Overview
The Mughal Empire (Decline, 1707–1858 CE) covers 150 years of fragmentation from Aurangzeb's death to Bahadur Shah II's exile to Rangoon after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Real power passed successively from Mughal nobles (Sayyid Brothers), to regional Nawabs (Hyderabad, Awadh), to Afghan invaders (Nadir Shah's catastrophic sack of Delhi in 1739 removed the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor permanently), to the Marathas, and finally to the British East India Company after the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) granted Bengal Diwani rights to the EIC. The emperor became a ceremonial figurehead in the Red Fort; the British paid a pension and administered territory on his nominal behalf from 1803. The script models six phases using nominal suzerainty — the territory where the emperor was formally recognised — including the tiny final Delhi rump of Bahadur Shah II 'Zafar', poet-emperor and last Mughal ruler, who died in exile in Rangoon in 1862.
Territory Phases
Mughal Empire (Decline — Bahadur Shah I)1707 CE – 1720 CE
Near-Aurangzeb scale. Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707-1712) — last Mughal emperor to campaign militarily; fought Rajputs, Sikhs (Banda Singh Bahadur), and Marathas. After his death (1712) the Sayyid Brothers installed puppet emperors, culminating in Muhammad Shah (1720). Nizam of Hyderabad not yet independent (1724). Deccan nominal claim south to ~17N; Punjab west to ~65E; Kabul corridor still nominally Mughal.
Mughal Empire (Muhammad Shah "Rangila")1720 CE – 1739 CE
Muhammad Shah "Rangila" (r. 1720-1748); longest-reigning post-Aurangzeb emperor. Sayyid Brothers overthrown (1720) with Nizam ul-Mulk's help. Nizam declares independent Hyderabad Deccan (1724). Maratha forces under Bajirao I raid Delhi outskirts (1737). Nadir Shah defeats Muhammad Shah at Karnal (1739) and sacks Delhi, carrying off the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor diamond. Phase ends at the Nadir Shah catastrophe; southern boundary contracted to ~20N.
Mughal Empire (Post-Nadir Shah)1739 CE – 1761 CE
Post-Nadir Shah collapse: everything west of the Indus — Kabul, Kandahar, Sindh — lost permanently to Persia, then the Durrani Empire. Punjab contested by Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Sikhs. Deccan largely lost to the Marathas after 1740. Core territory: Delhi, the Doab, Awadh, Rohilkhand, and Bihar. Ahmad Shah Bahadur (r. 1748-1754) and Alamgir II (r. 1754-1759) are Durrani puppets. Shah Alam II accedes 1759. Phase ends at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761).
Mughal Empire (Shah Alam II / Allahabad)1761 CE – 1803 CE
After Third Panipat (1761), empire reduced to the Delhi-Agra-Allahabad corridor. Shah Alam II (r. 1759-1806) flees Delhi; wanders to Allahabad under EIC protection (1765), granting the Bengal Diwani to the East India Company (Treaty of Allahabad). Returns to Delhi under Maratha protection (1772). Blinded by Rohilla chieftain Ghulam Qadir (1788). Phase ends when General Lake captures Delhi for the British (September 1803).
Mughal Empire (British Protectorate — Akbar II)1803 CE – 1837 CE
Akbar II (r. 1806-1837) reigns under British pension after General Lake takes Delhi (1803). Confined to a tiny zone around Delhi and Agra; the British refuse to recognise him as King of Delhi — only as "King." Sent Ram Mohan Roy to London as envoy (1830) to petition the British crown. Ceremonial empire; all real power held by the East India Company.
Mughal Empire (Bahadur Shah II "Zafar")1837 CE – 1858 CE
Bahadur Shah II "Zafar" (r. 1837-1858); poet-emperor and last Mughal ruler. Empire reduced to the Red Fort and its immediate environs. Reluctantly accepted leadership of the 1857 Indian Rebellion when Meerut sepoys proclaimed him emperor; captured at Humayun's Tomb; tried for treason; exiled to Rangoon in 1858. Died in Rangoon, 7 November 1862. The exile formally ended the Mughal Empire (1526-1858).
Key Events
Battle of Jajau1707 CE
Bahadur Shah I defeats rival claimant Azam Shah at Jajau (near Dholpur, Rajasthan), June 1707. Azam Shah is killed on the field. A second claimant, Kam Bakhsh, was defeated separately at the Battle of Hyderabad (January 1709). Jajau marks Bahadur Shah I's uncontested accession as the seventh Mughal emperor.
Death of Bahadur Shah I at Lahore1712 CE
Bahadur Shah I dies at Lahore, 27 February 1712. His four sons immediately fight for succession. The war gives the Sayyid Brothers (Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan) the leverage to become kingmakers.
Sayyid Brothers seize power1713 CE
Farrukhsiyar — backed by the Sayyid Brothers Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan — defeats his rivals and becomes emperor (1713-1719). The Sayyid Brothers hold effective power as Wazir and Mir Bakhshi respectively; Farrukhsiyar is a puppet. They will depose and blind Farrukhsiyar (1719) before being overthrown by Muhammad Shah and Nizam ul-Mulk in 1720.
Fall of the Sayyid Brothers1720 CE
Nizam ul-Mulk and Muhammad Shah engineer the downfall of the Sayyid Brothers. Husain Ali Khan is assassinated; Abdullah Khan is arrested and later executed. Muhammad Shah accedes as emperor (formally 1720), ending the King-Makers' era.
Nizam of Hyderabad declares independence1724 CE
Nizam ul-Mulk (Asaf Jah I) defeats the Mughal-appointed governor of the Deccan at the Battle of Shakar Khera (October 1724) and establishes himself as independent Nizam of Hyderabad Deccan. First formal breakaway of a major Mughal province; sets the template for subsequent regional secessions.
