Shah Alam II.

Jalal ad-Din Abul Mozaffar Mohammad Ali Gauhar (* June 15, 1728, † November 10, 1806 in Delhi ) was as Shah Alam II, Emperor of the Indian Mughal Empire from 1759 to 1806 He was the eldest son of Alamgir II.

During a power struggle between two ministers of his father, who were supported by the Marathas and the Afghan Durrani, he escaped in 1758 from Delhi to Bihar. After his father was murdered on November 29, 1759 in Delhi, Shah Jahan ascended III. , A great-grandson of Aurangzeb, to the throne, but was deposed after a short reign. On December 24, 1759 - Shah Jahan III. was still in office - Shah Alam called itself from the emperor. After the defeat at the Battle of Baksar from November 1764 he had to leave the British East India Company Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. In exile in Allahabad, he joined with the help of the Safavid nobles Mirza Najaf Khan on February 15, 1771 a treaty with the Marathas, the conquer in his name Delhi and were to receive four million rupees. On January 6, 1772 he succeeded as the return to Delhi. Thanks to Mirza Najaf Khan he could push back the Sikhs in the Punjab, but not expand due to financial difficulties, the rule of the Mughal Empire over the space beyond Delhi.

1788 was the Afghan Ghulam Khadir in Delhi. Shah Alam was dismissed on July 31, captured and blinded a few days later. In its place Baidar Bakht was proclaimed emperor. After the Marathas Ghulam Khadir and Baidar Bakht had driven from Delhi, they put the blind Shah Alam in 1789 again on the throne. As the power of the Marathas was broken during the Second Marathenkrieg, Shah Alam had on August 29, 1803 to accept the patronage of the British East India Company. Its territory was annexed and placed under the control of a British Resident. However, he was allowed to continue to lead the ruler title Padshah and reside in the Red Fort of Delhi. From the British him a pension was granted.