After Nasir-ud-din’s death in A.D. 1266, Balban declared himself as the Sultan. Balban was thus a prime minister for twenty years and then a Sultan for another twenty years. Balban ruled with an iron hand. First of all he crushed the Group of Forty with ruthless vigor. The jungles were cleared and the robbers who infested the roads were slain. With his stern policy of Blood and Iron., Balban tried to establish peace and order in the country. He built many outposts in the disturbed areas and garrisoned them with soldiers. Balban died in A.D. 1286. Since his successors were weak and inefficient, the throne was captured by Jalal-ud-din Khilji and thus the Slave dynasty came to an end.