Mughal Emperor (Padishah) | |
Shah Alam II | |
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Regnal Details | |
Reign | 1760 - 1788 / 1788 - 1806 |
Coronation | 1760 |
Predecessor |
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Successor |
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Regent(s) |
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Wazir(s) |
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Personal Details | |
Full name | Hami-ud-Din Muhammad Ali Gauhar Shah Alam II Badshah Ghazi |
Born | 1728 |
Died | 1806, Delhi (aged 78) |
Burial | Delhi |
Father | |
Mother | |
Spouse(s) | |
Issue |
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Dynasty | Timurid |
Religion | Islam (Sunni Hanafi) |
Military Career | |
Allegiance | Mughal Empire |
Rank | Emperor |
Wars/Battles |
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Emperor Shah Alam II ruled over the declining Mughal Empire from 1760 to 1806, with a brief interlude in 1788. On his accession, the empire had reduced effectively to a small area around Delhi. He tried to regain past Mughal glory and enlisted the help of the Nawab of Awadh, whom he made his hereditary Wazir, and the French, in trying to reassert imperial control over the Eastern provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (lapsed since 1740). The attempt failed against the British, and he effectively ceded control over those lands in return for an annual subsidy of Rs 26 million, in the Treaty of Allahabad (1765). In 1772, against the advice of the British, he returned to Delhi under the escort of the Marathas but was surprisingly able to assert his independence from them till 1784. In the meantime, especially under the able Mirza Najaf Khan Mughal forces were to enjoy the last spell of military fortune in their history as they repeatedly defeated the Jats and the Rohillas, while also keeping the Sikhs. The latter's death in 1781 ushered another period of anarchy, culminating in the horrific sack of Delhi in 1788 by the Rohilla, Ghulam Qadir, where Shah Alam was briefly deposed and then blinded. Restored by Mahadji Sindhia in October of the same year, the grateful emperor made him his protector, and his actual control ceased. In 1803 Delhi fell to British forces, and the emperor was reduced to a pensioner of the British East India Company, dying in this state in 1806.
India at the end of the eighteenth century [1]
Footnotes and References:
[1] Joppen, Charles. Historical Atlas of India: For the Use of High Schools, Colleges, and Private Students.
Image Credits: Wikipedia
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