Khorasan, establishing the Afsharid dynasty that would rule over Iran during the mid-eighteenth century. The dynasty's founder, Nader Shah, was a successful military commander who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, and proclaimed himself Shah.[14]
During Nader Shah's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the
The dynasty was named after the Turkoman Afshar tribe of Khorasan in north-eastern Iran, to which Nader belonged.[15] The Afshars had originally migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) in the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of the state against the Uzbeks, after which the Afshars settled in those regions. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.[16]
Nader Shah was born (as Nadr Qoli) into a humble semi-nomadic family from the
Russo-Persian War, while the neighbouring Ottomans invaded from the west. By the 1724 Treaty of Constantinople, they agreed to divide the conquered areas between themselves.[22]
On the other side of the theatre, Nader joined forces with Soltan Hoseyn's son
waged a disastrous campaign in the Caucasus which allowed the Ottomans to retake most of their lost territory in the west. Nader, displeased, had Tahmasp deposed in favour of his infant son Abbas III in 1732. Four years later, after he had recaptured most of the lost Iranian lands, Nader felt confident enough to have himself proclaimed shah in his own right at a ceremony on the Mughan plain.[23]
Nader subsequently made the Russians cede the taken territories taken in 1722–23 through the
Ottoman–Persian War. The Ottoman armies were expelled from western Iran and the rest of the Caucasus, and the resultant 1736 Treaty of Constantinople forced the Ottomans to confirm Iranian suzerainty over the Caucasus and recognised Nader as the new Shah.[26]
Conquests of Nader Shah and the succession problem
Tahmasp and the Qajar leader Fath Ali Khan (the ancestor of
Ghilzai Afghans out of Khorasan. He agreed and thus became a figure of national importance. When Nader discovered that Fath Ali Khan was corresponding with Malek Mahmud and revealed this to the shah, Tahmasp executed him and made Nader the chief of his army instead. Nader subsequently took on the title Tahmasp Qoli (Servant of Tahmasp). In late 1726, Nader recaptured Mashhad.[27]
Nader chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated the Abdali Afghans near Herat. Many of the Abdali Afghans subsequently joined his army. The new shah of the Ghilzai Afghans, Ashraf, decided to move against Nader but in September 1729, Nader defeated him at the Battle of Damghan and again decisively in November at Murchakhort, banishing the Afghans from Iranian soil forever. Ashraf fled and Nader finally entered Isfahan, handing it over to Tahmasp in December and plundering the city to pay his army. Tahmasp made Nader governor over many of the eastern provinces, including his native Khorasan, and married him to his sister. Nader pursued and defeated Ashraf, who was murdered by his own followers.[28] In 1738, Nader Shah besieged and destroyed the last Hotak seat of power, at Kandahar. He built a new city nearby, which he named "Naderabad".[29]
First Ottoman campaign and the regain of the Caucasus
Iran's archrival, the Ottomans, and regained most of the territory lost during the recent chaos. At the same time, the Abdali Afghans rebelled and besieged Mashhad, forcing Nader to suspend his campaign and save his brother, Ebrahim. It took Nader fourteen months to crush this uprising.
Painting of Nader Shah
Relations between Nader and the Shah had declined as the latter grew alarmed by his general's military successes. While Nader was absent in the east, Tahmasp tried to assert himself by launching
. Nader, furious, saw that the moment had come to depose Tahmasp. He denounced the treaty, seeking popular support for a war against the Ottomans. In Isfahan, Nader got Tahmasp drunk then showed him to the courtiers asking if a man in such a state was fit to rule. In 1732 he forced Tahmasp to abdicate in favour of the Shah's infant son, Abbas III, to whom Nader became regent.
Nader decided, as he continued the
Ganja in the northern provinces, earning a Russian alliance against the Ottomans. Nader scored a decisive victory over a superior Ottoman force at Yeghevard (modern-day Armenia) and by the summer of 1735, Armenia and Georgia were under his rule. In March 1735, he signed a treaty with the Russians in Ganja by which the latter agreed to withdraw all of their troops from Iranian territory,[30][31] those which had not been ceded back by the 1732 Treaty of Resht yet, mainly regarding Derbent, Baku, Tarki
, and the surrounding lands, resulting in the reestablishment of Iranian rule over all of the Caucasus and northern mainland Iran again.
