Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)
Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590 | |||||||||
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Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
(1583–1587) |
Principality of Samtskhe (1578-1582) Shaybanids | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
(Simon I of Kartli) | Sultan |
The Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) or Ottoman–Iranian War of 1532–1555 (
Starting with several years prior to the war and up to including most of the war itself, the Safavids were experiencing significant domestic issues and rivalling noble factions within the court since the death of Shah Tahmasp I. The Ottomans decided to declare war in 1577–1578 to exploit the chaos. The war, despite swift Ottoman victories in the first few years and large amounts of support from the Ottoman vassal Crimean Khanate during several stages of the war,[2] eventually becoming geo-politically and military relatively stable for several years with both parties losing and winning smaller battles till around 1580. It eventually had a turning point following the Battle of Torches on 7–11 May 1583 and the assassination of the Safavid generals Mirza Salman Jaberi and Hamza Mirza. Following these turns of events and internal chaos in the Safavid state, the Ottomans headed towards the eventual victory in 1590.[3]
Prelude
At the
War
The Ottomans started the war, with the objective of conquering Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.[4] They invaded the Safavids' Caucasian territories through Ardahan, taking Akhaltsikhe in August 1576,[3] Tiflis in August 1578, and Kars and Tabriz in 1585, while pressing Kartli to become a tributary vassal of the Ottoman Empire.[5]
The Safavids, who were left unable to conduct effective campaigns on both the eastern and western fronts, were met with repeated setbacks that forced them back into Iran's heartlands.[3] The seizure of much of the Caucasus had now given the Ottomans a direct land route from the east with their allied Crimean Khanate.[3]
Shirvan fell before the end of the summer of 1578, by which fact the Ottomans had now control of almost all territories west of the Caspian Sea coast, and it also opened the way for an attack on what is nowadays the core of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which were subsequently attacked in 1579 by a large contingent of Crimean Tatars, led by Adil Giray,[3] but he was captured in a remarkable counterattack led by Mirza Salman Jaberi and Hamza Mirza, and later executed in Qazvin, the Safavid capital at that time. In the meanwhile, on the far eastern Safavid front, the Uzbeks were forced to retreat due to problems with the Kirghiz-Kazakh tribes of Central Asia.[3] As a result of this, the Georgian princes which had fallen under Ottoman rule several years before, now changed their allegiance back to Safavid Iran, which they demonstrated by killing large numbers of Sunnis.[3]
Nevertheless, the war headed for an Ottoman victory, which was becoming clearer and clearer following the Battle of Torches. With that victory, the Ottomans had consolidated control as far as the Caspian, including the Safavid possessions of Dagestan and Azerbaijan until the end of the war.[3] The reverses that the Safavids suffered on the battlefield also intensified several internal factional power struggles, in which Mirza Salman and Hamza Mirza were assassinated by assassins of the other faction within the court, with Hamza Mirza, son of Mohammad Khodabanda, being assassinated on 10 December 1587.[6] With their deaths, the war efforts of the Safavids deteriorated even more.
In 1585, an Ottoman force under
In the face of all these difficulties -and even a staged coup in Qazvin by
Summary of the main battles
The main battles and events of the war included:
- Lala Mustafa Pasha's Caucasian campaign
- Battle of Çıldır (9 August 1578)
- Battle of Torches (9–11 May 1583)
Aftermath
A
The advent of the Ottoman-Safavid war temporarily deflected Ottoman interest from European affairs, where the Ottoman Empire had been active with the
See also
- Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618)
- Crimean Khanate
Notes
- ISBN 1438110251p 282
- ISBN 0857715887p 162
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Sicker 2001, pp. 2–3.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of World History Peter N. Stearns, p.352
- ^ Islam by Gerhard Endress, p.194
- ^ The Practice of Politics in Safavid Iran: Power, Religion and Rhetoric p 163
- ISBN 4938637391.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of world history Peter N. Stearns, p.352
Sources
- Matthee, Rudi (2014). "The Ottoman-Safavid War of 986-998/1578-90: Motives and Causes". In Karpat, Kemal; Balgamış, Deniz (eds.). International Journal of Turkish Studies. Vol. 20, Nos 1& 2.
- Sicker, Martin (2001). The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 027596891X.