A Fractured Inheritance: The War of Mughal Succession

The year 1703 marked a pivotal moment in Mughal history when Emperor Aurangzeb died in the Deccan, leaving behind four sons and a crumbling empire. His third son, Akbar, had already fled to Persia after a failed rebellion, while the remaining three brothers – Muazzam (later Bahadur Shah), Azam, and Kam Bakhsh – immediately turned on each other, disregarding their father’s unusual will that suggested partitioning the empire. This fratricidal conflict followed a well-established Mughal tradition where potential heirs eliminated rivals before claiming the throne.

Muazzam, operating from Kabul, declared himself emperor while his brothers established rival courts in Gujarat and the Deccan respectively. The decisive confrontation came in June 1707 near Agra, where Muazzam’s forces crushed Azam’s army, killing his brother in battle. With Agra’s treasury secured, Muazzam bought loyalty through generous distributions before turning south to eliminate Kam Bakhsh in 1708. Crowned as Bahadur Shah I, the new emperor inherited an empire stretched beyond its administrative capacity, with simmering religious tensions and European traders circling like vultures.

The Rise of the Sikh Confederacy

While consolidating power, Bahadur Shah faced an unexpected challenge from the Sikh community in Punjab. The Sikh movement, founded by Guru Nanak in 1469, had evolved dramatically from its pacifist origins. Mughal persecution under Aurangzeb – including the execution of the ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675 – transformed the community into a militant force. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, established the Khalsa warrior brotherhood in 1699, symbolically replacing prayer beads with swords.

After Guru Gobind Singh’s assassination in 1708, the Sikhs operated without a living guru, following their scripture (Guru Granth Sahib) and military leaders called Jathedars. These commanders launched devastating raids against Mughal cities, destroying mosques and targeting Muslim populations while offering protection to Hindus who joined their ranks. Bahadur Shah personally led campaigns against them in 1710, temporarily driving Sikh fighters into the Himalayan foothills, but the movement had become an enduring challenge to Mughal authority.

The Mughal Decline Accelerates

Bahadur Shah’s death in 1712 triggered another bloody succession that weakened the empire irreparably. His four sons repeated the fratricidal pattern, with the eventual victor Farrukhsiyar proving incompetent. This inaugurated a period where powerful nobles like the Sayyid Brothers became kingmakers, deposing and installing weak emperors at will. Between 1713-1720, four emperors briefly held the throne while regional governors in Bengal, Awadh, and Hyderabad asserted autonomy.

Two developments during this chaotic period had lasting consequences. First, Farrukhsiyar granted the British East India Company significant trading privileges in 1717, including duty-free access to Bengal. Second, the Mughals failed to check the rising Maratha Confederacy under Peshwa Baji Rao I, who began extracting chauth (25% revenue share) from Mughal territories in the Deccan.

The Persian and Afghan Invasions

The empire’s vulnerability attracted foreign invaders. In 1739, the Persian warlord Nadir Shah descended upon Delhi like a whirlwind, defeating the Mughal army at Karnal. His troops massacred over 20,000 Delhi residents in a single day before departing with treasures including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. This catastrophic event stripped Mughal prestige permanently.

Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani followed this pattern, launching repeated raids from 1748 onward. His most devastating attack came in 1756 when his forces sacked Delhi, carrying off thousands as slaves. These invasions left northwestern India depopulated and economically ruined, creating power vacuums that the Marathas and Europeans would fill.

The Anglo-French Struggle in the South

While Mughal authority collapsed in the north, European trading companies transformed into political powers in the south. The French under Governor Dupleix pioneered the strategy of installing puppet rulers, intervening in succession disputes at Carnatic and Hyderabad during the 1740s. However, British commanders like Robert Clive reversed early French gains through bold tactics and superior naval support.

The decisive turn came during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). British victories at Plassey (1757) and Pondicherry (1761) eliminated French influence while establishing Company control over Bengal. Meanwhile, the Marathas overextended themselves trying to fill the Mughal power vacuum, suffering catastrophic defeat at Panipat (1761) against Ahmad Shah Durrani’s forces.

Legacy of the Mughal Collapse

By 1761, the Mughal Empire existed in name only. The once-great institution that unified India had succumbed to:
– Chronic succession conflicts that drained imperial resources
– Failure to integrate rising Hindu powers like the Marathas and Sikhs
– Inability to adapt to European military and economic innovations
– Religious policies that alienated the Hindu majority
– Administrative overextension and revenue system collapse

The British East India Company emerged as the unexpected beneficiary, using its Bengal base to eventually dominate the subcontinent. Meanwhile, the last Mughal emperors became pensioners in their own capital, their imperial pretenses finally extinguished after the 1857 rebellion. This transitional period (1707-1761) remains crucial for understanding how a prosperous, centralized empire could fragment so completely, paving the way for colonial rule. The Mughal twilight also birthed new Indian power centers – particularly the Sikh Empire and Maratha Confederacy – that would shape the subcontinent’s future.