Army of the Mughal Empire

The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 16th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, were in the cavalry-based armies of central Asia, its essential form and structure was established by the empire's third emperor, Akbar. The army had no regimental structure and the soldiers were not directly recruited by the emperor. Instead, they would be recruited and fielded by Mansabdar officers.

During the 17th century, the Mughal empire possessed largest military on earth, which could reached 911,400-4,039,097 infantry and 342,696 cavalry. Alternatively, according to the census by Abul Fazl, it is roughly about flat 4 million army with less than half million of them trained as cavalry.^: 89–90

The Empire did maintain a fleet of warships and transport ships. Mughal artillery consisted of heavy cannons, light artillery, grenadiers and rockets.^{: 48 : 133} Heavy cannons were very expensive and heavy for transportation, and had to be dragged by elephants into the battlefield.