Civil Services Prepby Garima Malik & Nitin Sangwan Account

UPSC Prelims · General Studies

Modern history

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European arrival and Company expansion

India on the eve of conquest: later Mughals, successor states and Panipat

Practise 1 PYQ

Concepts to cover

  1. Causes of Mughal decline after 1707: succession, jagirdari crisis, Deccan wars, nobility factions, agrarian distress, regional revolts, invasions
  2. Bahadur Shah I, Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar and the Sayyid brothers as kingmakers; 1719 settlement with Balaji Vishwanath; Muhammad Shah 'Rangila' (1719 to 1748)
  3. Shah Alam II: Buxar 1764, Allahabad 1765, Maratha protection, the empire reduced to Delhi and British control 1803
  4. Successor states carved by Mughal governors: Bengal (Murshid Quli Khan, Alivardi Khan), Awadh (Saadat Khan, Safdarjung), Hyderabad (Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, 1724) and Arcot under Hyderabad
  5. Mysore under the Wodeyars then Haidar Ali, the Marathas, the Jats and Rohilkhand under Ali Muhammad Khan
  6. Rajput states (Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur, Jantar Mantar), Jats (Churaman, Suraj Mal of Bharatpur), Rohillas; Travancore under Martanda Varma (Colachel 1741); Ahom decline
  7. Sikhs after 1708: Banda Bahadur, Dal Khalsa, the misls, Ranjit Singh's rise at Lahore 1799 (the Gurus to 1708 are in AMC culture.religion-philosophy.bhakti-north-sikhism)
  8. Nadir Shah's invasion 1739 (Karnal, Peacock throne), Ahmad Shah Abdali's raids and the Third Battle of Panipat 1761
Where to study

A Brief History of Modern India · Rajiv Ahir (Spectrum)

  • ch. 4 India on the Eve of British Conquest

Our Pasts III, Textbook in History for Class VIII (prelims and contents)

  • ch. 2 From Trade to Territory: The Company Establishes Power

History of Medieval India · Satish Chandra

  • ch. 19

Our Pasts II, Textbook in History for Class VII (prelims and contents)

  • ch. 8

Tamil Nadu State Board Class XI History Volume II (lessons 12 to 19), full text

  • Lesson 14
  • Lesson 15
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