Political Situation in 18th Century History 4

a. The Maratha kingdom decline for the following reasons 1. The marathas fought for the personal gain hence did not unite for common cause 2. The kingdom was vast but lacked proper control 3. The chauth and sardeshmukhi taxes were not liked by many people 4. The guerilla warfare was suitable for hilly regions only 5. The rajputs , jats and Sikhs did not appreciate the surprise attacks and looting of marathas 6. The marathas did not concentrate on the growth of trade and agriculture

A. He established his kingdom by encouraging trade , introduced weights and measure , calendar and coinage system

Rajputs were very powerful and had the support of the Mughals but during Aurangzeb’s period the relation got strained because Aurangzeb did not pay attention to the states of mewar , Jaipur and marwar .later due to the rise of jats and marathas the position of Rajput declined

Peace was prevailed in the state . lawless was controlled , the financial position was improved , the army was organized and was tolerant to hindus and muslims

The collapse of the Mughal empire started during the reign of Aurangzeb . Aurangzeb adopted the policies that has a negative impact on the empire . his period brought total unrest in the empire which weakened the kingdom and led to the collapse of the empire . he was a conservative muslims . he opposed music and dance . his empire was too vast to be controlled . the last Mughals to occupy the throne were very weak and were dependent on the nobles who in turn were not united and used to fight among themselves.

The sikh could not establish separate state .banda bahadur became a leader and resisted Mughals . with the invasions of nadirshah and ahmad shah abdali the Sikhs were able to form a small group called misls but they were never united . it was under raja ranjit singh that they all united to form one sikh kingdom and he became their ruler

Baji rao I was a good ruler and clever statesman . under him Maratha rule reached glory . he expanded the kingdom in the southern Gujarat and reached as far as bihar , Odisha in the east and Punjab in the north . he formed Martha confederacy and the peshwa was its head . the gaekwards of baroda , bhonsle of Nagpur and scindias of Gwalior

Khalsa

Chauth

Guerilla warfare

Peshwa

Misl

1-c 2-d 3-a 4-b 5-e

1. F 2. F 3. T 4. F

Ashtapradhana