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We have read about smaller invading armies defeating larger armies (Battle of Plassey, Battle of Panipat). Can you give some famous examples of a large invading army getting beaten by a smaller one?

A lot of examples exist.I will just copy paste from articles i read over the internet. Battle Of Longewala 1971 The Battle of Longewala was one of the first Western battles of the ,Indo-Pakistani War of 1971,. It occurred when a large number of Pakistani troops and tanks entered India, meeting Major K.S. Chandpuri of the Indian army with his 100 men, some of whom were training to be mortar men, and their single Jeep, which was fitted with an ,anti-tank weapon,. The major was occupying a fortified sand dune at Longewala, a small hamlet in the Thar desert, when his position came under bombardment early in the morning of December 5, 1971, killing five camels. By 4:00 AM on the same morning, around 55 Chinese T-59 tanks and US Sherman tanks controlled by the Pakistani force were spotted to the south, as well as a battalion of Pakistani infantry numbering around 3,000 and 24 artillery guns. During the course of the night, the major and his men destroyed 12 enemy tanks, pushing back attack after attack from their sand dune with limited means of retaliation. Due to a lack of night vision in outdated Indian planes, air support was refused to the defenders until morning. When two Indian hunter planes arrived at dawn, the desert became a killing field, with nowhere for the enemy tanks to hide and sand making it difficult to maneuver. By 11:00 AM, after the men had held out against a column of tanks and a battalion of infantry, help arrived. Major Chandpuri was able to rout the enemy on December 6, with only eight enemy tanks escaping the wrath of the 101. Siege Of Vienna 1529 In August 1526, Sultan Suleiman I, of the Ottoman Empire, successfully seized control of ,southern Hungary,. After unsuccessful military attempts by Ferdinand I, the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, to retake the land, the Ottomans marched to ,take control of Hungary, on May 10, 1529. After Ferdinand abandoned the city to (in effect) go and cry to his brother until he got help, the Marshall of Austria, Wilhelm von Roggendorf, took command of Vienna’s small garrison. He commanded the defense alongside a 70-year-old German mercenary, Niklas Graf Salm. The Viennese were able to muster around 20,000 men and 75 artillery guns to defend the city. The Ottoman army that arrived at Vienna in September numbered 100,000 men and 500 artillery pieces. The siege began with a bombardment of over 300 of those guns, used to cover attempts by the Ottomans to undermine the walls by digging tunnels. Upon learning of these attempts, Niklas had bowls of water, filled with dried peas, placed around the walls. The dried peas floated on the surface of the water and, when disturbed by nearby digging, created ripples in the water, informing the defenders that the Ottomans were coming. Defenders then dispatched their own diggers to intercept the enemy’s digging attempts and destroy the mines. In one such instance, they nearly captured the Suleiman’s Grand Vizier. On October 6, 1529, 8,000 troops left the city in a rather risky raid that aimed to put a stop to the mining operations. They succeeded in destroying most of the attackers’ mines but took heavy casualties in doing so. On October 14, Suleiman’s forces retreated, having lost most of their mines to the defenders or rain and having taken heavy casualties. Battle Of Tolvajärvi 1939 The Battle of Tolvajärvi was part of the Finnish counterattack at the start of the,Winter War, against the Soviet Union. The 139th Soviet Division, numbering some 20,000 men, 45 tanks, and 150 artillery, had been forcing the 4,000 Finns holding the Tolvajärvi area to retreat ,at a rapid pace,. Colonel Paavo Talvela, of the Finnish army, planned to divide his already outnumbered forces and launch a pincer attack over two frozen lakes. Three groups of Finns, attacking the north, center, and south of Soviet defensive lines, would attempt to encircle the overwhelming forces and destroy as much of it as possible. At 8:00 AM on December 12, 1939, the counterattack began. One group of Finns attacked the Soviet defenses to the north and met a far