The Mughal Empire begins with a Chagatai Turkish ruler from Central Asia named Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur . Babur was the ruler of a minor kingdom in Central Asia and a descendant of the great conqueror, Timur, he feuded with local rulers before eventually becoming embroiled into a fight with the rulers of the Afghani city of Kabul. Babur defeated the local Afghani rulers in the Seige of Kabul in 1504 and made it his capital. He wanted to expand his fledgling empire and was looking for areas to do so, his gaze naturally turned to the rich lands of northern India, which were controlled by the faltering Sultanate of Delhi. Barbur invaded the Sultanate and in 1526 fought the Sultan Imbrham Lodi's army at the first battle of Panipat. Barbur's army only numbered about 12,000 men, but he managed to completely annhiliate Sultan Lodi's much larger army, and the Sultan, along with many of his top nobles, was killed. The reason that Barbur's army was so successful despite its numerical inferiority was the fact that Barbur's army had guns and cannons and the Lodi's did not.

After the battle, Barbur seized Delhi and sent his son, and future emperor Humayun to seize the Lodi capital of Agra, which housed the royal treasury and numerous royal palaces. The huge amount of wealth was distributed among the various Mughal nobles who had followed Barbur. Barbur eventually joined his son in Agra and it became his new capital. But Barbur was about to face another test, a confederation of Rajput Kings led by the ruler of Mewar, Rana Sanga, were marching against Barbur. The Rajputs had, by one account, 80,000 cavalry (probably exaggerated) and 500 armoured elephants. The two sides met at the battle of Kanua. Despite being outnumbered Barbur again triumphed due to the skill of his cavalry and the effective use of cannons and muskets, which devastated the Rajput elephants and cavalry. Rana Sanga and numerous other Rajput leaders were killed. Shortly after this battle Babur marched his troops to the great Rajput fort of Chandiri, and in 1528 stormed the fort and massacred all inside. This broke Rajput power and ensured that the Mughals would now have a base from which to expand their power.

Barbur died in December of 1530, and his son Humayun took control of the Mughal Empire which at this point included parts of Central Asia, parts of Afghanistan around Kabul, and a large part of Northern India. Humayun was still very much a Timurid ruler, and in keeping with Timurid traditions parcelled up his empire among his various brothers to rule in his name. His brother Mizra got Northwest India, his brother Kamran got Afghanistan, and his two other brothers Askari and Hindal got parts of India. Two of his brothers, Kamran and Askari, started working together to undermine Humayun's rule. Before Humayun could deal with his two brothers, he had to focus on external problems. First, Humayun had to deal with a troublesome maritime kingdom known as “Gujarat”. Gujarat had a well equipped modern army, that contained Portuguese advisers, using this army the leader of Gujarat led an invasion of Mughal territory. The Mughals beat them back, but due to some indecision on Humayun's part (some have speculated that this was due to his Opium addiction which caused him to go into solitude for long periods of time) the Gujarats rebuilt their army and the war ended in a stalemate. The Gujarats may have been an issue, but the aggressive leader of the Gujarats, Bahdur Sha, was killed by the Portuguese. More pressing was the threat of Afghan nobles in Eastern India. A very ambitious noble named Sher Khan had gained control of Bihar province in Northeastern India and then invaded Bengal. The Bengal rulerappealed to the Mughals for help and Humayun marched at the head of an army to defeat Sher Khan. The two sides met at the town of Chausa on the river Ganges, where the Afghans launched a surprise attack that destroyed the Mughal army; Humayun barely escaped with his life. Humayun was forced to flee to Persia and take refuge with the Shah, while the Afghans began to expand their power in the wake of the Timurd defeat.

Humayun eventually befriended the Persian Shah and managed to gain his support. Humayun, with fresh supplies and Persian troops, invaded Afghanistan any by 1553 had regained all of Mughal Afghanistan and captured his brother Karman. Karman was blinded and in 1554 Humayun invaded India. Sher Khan had died in 1545, and his son, Islam Shah took over. Islam Shah died a year before the Mughal invasion and the Afghan empire began to fall into disarray. The Mughal invasion met little resistance until the battle of Sirhind. One of Islam Shah's successors assembled a relatively large Afghan army and the two sides clashed. It was a hard fought battle but eventually the Mughals triumphed, the Shahs fled the battlefield and the Mughal Empire was restored in mid 1555 when Humayun entered Delhi.

Humayun didn't last much longer and in January of 1556 he fell down the stairs of his library and died three days later from his injuries. His young son Akbar was crowned as Mughal Emperor seventeen days later. Akbar would lead the Empire away from its Timurid origins and forge it into a distinctively Indo-Muslim Empire. Akbar would transform the Mughal Empire into the most powerful country on the Indian continent and one of the most powerful Empires of its time.

Sources:

"The New Cambridge History of India: The Mughals" by John F. Richards

"Mughal Warfare" by Jos Gommans