The Mughal emperor who briefly steadied the empire after Aurangzeb's death — the last to hold it in relative unity before its long decline.
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.