superior Soviet regiment that was planning to attack the Finnish flank. After four hours of vicious fighting the group of Finns was forced back, though they had kept the Soviets from being able to do anything against the other two attacks. On top of this, a small Finnish company stayed behind, proving too stubborn to defeat and preventing the 718th Soviet Division from sending reinforcements to the south. The second group of Finns attacked the Soviets from the center, overwhelming an entire Soviet division despite their artillery support proving extremely weak. Advancing toward a hotel, which had been turned into a fortress and used as a command center by the Soviets, they captured the building after a bloody fight in which their commander was killed. Finns to the south captured Kotisaari Island after bloody fighting. The victory was one of the Finns’ biggest of the war, boosting morale. They also captured vast supplies of weapons and killed over 1,000 Soviet soldiers compared to the 100 or so killed on the Finnish side. Second Battle Of Lacolle Mill 1814 During the War of 1812, American forces tried numerous times to break through English and Canadian defense lines in lower Canada so that they could advance on Montreal. In February 1814, Major General James Wilkinson led a force of 4,000 men and 11 artillery pieces to try and ,seize Montreal,. Early in the afternoon of March 30, Wilkinson, forced to use a bridge to cross the strong Lacolle river, met a British garrison at Lacolle Mill. Major Richard Handcock commanded the 180 British soldiers and Marines, along with 160 Canadian Fencibles (an infantry unit) nearby, which later reinforced him. Wilkinson could only fire three of his 11 artillery guns on the enemy position, leading hours of bombardment to achieve little damage on the stone mill. Outnumbered 12 to 1, and relatively untouched by American attacks, the plucky Handcock, running out of ammunition and presumably insane, ordered a charge to capture the American artillery. The first charge failed, however, believing a single suicidal charge would be insufficient in securing his place in the annals of history, Handcock led a second charge after being reinforced with around 550 men, which captured the artillery briefly before being forced to retreat. By 6:00 PM, Wilkinson retreated, with the Americans having suffered 254 killed or wounded, while the far smaller British force suffered 61. Battle Of Vitkov Hill 1420 The Hussites were a Christian Protestant movement that attacked Catholic beliefs and practices. During the ,Hussite Wars, in Bohemia (1419-1434), in which the Holy Roman Empire called a crusade against the ,Hussites,, a small group of Hussite peasants held off a massive Crusading army. In February 1420, an army of 150,000 Crusaders marched on the city of Prague and laid siege. Jan Zizka, a Hussite commander, had been able to get his numerically inferior peasant army, who had defeated the Crusaders in previous skirmishes, into the city before it was besieged. On July 12, 1420, the Crusaders, thinking that the city would be taken easily, attacked carelessly. The vastly outnumbered Hussite defenders focused on defending Vitkov Hill, a major part of the city’s fortifications. On July 14, after two days of fighting, the peasant army, fighting with only sharpened tools, had repelled every attack by the Crusaders, allowing a relief force to route the enemy and piss off the Pope to no end. sourse: ,10 Amazing Military Victories Against The Odds - Listverse The Battle of Salsu, was an enormous battle that occurred in the year AD 612, during the ,second Goguryeo-Sui War,, between the Korean kingdom of ,Goguryeo,and the Chinese ,Sui Dynasty,. Goguryeo cavalry forces, pursuing the Sui army, attacked and defeated it at the Salsu River. History[,edit,] In AD 612 the Sui ,Emperor Yangdi, invaded Goguryeo with over one million men.,[3], However, Goguryeo defiantly resisted its enemy. Emperor Yangdi dispatched 305,000 troops to ,Pyongyang,, capital of Goguryeo. Goguryeo Gen. ,Eulji Mundeok, defended fortresses against the Sui army and navy for several months and destroyed the Sui troops while retreating into Goguryeo territory. An ambush at Salsu (,Chongchon River,) inflicted massive casualties on the Sui forces. When the Sui army had reached Salsu the water level was shallow, as