How did the mughal empire handle its relations with foreigners and external threats/influence?
The empires first overwhelming attack was when Bābur’s son Humāyūn lost control of the empire to Afghan rebels. Then Humāyūn’s son Akbar defeated the Hindu usurper Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) and thereby reestablished his dynasty in Hindustan. Akbar's military style was the reason why the Mughals were around for so long. The Mughal empire consisted of mainly Muslims but were very tolerant to outside religions. One example of that is Jahangir's tolerance policy towards Hinduism. The empire's rulers were all very tolerant to outsiders up to the reign of Auranzeb. He was incredibly intolerant and started the down fall of the empire. He excluded Hindus from public office and destroyed their schools and temples, while his persecution of the Sikhs of the Punjab turned that sect against Muslim rule and roused rebellions among the Rajputs, Sikhs, and Marathas. The empire became very week after Auranzeb and during his successor's reign the empire was driven down by many northern attacks. Finally the British took over their last bit of land.