After the capture of Qandahar in 1638, Shah Jahan's sole goal was to conquer his "ancestral land," Transoxiana. In April-May 1640, a large-scale Uzbek invasion of Maruchaq along Persian borders provided the much-desired Persian-Mughal alliance. A joint invasion of Balkh was proposed. Shah Jahan's goal was to establish a friendly ruler in Balkh and Badakhshan, which bordered Kabul and were ruled by Timurid princes until 1585. In this article, we will discuss Shah Jahan’s Balkh Campaign which will be helpful for UPSC exam preparation.

Shah Jahan’s Balkh Campaign - Background

• The conquest of Qandahar, however, was only a means to an end. Shah Jahan was more concerned about the serious threat posed by recurring Uzbek attacks on Kabul, as well as their intrigues with Baluch and Afghan tribes.
• Nazr Muhammad had taken control of both Bokhara and Balkh at the time. Nazr Muhammad and his son, Abdul Aziz, were ambitious and had launched a series of attacks against Kabul and Ghazni with the help of Afghan tribesmen.
• However, soon after, Abdul Aziz led a rebellion against his father, and only Balkh remained under the control of Nazr Muhammad, who sought assistance from Shah Jahan.
• With the Persians on his side, Shah Jahan accepted the appeal quickly.
• He moved from Lahore to Kabul and dispatched a large army under the command of Prince Murad to assist Nazr Muhammad.

Conquest of Balkh

• In the middle of 1646, an army of 50,000 horses and 10,000 footmen, including musketeers, rocketeers, and gunners, as well as a contingent of Rajputs, left Kabul.
• Shah Jahan had carefully instructed prince Murad to treat Nazr Muhammad with respect and to return Balkh to him if he acted modestly and submittedly.
• In addition, if Nazr Muhammad expressed a desire to reclaim Samarqand and Bokhara, the prince was to do everything in his power to assist him.
• Clearly, Shah Jahan desired a friendly ruler in Bokhara who looked to the Mughals for assistance and support.
• Murad's hastiness, however, derailed the plan. He marched on Balkh without waiting for orders from Nazr Muhammad and ordered his men to enter the Balkh fort, where Nazr Muhammad was staying.
• Nazr Muhammad fled, unsure of the prince's intentions. The Mughals were forced to occupy and hold Balkh in the face of a hostile populace. There was no easy substitute for Nazr Muhammad.
• Abdul Aziz, son of Nazr Muhammad, rallied the Uzbek tribes against the Mughals in Trans-Oxiana, amassing a force of 120,000 men across the Oxus River.
• Meanwhile, prince Aurangzeb took over for prince Murad, who had been missing home. Because the Oxus was easily forded, the Mughals made no effort to defend it.
• Instead, they strategically placed pickets and kept the main force together so that it could march easily to any threatened point.
• Abdul Aziz crossed the Oxus, but the Mughals routed the Uzbeks outside Balkh in a running battle (1647).

Negotiations with Uzbeks

• The Mughals' victory at Balkh paved the way for negotiations with the Uzbeks. Abdul Aziz's Uzbek supporters dwindled, and he began making overtures to the Mughals.
• Nazr Muhammad, who had sought refuge in Persia, also sought the restoration of his empire from the Mughals.
• Following careful consideration, Shah Jahan chose Nazr Muhammad. However, Nazr Muhammad was first asked to apologise and make a humble submission to Prince Aurangzeb.
• This was a mistake because the proud Uzbek ruler was unlikely to humiliate himself in this way, especially since he knew the Mughals would not be able to hold on to Balkh for long.
• After waiting in vain for Nazr Muhammad to appear personally, the Mughals left Balkh in October 1647 because winter was approaching and there were no supplies in Balkh.
• With hostile bands of Uzbeks hovering around, the retreat nearly turned into a rout.
• Despite the Mughals suffering heavy losses, Aurangzeb's firmness prevented a disaster.

Shah Jahan’s Balkh Campaign - Significance

• The Balkh campaign of Shah Jahan has sparked considerable debate among modern historians.
• The preceding account makes it clear that Shah Jahan was not attempting to fix the Mughal frontier on the so-called "scientific line," the Amu Darya (the Oxus). The Amu Darya was hardly a defendable line.
• Neither was Shah Jahan motivated by a desire to conquer Samarqand and Farghana, the Mughal 'homelands,' though the Mughal emperors frequently mentioned it.
• Shah Jahan's goal, it appears, was to secure a friendly ruler in Balkh and Badakhshan, the areas bordering Kabul and ruled by Timurid princes until 1585.
• This, he believed, would help to control the discontent of the Afghan tribes living around Ghazni and in the Khyber Pass.

Shah Jahan’s Balkh Campaign - Military Success

• In terms of military success, the Mughals conquered Balkh and defeated Uzbek attempts to depose them.
• This was the first significant victory of Indian arms in the region, and Shah Jahan had reason to rejoice.
• However, the Mughals' ability to maintain their influence at Balkh for an extended period of time was beyond their capabilities.
• Politically, it was also difficult to do so in the face of sullen Persian hostility and an unfriendly local population.
• Overall, while the Balkh campaign raised the prestige of Mughal arms for a time, it provided them with little political advantage.
• Perhaps it would have been more advantageous to the Mughals, and would have saved significant expenditure of men and money, if Shah Jahan had firmly adhered to Akbar's laboriously established Kabul-Ghazni-Qandahar line.

Conclusion

As ruler of Balkh, Nazr Muhammad remained friendly to the Mughals for as long as he was alive, and there was a constant exchange of envoys between the two. Thus, the Balkh expedition did prevent the rise of a united Uzbek state, which would have posed a threat to the Mughals in Kabul.