Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c30.s3.18

v2.c30.s3.18

Without any regular treasure or trained army of his own, Shah Alam in his three Bihār campaigns only raised raw levies and attracted shady adventurers to lead them. Unluckily for him, these scratch troops were pitted against English-trained and English-led sepoys, and the genius of Clive, great in war, greater still in diplomacy. The prince's sole strength lay in cavalry, of which the Company's army had none, and the Bengal Nawab's army an inferior class, fit only for pursuing broken fugitives. But the Delhi cavalry was powerless for offence against British sepoys so long as their munition was not exhausted, and broke in utter rout before the well-handled English guns, to which Shah Alam had nothing to oppose. Hence even Law's Frenchmen,—a handful, could not turn the tide of Shah Alam's defeat.*