The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Empire and the invading army of the Durrani Afghan Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately 97 kilometres (60 mi) north of Delhi. The Afghans were supported by four key allies in India: the Pashtun Rohillas under the command of Najib ad-Dawlah, the Baloch Khanate of Kalat, and the Oudh State under Shuja-ud-Daula as well as elements of the declining Mughal Empire. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who was third-highest authority of the Maratha Empire after the Chhatrapati and the Peshwa. The bulk of the Maratha army was stationed in the Deccan Plateau with the Peshwa.

Militarily, the battle pitted the artillery, musketry and cavalry of the Marathas against the heavy cavalry, musketry (jezail) and mounted artillery (zamburak) of the Afghans and Rohillas led by Abdali and Najib ad-Dawlah. The battle is considered to be one of the largest and most eventful fought in the 18th century, and it has perhaps the largest number of fatalities in a single day reported in a classic formation battle between two armies.

The specific site of the battle itself is disputed by historians, but most consider it to have occurred somewhere near modern-day Kaalaa Aamb and Sanauli Road. The battle lasted for several days and involved over 125,000 troops; protracted skirmishes occurred, with losses and gains on both sides. The Afghan army ultimately emerged victorious from the battle after successfully destroying several Maratha flanks. The extent of the losses on both sides is heavily disputed by historians, but it is believed that between 60,000–70,000 troops were killed in the fighting, while the numbers of injured and prisoners taken vary considerably. According to the single-best eyewitness chronicle—the bakhar by Shuja-ud-Daula's Diwan Kashi Raja—about 40,000 Maratha prisoners were collectively slaughtered on the day after the battle. British historian Grant Duff includes an interview of a survivor of these massacres in his History of the Marathas and generally corroborates this number. Shejwalkar, whose monograph Panipat 1761 is often regarded as the single-best secondary source on the battle, says that "not less than 100,000 Marathas (soldiers and non-combatants) perished during and after the battle".