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The Last Mughal

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Arrogance and imperial self-confidence had diminished the desire to seek accurate information or gain any real knowledge of the state of the country. — location: 2459 ^ref-30800

IF GHALIB FOUND HIMSELF deeply anxious and depressed as 1856 gave way to 1857, then Theo Metcalfe was also in a very bad state. — location: 2596 ^ref-33104

reports of the atrocities performed by the mutinous sepoys—already fanned by hearsay to include non-existent mass rapes—just went to confirm their own existing prejudices. — location: 4590 ^ref-52375

THE JIHADIS MAY HAVE ALARMED the Hindus, but in the weeks to come their suicidal bravery often put the sepoys to shame— — location: 4994 ^ref-21073

Frequently two old withered Musalman women from Rampur would lead the rebels going far in advance with naked swords, — location: 4998 ^ref-32384

It was, all in all, a very odd sort of religious war, where a Muslim Emperor was pushed into rebellion against his Christian oppressors by a mutinous army of overwhelmingly Hindu sepoys, who came to him of their own free will (and initially against his) to ask for — location: 5363 ^ref-6320

the barakat of a Muslim blessing and the leadership of the Mughal they regarded as their legitimate ruler. — location: 5365 ^ref-50704

It is even odder that one of the greatest threats to the cohesiveness and unity of the Mughal’s new forces was the arrival of groups of Muslim jihadis who eventually came to make up at least half of the rebel army in Delhi; and that when the British counter-attacked against those forces they did so by raising against the Mughal a new army that consisted largely of Pathan and Punjabi Muslim irregulars. — location: 5366 ^ref-21318

One other rebel who distinguished himself at this time was Sergeant Gordon, the English convert to Islam who had been brought by the sepoys from Shahjahanpur. — location: 6226 ^ref-37338

If you had acted on my advice at the commencement, the British batteries could not have advanced a foot. Now that matters are hopeless you want me to stop their further progress. It is impossible, but I will die along with you.’” — location: 6229 ^ref-31931