Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c37.s5.2

v3.c37.s5.2

Mirzā Najaf Khan Zulfiqār-ud-daulah fills a large place in the memory of the Delhi historian only because he was the last great Muslim minister of the Mughal throne. He shines in the sunset hues of the dying empire by contrast with the smaller men who mismanaged the State for two years after him and finally passed the Government of Delhi on to the hands of other creeds and other races. Except in a limited sphere, he had no title to greatness if we are to judge him by his achievements. As a general, he had not the genius and originality of Najib-ud-daulah, nor the robust personal magnetism of the captains of an earlier age whose dash into the thick of the fray had often turned the doubtful tide of combat and whose comradery had cheered the hearts of hard pressed and drooping followers. But he possessed that cool leadership, that power of co-ordination and that skill in the choice of fitting instruments which were indispensable for success in the new system of war that the Europeans had introduced into India. He early realised that mobile field artillery and disciplined foot-musketeers were the decisive factors in this new warfare, and he therefore always set himself to making adequate provision for these two arms, and also to mingling them in effective proportion with the old heavy "Mughal horse." Herein lay his approach to military genius. No Indian chief before Māhādji Sindhiā engaged so many European officers.