Eulji Mundeok had already cut off the flow of water with a ,dam,. When the Sui troops were halfway across the river, Eulji opened the dam and the onslaught of water drowned thousands of Sui soldiers. The Goguryeo cavalry then charged the remaining Sui forces. The surviving Sui troops were forced to retreat at a breakneck pace to the ,Liaodong Peninsula, to avoid being killed. This led to an overall campaign loss of all but 2,800 Sui troops out of 350,000 men,,[2],[4], The Battle of Salsu is listed among the ,most lethal "classical formation" battles in world history,. With victory over the Sui dynasty at the Salsu, Goguryeo eventually won the war itself, while the Sui Dynasty, crippled by the enormous loss of manpower and resources as a result of its Korean campaigns, started to crumble from within and was finally brought down by internal strife, to be replaced soon thereafter by the,Tang,. The ,Battle of Achelous, or ,Acheloos, ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bitka_aheloi_1_310.jpg, The oath of the Byzantine soldiers on the eve of the battle. The Byzantine army marched northwards and set its camp in the vicinity of the strong fortress of Anchialus. Leo Phocas intended to invade ,Moesia, and meet the Pechenegs and Lecapenus's troops in ,Dobrudzha,. Simeon swiftly concentrated his army on the heights around the fortress. On the morning of 20 August 917, the battle between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines began by the river ,Achelous, near the modern village ,Acheloi,, 8 kilometers to the north of Anchialus (modern ,Pomorie,) on ,Bulgaria,'s ,Black Sea, coast. The Byzantine generals planned to outflank the right Bulgarian wing in order to detach Simeon's troops from the Balkan Passes. The Bulgarian ruler concentrated his most powerful forces in the two wings and left the centre relatively weak in order to surround the enemy when the centre would yield to the Byzantine attack. Simeon himself was in charge of large cavalry reserves hidden behind the hills which were intended to strike the decisive blow. ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bulgarians_defeat_the_Byzantines_at_Anchialos.jpg, The Bulgarian victory at Anchialus. The Byzantine attack was fierce and it was not long before the Bulgarians began slowly to retreat.,[20], The enemy cavalry charged the infantry in the centre killing many Bulgarians. The Bulgarian position became desperate as they could not manage to hold the heights to the south of the river and began a hasty retreat to the north. Elated, the Byzantines started a bitter chase and their battle formations soon began to break, especially as a rumour spread that their commander, Leo Phocas, had been killed.,[4], At this point, Simeon, who had detected the disarray in the Byzantine formation, ordered his army to stand, and, at the head of his heavy cavalry corps, attacked the Byzantine left wing from behind the hills.,[21], With an irresistible onslaught the cavalry bore down at the confused enemy who immediately bent under their attack, panicked and took to their heels.,[22], “...And even now there could be seen piles of bones at Anchialus, where the fleeing army of the Romans was disgracefully slain.” —from ,Leo the Deacon,'s ,History,, 75 years later,[23], Some Byzantines tried to repulse the cavalry charge but they were also attacked by the infantry. Tsar Simeon personally took part in the fight, his white horse killed at the height of the battle. The Byzantines were completely routed. Leo Phocas was saved by fleeing to Mesembria (modern ,Nesebar,) in ,Bulgaria,, but in the thick of the battle ,Constantine Lips,, John Grapson and many other commanders (,archontes,) were cut down along with an enormous number of soldiers and officers.,[24], By the end of the day the Bulgarians overwhelmed the defenders of Mesembria and captured the town. Leo Phocas barely escaped by boarding a ship. The Byzantine historian ,Leo the Deacon, says that 75 years after this military catastrophe the field at Anchialus was still covered with tens of thousands of Roman skeletons. The battle was among the bloodiest of,medieval, history and some historians,[25], refer to it as "the battle of the century". The ,Battle of Manzikert, (,Turkish,: ,Malazgirt Muharebesi,) was fought between the ,Byzantine Empire, and the ,Seljuq Turks, on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert (modern ,Malazgirt, in ,Muş Province,, ,Turkey,). The decisive defeat of the ,Byzantine army, and the capture of the Emperor ,Romanos IV Diogenes,[5], played an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in ,Anatolia, and ,Armenia,,,[6], and allowed for the gradual ,Turkification, of Anatolia. The brunt of the battle was borne by the professional soldiers from the eastern and western ,tagmata,, as large numbers of mercenaries and Anatolian ,levies, fled early and survived the battle.,[7], The fallout from Manzikert was disastrous for the Byzantines, resulting in civil conflicts and an economic crisis that severely weakened the Byzantine Empire's ability to adequately defend its borders.,[8], This led to the mass movement of Turks into central Anatolia—by 1080, an area of 78,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi) had been gained by the Seljuk Turks. It took three decades of internal strife before ,Alexius I, (1081 to 1118) restored stability to Byzantium. Historian Thomas Asbridge says: "In 1071, the Seljuqs crushed an imperial army at the Battle of Manzikert (in eastern Asia Minor), and though historians no longer consider this to have been an utterly cataclysmic reversal for the Greeks, it still was a stinging setback.",[9] Battle of Hattin The crusaders began their march from Sephoria on July 3. Guy would command the center, with Raymond in the vanguard and Balian, Raynald, and the military orders made up the rearguard. The crusaders were almost immediately under harassment from the Muslim skirmishers on horseback. By noon on that day, the Crusader army had reached a spring at the village of ,Tur'an, some six miles (10 km) from La Saphorie. Here, according to Saladin, "The hawks of the Frankish infantry and the eagle of their cavalry hovered around the water." It was still nine miles (14 km) to Tiberias. Therefore, with only a half day of marching time remaining, any attempt to leave this sure water source to seek that objective the same day, all while under the constant attack of Saladin's army, would be foolhardy. (In 1182 the Frankish army had only advanced 8 miles (13 km) in a full day in face of the enemy and in 1183 Guy had managed but six miles (10 km) in a similar situation, taking a full day.) But, as Saladin wrote, "Satan incited Guy to do what ran counter to his purpose." That is, for unknown reasons, Guy set out that very afternoon, marching his army forward, seeming to head for Tiberias. When Saladin arrived from the taking of Tiberias, and after the Crusader army left Tur'an, the Muslims began their attack in earnest. Saladin sent the two wings of his army around the Frankish force and seized the spring at Tur'an, thus blocking the Frankish line of retreat. This maneuver would give Saladin victory.,[13], There was a major change in the Crusaders plan. Believing that the Crusader army could not fight its way across Saladin's front, Raymond persuaded Guy to veer to the left and head for the springs of Hattin only 6 miles (9.7 km) away. From there they could march down to Tiberias the following day.,[14], In the ensuing struggle, the Crusader rearguard was forced to a standstill by continuous attacks, thus halting the whole army on the ,arid, ,plateau, near the village of Meskana. The crusaders were thus forced to make camp surrounded by the Muslims. They now had no water nor any hope of receiving supplies or reinforcements. Guy hoped that the Christian army could force its way through to the Spring of Hattin the following morning.,[15], The Muslim army piled on the crusaders' misery, by praying, singing, beating drums, showing symbols, and chanting. They set fire to the dry grass, making the crusaders' throats even drier. ,[16], The Crusaders were now thirsty, demoralized and exhausted. The Muslim army by contrast had a ,caravan of camels, bring ,goatskins, of water up from ,Lake Tiberias, (now known as the Sea of Galilee).,[17], ,Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, summarizes the situation of the Frankish army: They were closely beset as in a noose, while still marching on as though being driven to death that they could see before them, convinced of their doom and destruction and themselves aware that the following day they would be visiting their