Nawab Auda

In 1722, the Padis, Muhammad Shah appointed Saadat Ali Khan as Governor of Aud. Initially, he bore the title "Nazim" ("governor"), but he soon became a "Navab" ("Prince"). Despite the proclamation of nominal fidelity to the emperor, the Navabs of Auud began to pass the title by inheritance, becoming, in fact, independent rulers. Fayzabad became their capital.

The British East India Company , based in Calcutta , sought to take the wealth of Aud into its own hands. Shuja al-Daula tried to expel the British, but was defeated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar , and Aud lost a significant territory. After that, the Nawab chose to make friends with the British.

Under the pretext of protecting Aud from external enemies, the British gradually took fort after fort from the Nawab, forcing him to increase payments to the East India Company. In 1773, the Nawab was forced to allow a British resident to settle in Lucknow , and the Company began to control the entire foreign policy of the Principality. In 1775, the Nawab Asaf al-Daula , trying to get out of the control of an autocratic mother, moved the capital from Fayzabad to Lucknow. Soon, it was the British resident who began to control the principality, and the Navab became basically a nominal figure.

In 1798, a British resident removed Navaz Wazir Ali under the pretext that he was not the real son of his father, and seated his brother Saadat Ali Khan on the throne. The displaced Wazir Ali killed a British resident in Benares . This forced Governor-General Richard Wellesley to intervene, and under a treaty of 1801, the Nawab had to disband his army and pay a large sum for the maintenance of the British military contingent, as well as put up with new territorial losses.

In the middle of the XIX century, the British decided to subjugate Aud completely to themselves, and in 1856 he was annexed, and the last Nawab was arrested. The following year, troops from the former Auda began a sepoy uprising .