrustworthy.

59:31boss That Pratapgad is in Javali. The most dense forest around. You see the other Side of the fort its a straight valley down. The geography was itself impenetrable. And the walls are made of of Black Basalt, one of the hardest volcanic Rocks in western ghats. And by the way, this picture is not the fort its a Watch tower & the actual fort, which is called a Balekilla, is in the Centre, which is basically a smaller fortress. 2: You showed Rajgad & Called it Raigad. Both are completely different boss. Have you ever been to Raigad? That fort is spine chillingly high. And it had the capacity of sustaining an army of 3-4000 men for close to 7 months during a seige. Raigad was Impenetrable, Period, go and look at some KZfaq videos showing Raigad. No fort in the world you’ll find like it. Its a shame its in terrible condition but its a marvel nonetheless.

The best podcast I've ever come across. Thanks AIM & Kalu bhai. 🔥

Many of Shivaj’s forts were watchtowers. Not exactly like forts on the plains. The area around most of the forts is too steep and mountain cliffs with no chance of bringing any canons there. Forts were a always built in accordance to the surroundings. Star forts are impossible in Sahayadris.

Kushal always looks like he's never paying attention

Even in 3rd Battle of Panipat their are stories of large cannons by Peshwas (Mastanis son was managing it). Afghan army just avoided them.

Same till date, Indian army is buying complex Israeli Tavors 5.56 NATO for Special forces, Russian AKs 7.62x. 39 , American M4s 5.56 , American Sig sauer 7.62 NATO.

I like AIM and his knowledge, thanks to him I have learnt a lot. But sometimes I think that him being a defense analyst and being a critic is too much sometimes. He mentions the context for Europeans but not much about Indians. Yes, the Europeans were superior in technology but the comparison makes little sense. They were going through a lot of unstable period one after the other which led to innovation. Guns came very late to the Indian sub continent, hence the forts weren't made like that. The situations are completely different. The huge cannons were not supposed to move. The short bore ones were useless but the longer ones were fixed cannons to protect the fort. Most cannons were used as defense not as offense, at least the ones that survived. Our architecture was not economical feasible for one simple reason, we had wealth to spare unlike the Europeans who grew rich with colonization and industrialization later on. The forts in Rajasthan are huge and are a big target but they sit on a hilltop with open space around them, acting as surveillance, also them being huge allowed the towns people to get inside during emergencies. Technology arrived very late from the west so they simply weren't made with that purpose. They had their pros and cons. TBH IDK much about Rajput forts. Since I'm a Maratha and someone who has visited Shivaji Maharaj's forts (raigad, shivneri, sinhagad, karnala, panhala, lohagad to name a few) and read about the history, (obviously not an expert) I'll share my two cents on the forts that were made. Those forts are not standalone forts, the entire Sahyadri mountain range is dotted with small and big forts. (another comment mentioned that they were more like watchtowers rather forts on the plains, which is correct) One can see one or two forts from where you are standing. The entire thing is a trap, back then the area was covered in dense jungle making it difficult for huge armies to travel. Attack on one fort could alert the rest, or luring them into the ghats and valleys and then using guerilla tactics is how they would finish off their enemies. The cannons are not as big as the ones in Rajput forts, they were medium sized kinda like the european ones. some were even bought from the europeans who were just starting to establish colonies on the coasts. These cannons were capable to fire near those forts which i mentioned above. they could overlap the area between. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Army#/media/File:MarathaCanon.jpg (image of the cannons on raigad) They also used the wheeled/cart cannons (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Re-manning_the_guns_at_Assaye.jpg) the muskets used by the maratha infantry (upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Maratha_muskets_%28rifles%29.jpg) The maratha forts were not designed to be defeated by heavy infantry, the enemy had to scale the fort which was especially treacherous during monsoon. They were designed as death traps to kill the enemy or atleast thin their numbers till they reached the top. In some forts the entrances followed a gomukh pattern. Like how cow sleeps with her mouth turned inside towards its torso. The entrance would be hidden on the inside and it wouldn't be visible unless you got close and in that case the enemy would get attacked from inside the forts. This is based on my limited knowledge and observation and I could be wrong. In that case feel free to correct me or add to it so people would know more :)

Hey kushal...I hope you read this comment. I have great respect for AIM. I live near PRATAPGAD FORT. I would like to point out one thing and that is "hows enemy gonna bring cannons to pratapgad fort because its in dense JAVLI forest,they gonna die before reaching their because of guerrilla warfare tactics,forget about weight how they gonna move through the sahyadri mountain ranges because this fort is behind Mahabaleshwar hill station.