graves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hittin.jpg, Horns of Hattin, 2005, as viewed from the east On the morning of July 4, the crusaders were blinded by smoke from the fires set by Saladin's forces. They came under fire from Muslim mounted archers from the divisions commanded by ,Gökböri,, who had been resupplied with 400 loads of arrows that had been brought up during the night. Gerard and Raynald advised Guy to form battle lines and attack, which was done by Guy's brother ,Amalric,. Raymond led the first division with ,Raymond of Antioch,, the son of ,Bohemund III of Antioch,, while Balian and ,Joscelin III of Edessa, formed the rearguard. Thirsty and demoralized, the crusaders broke camp and changed direction for the springs of Hattin, but their ragged approach was attacked by Saladin's army which blocked the route forward and any possible retreat. Count Raymond launched two charges in an attempt to break through to the water supply at the ,Lake Tiberias,. The second of these enabled him to reach the lake and make his way to Tyre.,[18], After Raymond escaped, Guy's position was now even more desperate. Most of the Christian infantry had effectively deserted by fleeing in a mass onto the Horns of Hattin where they played no further part in the battle. Overwhelmed by thirst and wounds, many were killed on the spot without resistance while the remainder were taken prisoner. Their plight was such that five of Raymond's knights went over to the Muslim leaders to beg that they be mercifully put to death.,[16], Guy attempted to pitch the tents again to block the Muslim cavalry. The Christian knights and mounted ,serjeants, were disorganized, but still fought on. Christian chronicles record how the gold reliquary holding the True Cross was hustled into Guy's red tent for safety.[,citation needed,] Now the crusaders were surrounded and, despite three desperate charges on Saladin's position, were eventually defeated. An eyewitness account of this is given by Saladin's 17-year-old son, al-Afdal. It is quoted by Muslim chronicler ,Ibn al-Athir,: When the king of the Franks [Guy] was on the hill with that band, they made a formidable charge against the Muslims facing them, so that they drove them back to my father [Saladin]. I looked towards him and he was overcome by grief and his complexion pale. He took hold of his beard and advanced, crying out "Give the lie to the Devil!" The Muslims rallied, returned to the fight and climbed the hill. When I saw that the Franks withdrew, pursued by the Muslims, I shouted for joy, "We have beaten them!" But the Franks rallied and charged again like the first time and drove the Muslims back to my father. He acted as he had done on the first occasion and the Muslims turned upon the Franks and drove them back to the hill. I again shouted, "We have beaten them!" but my father rounded on me and said, "Be quiet! We have not beaten them until that tent [Guy's] falls." As he was speaking to me, the tent fell. The sultan dismounted, prostrated himself in thanks to God Almighty and wept for joy.,[19], Surrender of crusaders[,edit,] ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saladin_and_Guy.jpg, Modern interpretation of Saladin accepting the surrender of ,Guy of Lusignan, The Muslim forces had captured the royal tent of King Guy, as well as the True Cross after the Bishop of Acre was killed in the fighting. Prisoners included Guy, his brother,Amalric II,, ,Raynald de Chatillon,, ,William V of Montferrat,, ,Gerard de Ridefort,, ,Humphrey IV of Toron,, ,Hugh of Jabala,, Plivain of Botron, ,Hugh of Gibelet,, and many other barons of the Kingdom of Jersalem. Perhaps only as few as 3,000 Christians escaped the defeat. The anonymous text ,De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum Libellus, claims that Raymond, Joscelin, Balian, and ,Reginald of Sidon, fled the field in the middle of the battle, trampling "the Christians, the Turks, and the Cross" in the process, but this is not corroborated by other accounts and reflects the author's hostility to the Poleins[,dubious, – ,discuss,]. The exhausted captives were brought to Saladin's tent, where Guy was given a ,goblet, of iced water as a sign of Saladin's generosity. When Guy passed the goblet to his fellow captive Raynald, Saladin allowed the old man (Raynald was