Maratha raid on Delhi1737 CE
Maratha forces under Peshwa Bajirao I reach the outskirts of Delhi (March 1737), camping on the ridge northwest of the city — the first time a Maratha army camped under the walls of the Red Fort. Muhammad Shah, unable to defend the capital, pays tribute and cedes Malwa. The raid presages the Nadir Shah catastrophe two years later.
Battle of Karnal1739 CE
Nadir Shah of Persia defeats Muhammad Shah at Karnal (24 February 1739). Muhammad Shah is taken prisoner; Nadir Shah marches on Delhi. The Mughal army, vastly larger but outmanoeuvred by Nadir Shah's artillery and cavalry, is routed. Muhammad Shah is released to guide Nadir Shah into Delhi.
Nadir Shah sacks Delhi1739 CE
Nadir Shah occupies Delhi (March 1739) and orders a massacre in which ~30,000 Delhi civilians are killed in a single day. The Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond are removed to Persia permanently; ~700 million rupees in cash and treasure are looted. Everything west of the Indus — Kabul, Kandahar, Sindh — is ceded to Persia. The single most devastating event of the Mughal Decline; the treasury never recovers.
Battle of Plassey1757 CE
East India Company forces under Robert Clive defeat Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah of Bengal at Plassey (Palashi), 23 June 1757. The battle is decided largely by the treachery of Mir Jafar. EIC gains effective control of Bengal. Included here for timeline continuity of the Mughal nominal suzerainty phase.
Third Battle of Panipat1761 CE
Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Maratha Confederacy at Panipat, 14 January 1761. Approximately 100,000 Maratha soldiers and camp followers are killed. The battle ends the Maratha bid for dominance of north India. Shah Alam II loses his Delhi base and retreats to Allahabad.
Battle of Buxar1764 CE
East India Company forces defeat the combined army of Shah Alam II, Nawab Shuja ud-Daula of Awadh, and Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal at Buxar, 22 October 1764. Establishes definitive British military supremacy in north India and forces Shah Alam II into EIC protection. Directly precedes the Treaty of Allahabad.
Treaty of Allahabad1765 CE
Shah Alam II grants the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (revenue collection rights) to the East India Company, 12 August 1765. The EIC now collects and controls the revenue of the wealthiest region of the subcontinent; the Mughal emperor receives a fixed pension. The legal foundation of British rule in India.
Ghulam Qadir blinds Shah Alam II1788 CE
Rohilla chieftain Ghulam Qadir briefly seizes Delhi and the Red Fort (August 1788), torturing and blinding Shah Alam II in search of hidden treasure. He is driven out by the Marathas within weeks. The blinding of the emperor symbolises the nadir of Mughal power in the 18th century.
Battle of Delhi — British capture Delhi1803 CE
British General Gerard Lake defeats Maratha forces at the Battle of Patparganj (11 September 1803). Delhi falls to the East India Company the same day. Shah Alam II, blind and powerless in the Red Fort, becomes a British-protected pensioner. The Mughal emperor is now de jure sovereign in name only.
Indian Rebellion — sepoys proclaim Bahadur Shah II emperor1857 CE
Mutinous sepoys from Meerut march to Delhi (10-11 May 1857) and proclaim Bahadur Shah II emperor of Hindustan, triggering the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Bahadur Shah II reluctantly accepts nominal leadership. Delhi becomes the centre of resistance for three months until British forces retake the city in September 1857.
Trial of Bahadur Shah II1858 CE
Bahadur Shah II — captured at Humayun's Tomb on 20 September 1857 by Lieutenant William Hodson — is tried before a British military commission (January-March 1858). Charged with treason, murder, and rebellion. Found guilty; sentenced to exile. His three sons and a grandson were executed by Hodson at the Khooni Darwaza (Bloody Gate) on 22 September 1857.
Exile of Bahadur Shah II to Rangoon1858 CE
Bahadur Shah II is exiled to Rangoon (present-day Yangon, Myanmar) in October 1858. The formal end of the Mughal Empire (1526-1858). He died in Rangoon on 7 November 1862, aged 87. His final Urdu ghazal: "How unlucky is Zafar! For his burial / Not even two yards of land were to be had / In the land of his beloved."
Related Civilisations
Successors
Sources
- Irvine, William (1922) Later Mughals. 2 vols. M.C. Sarkar and Sons, Calcutta. Ed. Jadunath Sarkar.(Foundational English-language study of the 1707-1739 period. Primary narrative authority for Bahadur Shah I, the Sayyid Brothers, and Muhammad Shah through the Nadir Shah sack.)
- Spear, Percival (1951) Twilight of the Mughuls: Studies in Late Mughul Delhi. Cambridge University Press.(Classic account of the Delhi-area Mughal court in its final phase: Akbar II, Bahadur Shah II, and the 1857 Rebellion. Authority for the British Protectorate and Last phases.)
- Alam, Muzaffar (1986) The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and the Punjab, 1707-48. Oxford University Press, Delhi.(Definitive scholarly analysis of structural causes of decline: revenue crisis, regional autonomy, and provincial separatism in the 1707-1748 period. Authority for mughal_decline and mughal_muhammad_shah phases.)
- Sarkar, Jadunath (1932) Fall of the Mughal Empire. 4 vols. M.C. Sarkar and Sons, Calcutta.(Comprehensive narrative history of the full 1739-1858 period. Primary authority for the Nadir Shah aftermath, Durrani invasions, Third Panipat, and early British period. Vol. I published 1932; complete 4-volume set finished by 1950s.)
- Dalrymple, William (2006) The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857. Bloomsbury Publishing, London.(Narrative account of 1857 and Bahadur Shah II's trial and exile; draws on Urdu and Persian archival sources from the National Archives of India. Primary authority for mughal_last events.)