The longer cannon 34.20 is not Bidar cannon but the cannon from Kalaburagi (erstwhile Gulbarga). And these huge cannons in India were essentially used to defend forts from attacking armies. Mobility wasn't important in these cannons. However, they had a pivot which allowed it to be rotated 360 degrees and point towards the enemy. Bringing the Malik-e-maidan cannon to the battle of Talikota was just to boost the morale of the soldiers and instill fear in the Vijayanagara camp.

These are very VERY interesting and digestible, I always look forward to episodes like these, KEEP EM COMING!!!! MORE !!

Canon use in Assam was superior. There were even man portable canons. And forts were earthen ones, cannon balls were not much effective.

I didn't even know that I have to know these facts, well presented both AIM and KM

The Devgiri fort was taken down by Sadashivrao Bhau (who later went on to lead the Peshwas in the Third battle of Panipat ) with the help of Ibrahim Khan Gardi who was trained under the French for cannon war .. AIM is right in terms of the cannons turning the height of a fortress as a liability than advantage ..

Extremely intriguing discussion! Keep it up, guys 👍

Sir, one important point. If this video is the third in the series, then please can you number it in the title? Also, can you please make a Playlist of this series?

Brilliant as always!

Finally someone with thought, keep up the excellent work!!!

Man thank you for elevating my consciousness far ahead .... thank you alot Enjoyed , loved it

always love abhijit histoy lectures

This is brilliant podcast. As always AIM is amazing and Kunal is someone who really make best of best podcast host out there. Good luck guys.

Hello Kushal and Abhijit, Great admirer of you two, like Kushal has logical and practical thinking, and Abhijit of course because of his Vast knowledge. I have come across both of you through Sham Sharma Show. I am an Architect, so I had huge curiosity as how did we had so much Invasions , I anticipated that it was not just political weakness or lack of Unity, but many other factors as you people rightly pointed out such as Technological advancement and lack of innovation by right time and moment and not just copying others in instances of fortification and Canons. Really helped me have a large perspective of what people should start analytical thinking and not just learning and memorising. As an Architect you have inspired me to do research on this Military Architecture . Really grateful to you people!

This was so insightful!!

Hey man that was so fun to watch ! Please make more of such podcasts

I am an architecture student & I would rather get a lesson in history of architecture from AIM than from my profs in an NIT. 🙂 A doubt? Did AIM do B.Arch.

Fort mein bhi toh Canons hoti hain, they fire canons below. It is always beleficial to have the above ground in the war.

Always wondered about starr shaped mounds at Niagara Fort Thanks AIM🙏🙏🙏

Excellent talk

We were playing Clash of Clans at that point of time. No matter how high level wall we build, enemy will just jump over or will be air bourne.

Abhijit ji Please consider the lohagarh fort. It is in many important ways built keeping in mind the advantages of the European fort design. And guess what it has never been captured. Please consider it also

Best podcast i have seen in a while, keep em coming

An intellectual Diwali. Thanks.

There is so much to learn.

Really interesting topics 👍👍👍

Great analysis

Highly informative discussion. Would like to conjecture that the decline of India ( ~1000 AD onwards ) and the corresponding rise of the west was due to the fact that Indian states ( both Hindu and Muslim ) were preying on the mercantile community while their western counterpart started promoting ( ~1300 ad onwards ). It is very much evident that a huge black economy flourished during the Mughal period and many of the merchents were fabulously rich. The Jagat Seths were the richest in the world. Fed up with the extortion of the Indian rulers, they brought the Europeans in.

great video.enlightening.

As always AIM shows 3 examples then builds quite a bit of an imaginary case on top.....forts were used as refugewhile armies foiught..then shivaji maharaj made a big mistake winning and keeping 260 forts

Thanks

Mr.Mitra looks like jumping to conclusions so fast that sometimes I start doubting his intentions. Apart from that there are points to consider,think and even to ponder upon.Thankful for that part.

Thanks!

Do we have planning now as to what defenses we have in each state if a big part of India is taken by a foreign power in a series of wars over a century ? Do we have layers of security and option for decentralised power system in India ?

Looking forward for the insights on bronze age

>>>Mountain forts - whether Shivaji's or Mewar Rana's, were not meant to be impregnable structures but rather as points which would lure enemy into a terrain where they cannot use their strength - like superior numbers, mobility and gunfire. >>>Aim is also to ensure that your own advantage is maximized - like familiarity with terrain, superiority in hand to hand combat, ability to ambush enemy convoys and columns on march (with least risk for oneself) etc. >>> In this kind of warfare, half of the work was done by troops OUTSIDE the fort divided in small parties (and concealed in hills and forests) who would be constantly harassing the enemy and disrupting his supply/communication lines. Enemy will be forced to divide his resource on siege as well as securing his rear. >>>Here priority was on use of landscape and troop deployment where buildings only had a supportive role.