about 60) to drink but shortly afterwards said that he had not offered water to Raynald and thus was not bound by the Muslim rules of hospitality. When Saladin accused Raynald of being an oath breaker, Raynald replied "kings have always acted thus. I did nothing more." Saladin then executed Raynald himself, beheading him with his sword. Guy fell to his knees at the sight of Raynald's corpse but Saladin bade him to rise, saying, "It is not the wont of kings, to kill kings; but that man had transgressed all bounds, and therefore did I treat him thus. This man was only killed because of his maleficence and perfidy." Saladin commanded that the other captive barons were to be spared and treated humanely. However all of the 200,[20], knights of the Templar and Hospitaller Military Orders taken prisoner were executed at Saladin's orders, with the exception of the Grand Master of the Temple.,[21],[22], The executions were by decapitation. ,Saint Nicasius,, a ,Knight Hospitaller, venerated as a Christian ,martyr,, is said to have been one of the victims.,[23], ,Imad ed-Din,, Saladin's secretary, wrote: "Saladin ordered that they should be beheaded, choosing to have them dead rather than in prison. With him was a whole band of scholars and sufis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics, each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his sword and rolled back his sleeve. Saladin, his face joyful, was sitting on his ,dais,, the unbelievers showed black despair.",[24], The ,Battle of Legnica, (,Polish,: ,bitwa pod Legnicą,), also known as the ,Battle of Liegnitz, (,German,: ,Schlacht von Liegnitz,) or ,Battle of Wahlstatt, (,German,:,Schlacht bei Wahlstatt,), was a ,battle, between the ,Mongol Empire, and the combined defending forces of European fighters that took place at ,Legnickie Pole,(,Wahlstatt,) near the city of ,Legnica, in the ,Silesia, province of the ,Kingdom of Poland, on 9 April 1241. A combined force of ,Poles,, ,Czechs, and ,Germans, under the command of the Polish duke ,Henry II the Pious, of ,Silesia,, supported by feudal nobility and a few,knights, from ,military orders, sent by the ,Pope,, attempted to halt the ,Mongol invasion of Europe,. The battle came two days before the Mongol victory over the Hungarians at the much larger ,Battle of Mohi,. The ,Battle of Stirling Bridge, was a battle of the ,First War of Scottish Independence,. On 11 September 1297, the forces of ,Andrew de Moray, and ,William Wallace,defeated the combined English forces of ,John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey,, and ,Hugh de Cressingham, near ,Stirling,, on the ,River Forth,. The ,Tumu Crisis, (,simplified Chinese,: 土木之变; ,traditional Chinese,: 土木之變; ,Mongolian,: Тумугийн тулалдаан); also called the ,Crisis of Tumu Fortress,(,simplified Chinese,: 土木堡之变; ,traditional Chinese,: 土木堡之變) or ,Battle of Tumu, (,Chinese,: 土木之役), was a frontier conflict between the ,Oirat, ,Mongols, and the,Chinese, ,Ming dynasty, which led to the capture of the ,Zhengtong Emperor, on September 1, 1449, and the defeat of an army of 500,000 men by a much smaller force.,[3], In July 1449 ,Esen Tayisi, (Chinese: 也先台吉) of the ,Oirat, ,Mongols, launched a large-scale, three-pronged invasion of China with his puppet ,khagan, ,Toqtaq-Buqa,. He personally advanced on ,Datong, (in northern ,Shanxi, province) in August. The ,eunuch, official ,Wang Zhen,, who dominated the Ming court, encouraged the 22-year-old Zhengtong Emperor to lead his own armies into battle against Esen. The size of Esen's army is unknown but a best guess puts it at some 20,000 men. The Ming army of about 500,000 was hastily assembled; its command was made up of 20 experienced generals and a large entourage of high-ranking civil officials, with Wang Zhen acting as field marshal. On August 3 Esen's army crushed a badly supplied Chinese army at Yanghe, just inside the ,Great Wall,. The same day the Emperor appointed his half-brother ,Zhu Qiyu, as regent. The next day he left ,Beijing, for ,Juyong Pass,. The objective was a short, sharp march west to ,Datong, via the ,Xuanfu garrison,, a campaign into the,steppe, and then a return to Beijing by a southerly route through ,Yuzhou,. Initially the march was mired by heavy rain. At ,Juyong Pass, the civil officials and generals wanted to halt and send the emperor back