On 3’rd March 1707, Aurangzeb, the last great Padishah of the Mughal Empire died leaving his already teetering empire on the brink. While the empire would fall however not many historians pay attention to the first 30 years after Aurangzeb’s death.

Aurangzeb for most of his reign had directly engaged himself in a ruinous frontier war with the Marathas, a brave, warlike people who began to unite under chieftains such as Shivaji and who began to attack his southern borders. He extended his borders to their greatest extent with his army conquering their way through the south.

His internal affairs weren’t so well managed however. Affected by his domestic and religious policy, waves of uprisings, first starting with a Jat rebellion in 1669 and widening out when in 1679 Aurangzeb invaded the Rajput kingdom of Marwar.

Like the Marathas, the Marwaris fought a  guerrilla war, similar to the type that bogged down Napoleon’s Grande Armee in Spain during the Peninsular War. Using hit and run attacks while wearing down the main Mughal army, they were able to often inflict disastrous defeats on the Imperial armies.

To the north were the Sikhs, religious warriors who were banded into an army by their Guru or spiritual leader, Guru Gobind Singh. They fought in a different manner, forcing the Mughal Army to endure several costly sieges.

The situation in North India worsened when in 1681, Muhammad Akbar, son of Aurangzeb raised the banner of revolt against his father and allying with the Rajputs and then the Marathas, attempted to overthrow Aurangzeb. He was defeated, but the Mughal control of North India began to weaken.

In the end Aurangzeb led a 27 years long campaign  which meandered through South India, before being ground down and being forced to retreat. Finally, Aurangzeb died in Ahmadnagar.

He had three surviving sons. The oldest, Muazzam was the governor of the northern provinces at the time of his father’s death. Azam held central India, while the youngest, Kam Bakhsh had the allegiance of the southern provinces.

Immediately after his father’s death, Azam seized he imperial throne, proclaimed himself as Azam Sha and amassed a huge army, numbering 90,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry. Muazzam responded by amassing and even bigger army of 170,000 cavalry and 190,000 infantry, including a contingent of Sikh allies led by their Guru.

In a bloody battle, whose fortunes swayed back and forth, Azam was shot and killed and his army was defeated. After this he was proclaimed as Bahadur Shah I. He now turned against Kam Bakhsh, who refused to bend the knee. Kam Bakhsh fought on for two years before being killed near Hyderabad.

Finally, the first round of civil wars had ended, but the trouble was not over. While in the south, the Marathas were sorting out their own domestic problems, the Sikhs and Rajputs were reclaiming long lost lands. Despite the death of Guru Gobind Singh by assassination, the Sikhs under their new leader, Banda Singh Bahadur had begun to take control of the countryside and, taking advantage of the absence of regular Mughal troops in the south.

He gathered a large army of many backgrounds, from the original Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh to robbers and bandits. The new  Sikh army faced the Mughal Army of Governor Wazir Khan( the man who sent assassins to kill Guru Gobind Singh. At the Battle of Chappar Chiri.

After a bloody battle with heavy losses on both sides, the Sikhs triumphed, killing the Mughal commander and taking Sirhind. After this the Sikhs controlled Northern Punjab

The Rajputs on the other hand had immediately used Aurangzeb’s death to retake lost lands and declare themselves independent. Ajit Singh of Jodhpur crowned himself as king while Amber and Mewar declared themselves independent.

This would not remain the state of affairs for lng as after the crushing of Kam Baksh the titanic Mughal force turned around and headed north. Even before heading south, Bahadur Shah had fought with the Mewaris and annexed Jodhpur and Amber.

Immediately after he headed south, the Rajputs rose up and Bahadur Shah had to give them autonomy in exchange for a nominal submission.

This does not mean the Mughals were weak. They were still relatively strong, and their overall strength was recovering. In 1710 Bahadur Shah headed north. He defeated Sikh units and took cities. In July, he defeated Banda’s new Sikh army. It finally seemed like the Sikhs would be destroyed. The old emperor, however died on the night of 27’28 February.

Prince Azim-ush-shan was the first person to claim the imperial throne, but his brothers allied against him and he was killed when a cannon shot struck his elephant, causing the elephant to fall into quick sand which killed both the prince and the elephant.

Prince Muizz ud din quickly killed his brothers and with the help of wazir Zulfikar Khan, he took the throne as Jahandar Shah. Zulfikar Khan established cordial relations between the Mughal and the Rajputs, Sikhs and Marathas. His reign would not last long. With the help of two brother, Husain Ali Khan and Abdullah Khan, Azim’s son Farrukh Siyar rallied dissidents and defeated Jahandar Shah had Agra. The emperor fled to Zulfikar Khan but was turned over. In the end, both puppet and puppeteer were killed.

Almost immediately after this, Farrukh Siyar and the Sayyid brothers began to go at loggerheads with each other. Ajmer revolted and the Hussain Ali Khan subjugated them. At this point, the Jats were causing trouble in Mughal provinces, but after a campaign led by Jai Singh II, Churaman, the Jat leader surrendered and pledged allegiance to the Mughals.

In Farrukh Siyar’s reign action against the Sikhs was scaled up. Banda Singh was besieged at Gurdaspur and when he surrendered he was arrested and brought to Delhi. He was tortured and killed. Similar revots were also put down.

10 years after the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire had not contracted much, with Mughal troops just losing control of Konkan and Kashmir. The Sayyid brothers finally rebelled. This time they did not have a figurehead and allying with the Marathas, they struck north and defeated the allied Mughal-Rajput army of Jai Singh and Farrukh Siyar. The emperor was murdered.

19 year old Rafi-ud-Darajat was placed on the throne. All other claimants were disposed of, but the emperor died of three months of tuberculosis. Hs brother, crone emperor as Shah Jahan II followed him to the grave in the same amount of time.

Finally, Roshan Akhtar was enthroned as Muhammad Shah by the Sayyids. He began plotting against the Sayyids. Hussain Ali Khan was assassinated while Abdullah Khan was defeated and killed. The ext person to rise would be Chin Qilich Khan.

Born to a migrant Central Asian family Chin Qilich Khan rose up the ranks during Aurangzeb’s reign. He became the head of the Turani faction in the Mughal court and as a result the most powerful person in the Mughal Empire.

He was assigned to govern the Deccan, but wishing to curtail his power, Muhamad Shah sent a replacement with an army. Chin Qillich Khan defeated him and crowned himself as Asaf Jah, Nizam of Hyderabad. Around this point, the provinces at the fringe of Mughal territory broke away. Bengal was effectively independent while the Marathas began conquering more territory.

In the 1720s the Marathas united under a series of capable leaders like Peshwa (Prime Minister) Baji Rao I and began attacking Mughal territory. Koch Bihar threw of Mughal suzerainty while the Sikhs, who had nominally submitted to the Mughals began a new round of hostilities.

In 1728, Baji Rao ambushed and defeated Nizam-ul-Mulk’s army at Palkhed. This effectively broke Mughal power in south India, but territories were saved, due to the Nizam paying tribute. In 1729 the Marathas attacked and conquered Malwa and in 1735, they conquered Gujarat, one of the richest provinces in the empire.

In 1737 they raided as far as the suburbs of Delhi, beating every army sent against them. Only after Muhammad Shah ceded all occupied territories to them did they retreat.

But on the northwest frontier a young turkic warlord had risen to the position of emperor of a new state. And now that emperor’s eyes were set on India. His name: Nadir Shah