Endurance is key factor.

Deogiri is also a very old fort....AIM picks one point out of context and builds a lot of BS on top

I think the best forts in india are in shyadri range built by Shivaji Maharaj, the height mountain was so high that forgot cannon a normal man can't came easily, and fear of gunpowder Tunnel and siege tower was not there and the enemy soilders were exhausted by the time they reached mountain top like in Kargil our jawans were exahasted and couldn't carried large ammunition to captured bunker , and in marathas forts various forts towers were there before main, and you will never hear that 8-10 thousand ,20 thousands people were protecting forts like in rajputana, mostly below 1000 people can withstand, and today also mountain trekkers use to climb to fort as like climbing a mountain, and in rajputana they mainly focused on beautiful, architecture, nakashi which attracts modern tourist but you will find marathas fort like kandhar but more useful and shivaji maharaj also focused on many many small forts, and forts were so closed that from one fort on top of mountain you can see other, And Marathas always took care of rations of forts, and bcoz of so much big mountain ranges a small cave spy path can't be traced by enemies and used by marathas many times, marathas fort was so high that today also you can see clouds in front of walls direct

brilliant.

"according to the Manusmṛti, the forest fort suffers from monkey attacks, the earthen forts get swarmed with rodents, the water forts were plagued by diseases etc. The Manusmṛti considers the Hill fort to be the best defensive structure. Some Sanskrit text consider hill forts to be the abode of gods and hence auspicious. The Mahabharata describes the Human fort as the most effective fortification" is this the reason India didn't develop much in fort technology?

Good information

It is gold. I can say that. 24 caret gold.

Geoffrey Parker in his Military Revolution has presented some of the differences

34:21 That cannon is heavier than a WAP5 class locomotive (which weighs 78 tonnes)! The thing is that the WAP5 is a very useful, mainline, high speed passenger locomotive of the Indian Railways while that is a useless cannon.

Kushal please tell Abhijit to search about Bhatner Fort, Hanumangarh it's a 1700yrs old fort... Spreading at 52 Bigha..

5:56 that is a machi on raigad you should check full fort.

AIM could have mentioned British Engineer Benjamin Robbins extraordinary calculation work on using Newtonian physics in perfecting ballistics science via his book Principles of Gunnery in 1742. This made cannon warfare an exact science.

Agra Delhi Lahore forts were ornamental not to protect critical infrastructure , so should we not differentiate between military and palatial forts.

great

It is astonishing to me that after all these problems still Hindus survived.

Holy fuck.... I'm blown away by the military architecture

❤

1st thing- what was the range of cannon of that era? Star shape fort seems to have .5-1 km range from firing range.

Tuppu's fort was just a summer holiday home..

I agree with Abhijit here. Indian military architecture is pretty backwards from the European world . Lack of military innovation has plagued Indian kingdoms ever since the 7th century AD. They were always behind the ball game while the rest of the world kept on innovating.

Why did AIM not show any colonial forts in India to show if they were any better? After all, we have had the Europeans from the 16th century ruling over Indian land. Technology is important in warfare but so is weather, terrain, enemy capability etc. That said, I think our biggest drawback was lack of travel. We hear of so many Chinese and Islamic travelers in India, but no account of Hindu travelers going and visiting far off countries and writing their accounts. They were too prosperous and indolent to bother I guess. Sri Aurobindo has mentioned an ebbing away of vitality from the society. It's probably a late development because we have so many picaresque stories in ancient India like the Das Kumar Charitam that talk of travel adventures.

Thank you AIM and Kushal for this beautiful podcast. Got to know very important area of war planning. #AIM SSS podcast me cig mt piya karo please.. Take care of your health.. this generation needs you 🙏

Would love to know AIMs views on German Flaktowers like the one in Berlin Zoo

Maratha sahayadri mountain forts are excellent.Too high so most mughal cannons until 18th century british mortars couldn't elevate high enough to hit them.Can't be mined because because on stone foundation rather than soil.Mining was the main way ottomans sused to take star forts and mughals also used this against conventional forts.Mughal army would surround the maratha mountain fort and try to starve them out.Get devastated by attrition due to monsoon ,famine,disease and maratha raids from surrounding countryside on besieging army.Maratha fortress network built up by king shivaji is main reason of their victory against aurangzeb in 27 year war.

