Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639)

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Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639
Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars

Map of the Safavid state. The area of Mesopotamia, permanently lost to the Ottomans in 1639 is shaded.
Date1623–1639
Location
Mesopotamia (Iraq), South Caucasus
Result Ottoman victory
Territorial
changes		 Permanent partition of the Caucasus,
recognition of Ottoman control of Iraq
Belligerents

Safavid Iran

Musha'sha

Ottoman Empire

Muntafiq
Commanders and leaders
Shah Abbas I (Until 1629)
Shah Safi (From 1629)
Giorgi Saakadze
Emir Gune-oğlu[1]
(defected)
Hafız Ahmed Pasha
Gazi Hüsrev Pasha

The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639 was the last of a series of conflicts fought between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran, then the two major powers of Western Asia, over control of Mesopotamia. After initial Persian success in recapturing Baghdad and most of modern Iraq, having lost it for 90 years, the war became a stalemate as the Persians were unable to press further into the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans themselves were distracted by wars in Europe and weakened by internal turmoil. Eventually, the Ottomans were able to recover Baghdad, taking heavy losses in the final siege, and the signing of the Treaty of Zuhab ended the war in an Ottoman victory.[2] Roughly speaking, the treaty restored the borders of 1555, with the Safavids keeping Daghestan, Shirvan, eastern Georgia, and Eastern Armenia, while western Georgia and Western Armenia decisively came under Ottoman rule. The eastern part of Samtskhe (Meskheti) was irrevocably lost to the Ottomans as well as Mesopotamia. Although parts of Mesopotamia were briefly retaken by the Iranians later on in history, notably during the reigns of Nader Shah (1736–1747) and Karim Khan Zand (1751–1779), it remained thenceforth in Ottoman hands until the aftermath of World War I.

Background

Starting in 1514, for over a century the

Shia Muslims, who were seen as heretics by the Ottomans.[3]

After the

Treaty of Amasya in 1555.[4] Peace lasted for two decades before another war began in 1578. The Persians were hard pressed, as the Ottoman advances were combined with an attack by the Shaybanids into Persian Khorasan. The war ended with the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590, with a clear Ottoman victory: the Ottomans occupied Georgia, Revan, and even the former Safavid capital, Tabriz.[5]

The new Persian Shah,

war against the Mughals, and encouraged by the internal turmoil within the Ottoman Empire that followed the murder of Sultan Osman II (r. 1618–22), Abbas resolved to attack the Ottoman possessions in Iraq.[8]

The war

The Shah's opportunity came with a series of rebellions in the Ottoman Empire:

Diyarbakir, to intervene.[10] Bakr then turned to Abbas, who sent troops to Bakr's aid. To forestall a Persian capture of Baghdad, Hafız Ahmed quickly restored relations with Bakr, who returned to Ottoman allegiance. In response, the Persians besieged Baghdad and took it on 14 January 1624, with the aid of Bakr's son, Muhammad.[10][11] The fall of the city was followed by the massacre of a large part of its Sunni inhabitants, as the Shah endeavored to transform Baghdad into a purely Shiite city.[6]

The fall of Baghdad was a major blow to Ottoman prestige. Ottoman garrisons and the local tribes began to defect, and the Persians soon captured most of Iraq, including the cities of

Grand Vizier, marched to retake Baghdad. Despite a "scorched earth" policy ordered by the Shah, the Ottoman army reached Baghdad and invested it in November on three sides.[12] The Ottoman assaults on the city managed to penetrate the outer fortifications, but failed to take the city before the arrival of a relief army under Shah Abbas. The Ottomans then withdrew within their strongly fortified camp, and continued to prosecute the siege.[12] In response, Abbas decided to intercept Ottoman supply convoys. This strategy bore fruit: the Ottomans were forced to risk an attack on the Persian army, which was repulsed with heavy losses, and on 4 July 1626, the Ottoman army lifted the siege and withdrew to Mosul.[10][13]

The campaign of Yerevan (1635) (Revan on the map) was led by sultan Murad IV and resulted in the capture of Yerevan on 8 August and Tabriz on 11 September.

In 1629, the Ottomans, having secured peace with the Habsburgs, mustered their forces for another offensive under the new and capable Grand Vizier

Rustam Khan, a Georgian convert to Islam, was sent by the Shah to subdue them. Teimuraz was defeated, but managed to escape to safety in Imereti. He would nevertheless manage to restore himself on the throne of Kakheti in 1638, and even win Persian recognition of this fact.[17]

In 1635, in a conscious effort to emulate his warrior predecessors, Sultan Murad IV himself took up the leadership of the army. The Ottomans took Revan (on 8 August) and plundered Tabriz.[15][18] The victorious Sultan returned in triumph to Constantinople, but his victories were short-lived: in the spring of the next year, Shah Safi retook Revan and defeated an Ottoman army.[19][20] Renewed Persian peace proposals failed, and in 1638, Murad IV again personally led an army against Baghdad. The city fell in December after a siege of 39 days, effectively restoring Ottoman control over Iraq, and peace negotiations began soon after.[19][20]

Aftermath

The

Azerbaijan Republic remaining Persian, while Ottoman gains in Western Georgia and Western Armenia were made decisive.[21] In broad terms, the Treaty of Zuhab reconfirmed the provisions of the 1555 Peace of Amasya.[22] Eastern Samtskhe (Meskheti) was irrevocably lost to the Ottomans as well, making Samtskhe in its entirety an Ottoman possession.[23][24] The peace established a permanent equilibrium of power in the region, and despite future conflicts and minor adjustments, the frontier postulated by the treaty remains to this day the western border of Iran with Iraq and Turkey.[19][25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rhoads Murphey (2011). Tradition, Image and Practice in the Ottoman Imperial Household, 1400-1800. p. 64. Another high-ranking defector from the east who joined Murad IV's court almost a century later, in 1635, was the former governor of Erivan, Emir Gune-oğlu, who was assigned the name Yusuf Paşa after his defection to Ottomans.
  2. ISBN 978-1610693899
    . In October 1638 Ottoman forces returned to Mesopotamia, stormed Baghdad, and captured the city in December despite sustaining heavy casualties. These included the grand vizier, who "was killed leading the assault" (Sykes: 2:211). The Safavids were forced to sue for peace. On May 17, 1639 the Ottoman Empire and Iran signed a treaty (...)
  3. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 104–105
  4. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 125, 135
  5. ^ İnalcik (1978), p. 338
  6. ^ a b Faroqhi (2006), p. 47
  7. ^ DM Lang. "Georgia and the Fall of the Safavi Dynasty", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No. 3, Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 523–39
  8. ^ a b c İnalcik (1978), p. 339
  9. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 203–205
  10. ^ a b c d e Cooper (1979), p. 631
  11. ^ Finkel (2006), p. 205
  12. ^ a b c Savory (2007), p. 89
  13. ^ Savory (2007), p. 90
  14. ^ Roemer (1989), p. 283
  15. ^ a b c d Roemer (1989), p. 284
  16. ^ Cooper (1979), pp.631–632
  17. ^ Roemer (1989), p. 286
  18. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 215–216
  19. ^ a b c d Roemer (1989), p. 285
  20. ^ a b Finkel (2006), p. 217
  21. ISBN 9780815628286
    .
  22. ISBN 9781135798376
    .
  23. ^ Floor 2001, p. 85.
  24. ^ Floor 2008, p. 140.
  25. ^ Cooper (1979), p. 634

Sources

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