Nader becomes shah
Nader suggested to his closest intimates, after a hunting party on the Mughan plain (presently split between Azerbaijan and Iran), that he should be proclaimed the new shah in place of the young Abbas III.[32] The small group of close intimates, Nader's friends, included Tahmasp Khan Jalayer and Hasan-Ali Beg Bestami.[32] Following Nader's suggestion, the group did not "demur", and Hasan-Ali remained silent.[32] When Nader asked him why he remained silent, Hasan-Ali replied that the best course of action for Nader would be to assemble all the leading men of the state, in order to receive their agreement in "a signed and sealed document of consent".[32] Nader approved of the proposal, and the writers of the chancellery, which included the court historian Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi, were instructed with sending out orders to the military, religious and nobility of the nation to summon at the plains.[32] The summonses for the people to attend had gone out in November 1735, and they began arriving in January 1736.[33] In the same month of January 1736, Nader held a qoroltai (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur) on the Mughan plain. The Mughan plain was specifically chosen for its size and "abundance of fodder".[34] Everyone agreed to the proposal of Nader becoming the new shah, many—if not most—enthusiastically, the rest fearing Nader's anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Iran on March 8, 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially propitious,[35] in attendance of an "exceptionally large assembly" composed of the military, religious and nobility of the nation, as well as the Ottoman ambassador Ali Pasha.[36]
has been called a "military masterpiece" by the Russian general & historian KursinskiAt the Battle of Karnal, Nader crushed an enormous Mughal army six times greater than his own
In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the
Maratha Empire made inroads on its territory from the south-west. Its ruler Muhammad Shah
was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader asked for the Afghan rebels to be handed over, but the Mughal emperor refused.
Nader used the pretext of his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India to cross the border and invade the militarily weak but still extremely wealthy Mughal empire.[37] In a campaign against the governor of Peshawar, he took a small contingent of his forces on a daunting flank march through nearly impassable mountain passes, and took the enemy forces positioned at the mouth of the Khyber Pass completely by surprise, decisively beating them despite being outnumbered two-to-one. This led to the capture of Ghazni, Kabul, Peshawar, Sindh and Lahore.
As Nader moved into Mughal territories, he was accompanied by his loyal
Erekle II, who led a Georgian contingent as a military commander as part of Nader's force.[38] Following the defeat of Mughal forces priorly, he then advanced deeper into India, crossing the Indus River
before the end of the year. The news of the Iranian army's swift and decisive successes against the northern vassal states of the Mughal empire caused much consternation in Delhi, prompting the Mughal ruler, Muhammad Shah, to summon an overwhelming force of some 300,000 men and march this massive host north towards the Iranian army.
Nader Shah crushed the Mughal army in less than three hours at the large
sack the city. During the course of one day (March 22) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians were killed by the Iranian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg Nader for mercy.[40]
In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and losing the Peacock Throne to Nader Shah. The Peacock Throne thereafter served as a symbol of Iranian imperial might. It is estimated that Nader took with him treasures worth as much as seven hundred million rupees. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader gained the Koh-i-Noor and Daria-i-Noor diamonds (Koh-i-Noor means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, Daria-i-Noor means "Sea of Light").
