Ahmad Shah Bahadur

Who was Ahmad Shah Bahadur?

Ahmad Shah Bahadur, Mirza Ahmad Shah, Shahanshah Ahmad Shah Bahadur was born to Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne as the 15th Mughal Emperor in the year 1748 at the age of 22. When Ahmed Shah Bahadur came to power the rule of the Mughal Empire was collapsing, furthermore his administrative weaknesses eventually led to the rise of the usurping Imad-ul-Mulk. During the reign of his father the city of Delhi had been plundered and much of northern India had been ransacked by the invading army of Nadir Shah, southern India was marred by the Later Mughal-Maratha Wars between Maratha confederates and the loyalists of the Mughal Emperor.

Ahmed Shah Bahadur inherited a much weakened Mughal state. He was emperor in title for six years, but left all affairs to state to rivalling factions. After the Mughal Civil War of 1752 to 1754 and the defeat of the "court party", he was deposed by the Vizier Imad-ul-Mulk and later blinded along with his mother. He spent the remaining years of his life in prison and died of natural causes in January 1775. His son Jahan Shah IV temporarily rose to power in 1788 and was hand-picked by the sadistic eunuch Ghulam Qadir.