Life
Bahadur Shah I (reigned 1707–1712), a son of Aurangzeb, won the throne in the usual war of succession and sought to calm the tensions his father's policies had inflamed, pursuing more conciliatory relations with Rajputs, Marathas, and Sikhs. His short reign is generally seen as the last in which the Mughal Empire retained real cohesion; after his death, rapid succession struggles and the rise of regional powers sent the empire into steep decline.