Nader Shah's troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739, but before they left, Nader ceded back to Muhammad Shah all territories to the east of the Indus that he had overrun.
taxation in Iran for a period of three years following his return.[44] Nader attacked the empire to, perhaps, give his country some breathing space after previous turmoils. His successful campaign and replenishment of funds meant that he could continue his wars against Iran's archrival and neighbour, the Ottoman Empire.[45]
North Caucasus, Central Asia, Arabia, and the second Ottoman war
Main articles:
Nader's Dagestan campaign
Silver coin of Nader Shah, minted in Dagestan, dated 1741/2 (left = obverse; right = reverse)
The Indian campaign was the zenith of Nader's career. After his return from India, Nader fell out with his eldest son Reza Qoli Mirza, who had ruled Iran during his father's absence. Reza had behaved highhandedly and somewhat cruelly but he had kept the peace. Having heard a rumour that Nader was dead, he had prepared to seize the throne by having the Safavid royal captives, Tahmasp and his nine-year-old son Abbas III, executed. On hearing the news, Reza's wife, who was Tahmasp's sister, committed suicide. Nader was not pleased with the young man's behaviour and humiliated him by removing him from the post of viceroy, but he took him on his expedition to conquer territory in
Khwarezm on this expedition into Central Asia.[46]
The Battle of Kars (1745) was the last major field battle Nader fought in his spectacular military career
Nader now decided to punish
was forced to withdraw
. During the same period, Nader accused his son of being behind the assassination attempt in Mazandaran. Reza angrily protested his innocence, but Nader had him blinded as punishment, although he immediately regretted it. Soon afterwards, Nader started executing the nobles who had witnessed his son's blinding. In his last years, Nader became increasingly paranoid, ordering the assassination of large numbers of suspected enemies.
With the wealth he gained, Nader started to build an Iranian navy. With lumber from
Muscat. In 1743, Nader started another war against the Ottoman Empire. Despite having a huge army at his disposal, in this campaign Nader showed little of his former military brilliance. It ended in 1746 with the signing of a peace treaty, in which the Ottomans agreed to let Nader occupy Najaf.[48]
Military
Main articles:
Military of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia and Afsharid navy
The military forces of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran had their origins in the relatively obscure yet bloody inter-factional violence in Khorasan during the collapse of the Safavid state. The small band of warriors under local warlord Nader Qoli of the Turkomen Afshar tribe in north-east Iran were no more than a few hundred men. Yet at the height of Nader's power as the king of kings, Shahanshah, he commanded an army of 375,000 fighting men which constituted the single most powerful military force of its time,[49][50] led by one of the most talented and successful military leaders of history.[51]
Map of Iran during the collapse of the Afsharid Empire
After the assassination of Nader Shah at the hands of a faction of his officers in 1747, Nader's powerful army fractured as the Afsharid state collapsed and the country plunged into decades of civil war. Although there were numerous Afsharid pretenders to the throne, (amongst many other), who attempted to regain control of the entire country, Iran remained a fractured political entity in turmoil until the campaigns of
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
toward the very end of the eighteenth century reunified the nation.
Civil war and downfall of the Afsharids
See also:
Durrani Campaign to Khorasan (1754-55)
The Afsharid dynasty near its end, as its authority is reduced to Mashhad and the surrounding territory[52]
After Nader Shah's death in 1747, his nephew Ali Qoli (who may have been involved in the assassination plot) seized the throne and proclaimed himself
Transcaucasia and Dagestan would all be fully reincorporated into Iran, but eventually permanently lost as well (alongside Georgia), in the course of the 19th century to Imperial Russia through the two Russo-Persian Wars.[57]
Adel made the mistake of sending his brother
Mohammad Khan Qajar, the founder of the Qajar dynasty, seized Mashhad and tortured Shahrokh to force him to reveal the whereabouts of Nader Shah's treasures. Shahrokh died of his injuries soon after and with him the Afsharid dynasty came to an end.[59][60] One of Shahrokh's sons, Nader Mirza
, revolted in 1797 upon the death of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar but the revolt was crushed and he was executed in April 1803. Shahrokh's descendants continue into the 21st century under the Afshar Naderi surname.
Religious policy
The Safavids had introduced
caliphs
.