to Beijing, but their opinions were overruled by Wang Zhen. On August 16, the army came upon the corpse-strewn battlefield of Yanghe. When it reached Datong on August 18, reports from garrison commanders persuaded Wang Zhen that a campaign into the steppe would be too dangerous. The "expedition" was declared to have reached a victorious conclusion and on August 20 the army set out back toward ,China proper,. Fearing that the restless soldiers would cause damage to his estates in Yuzhou, Wang Zhen decided to strike northeast and return by the same exposed route as they had come. The army reached ,Xuanfu, on August 27. On August 30 the Mongols attacked the rearguard east of Xuanfu and wiped it out. Soon afterwards they also annihilated a powerful new rearguard of cavalry, led by the elderly General Zhu Yong, at Yaoerling. On August 31 the imperial army camped at the post station of Tumu. Wang Zhen refused his ministers' suggestion to have the emperor take refuge in the walled city of ,Huailai,, just 45 km ahead. Esen sent an advance force to cut access to water from a river south of the Chinese camp. By the morning of September 1 they had surrounded the Chinese army. Wang Zhen rejected any offers to negotiate and ordered the confused army to move toward the river. A battle ensued between the disorganized Chinese army and the advance guard of Esen's army (Esen was not at the battle). The Chinese army basically dissolved and was almost annihilated. The Mongols captured a huge quantity of arms and armour while killing most of the Chinese troops. All the high-ranking Chinese generals and court officials were killed. According to some accounts, Wang Zhen was killed by his own officers. The Emperor was captured, and on September 3 he was sent to Esen's main camp near Xuanfu. The entire expedition had been unnecessary, ill-conceived and poorly commanded. The Mongol victory was won by an advance guard of perhaps as few as 5,000 cavalry. Esen, for his part, was not prepared for the scale of his victory or for the capture of the Ming Emperor. At first he attempted to use the captured emperor to raise a ransom and planned to conquer the undefended Ming capital of Beijing. However, his plan was foiled due to the steadfast leadership of the Ming commander in the capital, General ,Yu Qian,. The Ming leaders rejected Esen's offer, Yu stating that the country was more important than an emperor's life. The Ming never paid a ransom for the return of the Emperor, and Esen released him four years later. Esen himself faced growing criticism for his failure to exploit his victory over the Ming and he was ,assassinated,six years after the battle in 1455. Although the Oirats later occupied the ,Ordos Desert,, they never again seriously threatened the Ming state. First Battle of Panipat Background[,edit,] The battle was fought on 21 April 1526 near the small village of ,Panipat, (now an industrial town in Haryana), in the present day Indian state of ,Haryana,, an area that has been the site of a number of decisive battles for the control of Northern India since the twelfth century. It is estimated that Babur's forces numbered around 15,000 men and had between 20 to 24 pieces of field artillery. Babur estimated Lodi had around 100,000 men, though that number included camp followers. The actual Lodi fighting force was around 30,000 to 40,000 men in total, along with at least 1,000 ,war elephants,.,[1], Battle[,edit,] Hearing of the size of Ibrahim's army, Babur secured his right flank against the city of Panipat, while digging a trench covered with tree branches to secure his left flank. In the center, he placed 700 carts tied together with ropes. Between every two carts there were breastworks for his matchlockmen. Babur also ensured there was enough space for his cavalry to charge between these carts.,[3], When Ibrahim's army arrived, he found the approach to Babur's army too narrow to attack. While Ibrahim redeployed his forces to allow for the narrower front, Babur quickly took advantage of the situation to flank (,tulghuma,) the Lodi army.,[3], Many of Ibrahim's troops, were unable to get into action and as the battle turned against Ibrahim, they fled.,[4], Faced with ,musket, fire, cannon fire and cavalry attacks from all sides, Ibrahim Lodi fought and died with 6,000 of his remaining troops.,[3]