Abhijit's streamyard screenshare looks like 2 parallel mirrors with infinite reflection🤣

Why were buildings during the 11th to 13th century so thick?? Why was Romansque Architecture was prevalent at that time??

Somewhere I read Chanakya explained in his Book about making Gunpowder but later on, restrained/ discouraged Kings from making it, as it would negate valour of individual fighting skills and may also be (mis)used as offensive weapon of destruction. Can anyone confirm this

Shivaji was genius hence could make those forts work for him...

I’m only watching this for the love I have for AIM…and because how logical and interesting I find Kushal…though history goes over my head.🤣 P.S I love the trio- Shyaam,Kushal and AIM.

kya baat hai

❤🤩🤩

In some cases fixed cannons are compared with mobile by AIM.

Hell yeah

But Abhijit - if the cannons brought into India were ineffective, could it not be argued that the forts built in India were NOT obsolete, but rather were effective at resisting armies which used such ineffective cannons? Shivaji's forts also appeared to be situated in mountainous terrain - it would be difficult for attackers to bring cannons to bear in any effective manner.

I will take Abhijit iyer mitra as my chanakya and become Emperor of India 😁😘

Technical edge has compounding effects. Our civilization didn't use the lead we had pre 1300's in maths and sciences for warfare practices, others milked it quite thoroughly. I guess a part of the reason why this happened, was that India was an extremely habitable and resource rich land, so people could survive avoiding conflicts and war. This kind of behaviour is still prevalant in the society even though the resources are now gone. The wars between Indian kingdoms were mostly rooted in pride and prestige of the kings. Not to forget, their lavish lifestyles and godly entitlements were completely unchecked despite wise men like Chanakya warning about it centuries ago. Whereas in the west, people didn't even have proper food or shelter from the the barren lands and unforgiving climate, hence warfare had popular public support. Moreover, the lack of resources meant people were very stringent and thorough with revolting against bad governance. China too had similar conditions as India, and so it easily fell to mongols way before.

What Kumbhal Garh fort and Chittorgarh fort...

Kushal bhai "Aneesh Gokhale" ko bulana kabhi podcast par. Discussion on the battles of the Maratha empire would be fun.

So are we are lagging behind now too ..?? Hoping our defense is up to date and conceptually futuristic..

How where the Conolnial forts in India. Where they also superior to ours during same time frame or were they similar to ours? If they were similar then it can be argued that India did not have technology like west and the Colonial power here made a conscious decision to build the fort to tackle indian weapons which in some sense justify the type of forts we built to tackle same weapons.

The video thumbnail is the vellore fort?

so much learn

Shivaji was also not interested in long military sieges this was the main difference in between Shivaji and Aurangzeb tanhaji had a history of night attacks as shown in the film he also famous for shivgad campaign where he captured the fort with lesser men than used in Panhala (500 men 2 times lesser than Panhala)

We need a podcast on the current state of Indian civil architecture, especially for public infrastructure. I, personally, follow railway station design and I am not a fan of ' airport like ' stations that have started springing up. They have all the disadvantages of an airport (inefficient use of land, stressful passenger movements and poor access) with very little advantages of a railway station. The only thing is that people go ga ga over them for their flashy and ' modern ' looks. I personally think that they look like soulless garbage (just like airports). The current railway stations in India are absolutely horrible in terms of aesthetics and ergonomics. But these new, ' airport like ' stations are just as bad.

When ever i see those big cannons of Indian rulers , i am reminded of Arjun Tank of Indian Army. This tank is so heavy that most of the bridges won't let it pass or they will collapse. we Indians are still making this same mistake and this will cost us our freedom once again, hopefully not.

👍

Really heartbroken after knowing the truth.

what are your thoughts about kangra fort

They need to read about Mahadaji Shinde

Difference between arabs and turks is very simple.Arabs didn't have massed horse archer,but sword and spear cavalry.Turks are all horse archer army.Rajputs can use their excelent close combat skills against arabs as well as elephants,turks won't close the distance until they have devastated the enemy with arrow attacks all day.Rajputs couldn't counter turk tactics effectively,but were in their element vs arabs and thus defeated them.

1:23:27 yes you are ganja , homo, mota… But my god you made some brilliant analysis Mr. Iyer. Truly amazing information. I am dumbfounded as to why you are not in the government advisory committee. 🙏🏼

Jaipur canon I have seen it a disaster from a strategic point of view

Pratapgad had nothing to do with aurangzeb...secondly the forest around pratapgadh was important

Atleast 1000 years

MACHICOLATIONS!!!