Flag
Nader Shah consciously avoided the using the colour green, as green was associated with Shia Islam and the Safavid dynasty.[65]
Imperial Standards of the Afsharid dynasty
The two imperial standards were placed on the right of the square already mentioned: one of them was in stripes of red, blue, and white, and the other of red, blue, white, and yellow, without any other ornament: though the old standards required 12 men to move them, the Shah lengthened their staffs, and made them yet heavier; he also put new colours of silk upon them, the one red and yellow striped, the other yellow edged with red: they were made of such an enormous size, to prevent their being carried off by the enemy, except by an entire defeat. The regimental colours were a narrow slip of silk, sloped to a point, some were red, some white, and some striped.[66][67]
Navy Admiral flag being a white ground with a red Persian Sword in the middle.[68]
Although based on the writings of Jonas Hanway, we can see that the flags of the army regiments of Nader Shah were three-eared, but we cannot come to a conclusion about whether the royal flags of that time were three-eared or four-eared.
. Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability.
^"HISTORIOGRAPHY vii. AFSHARID AND ZAND PERIODS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2022-10-22. Afsharid and Zand court histories largely followed Safavid models in their structure and language, but departed from long-established historiographical conventions in small but meaningful ways.
^", V. Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, vol. 9, no. 4, 1939, pp. 1119–23. JSTOR
^"THE TURKISH INSCRIPTION OF KALĀT-İ NĀDIRĪ", Tourkhan Gandjeï, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. 69 (1977), pp. 45-53 (10 pages). JSTOR
from the original on 2022-08-09. Retrieved 2022-05-23. The Afshārids (r. 1149–1210/1736–96) were a Persian dynasty founded by Nādir Shāh Afshār, replacing the Ṣafavid dynasty.
^Lockhart, L., "Nadir Shah: A Critical Study Based Mainly upon Contemporary Sources", London: Luzac & Co., 1938, 21 :"Nadir Shah was from a Turkmen tribe and probably raised as a Shiʿa, though his views on religion were complex and often pragmatic"
."This event marked the twilight of the Safavid power but also served as a launching pad for an Afshar Turkoman commander named Nadir Shah."
^Axworthy 2006, p. back cover. "Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty"
Afshar tribe
... The Qereqlu Afshars to whom Nader's father belonged were a semi-nomadic Turcoman tribe settled in Khorasan] in north-eastern Iran ... The tribes of Khorasan were for the most part ethnically distinct from the Persian-speaking population, speaking Turkic or Kurdish languages. Nader's mother tongue was a dialect of the language group spoken by the Turkic tribes of Iran and Central Asia, and he would have quickly learned Persian, the language of high culture and the cities as he grew older. But the Turkic language was always his preferred everyday speech, unless he was dealing with someone who knew only Persian."
^Encyclopædia IranicaArchived 2020-05-26 at the Wayback Machine : "Born in November 1688 into a humble pastoral family, then at its winter camp in Darra Gaz in the mountains north of Mashad, Nāder belonged to a group of the Qirqlu branch of the Afšār Turkmen."
^svat soucek, a history of inner Asia page 195: in 1740 Nadir Shah, the new ruler of Iran, crossed the Amu Darya and, accepting the submission of Muhammad Hakim Bi which was then formalized by the acquiescence of Abulfayz Khan himself, proceeded to attack Khiva. When rebellions broke out in 1743 upon the death of Muhammad Hakim, the shah dispatched the ataliq's son Muhammad Rahim Bi, who had accompanied him to Iran, to quell them. Mohammad hakim bi was ruler of the khanate of bukhara at that time. Page link: "Page 195 a History of Inner Asia Librarum.org". Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
^Hanway, Jonas (1753). "XXXVII". An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea: With a Journal of Travels through Russia into Persią. 248-249. London: Mr. Dodsley. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^Nādir Shāh's Campaigns in 'Omān, 1737–1744
By Laurence Lockhart, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1935), pp. 157–171
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Amanat, Abbas (1997). Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896. I.B.Tauris.
Amanat, Abbas (2019). "Remembering the Persianate". In Amanat, Abbas; Ashraf, Assef (eds.). The Persianate World: Rethinking a Shared Sphere. Brill. pp. 15–62.
Rota, Giorgio (2020). "In a League of Its Own? Nāder Šāh and His Empire". In Rollinger, Robert; Degen, Julian; Gehler, Michael (eds.). Short-term Empires in World History. Springer. pp. 215–226.
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