Siege of Kandahar

Coordinates: 31°37′N 65°43′E / 31.617°N 65.717°E / 31.617; 65.717
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the siege from 1605 to 1606, see
Siege of Kandahar (1605–06)
.
Siege of Kandahar
Part of Qandahar Campaign of 1737

Illustration of the siege of Kandahar
DateApril 1737 – 24 March 1738
Location
Old Kandahar, Afghanistan
Result

Persian victory

  • Fall of the Hotaki dynasty[1]
Territorial
changes
Afsharid Persia
Belligerents
Afsharid Persia
Hotaki dynasty
Commanders and leaders

Nader Shah

  • Reza Qoli Afshar
  • Mulla Adineh Mostafi Bakhtiari
  • Tahmasp Qoli Khan Jalayer
  • Kalbi khan Osivand

Hussain Hotaki (POW
)

Casualties and losses
Unknown All killed or captured
Fall of the Safavids [fa
]

Khorasan Campaign

Afghan Campaigns

Safavid restoration

First Ottoman War

Indian Campaign


Central Asian Campaign

Dagestan Campaign

  • Battle of Andalal

Persian Gulf Campaign

Second Ottoman War

Rebellions & Civil War

The siege of Kandahar began when

Hussain Hotaki. It took place in the Old Kandahar area of the modern city of Kandahar
in Afghanistan and lasted until March 24, 1738, when the Hotaki Afghans were defeated by the Persian army.

Background

After expelling the Afghans from Iran in 1729, Tahmasp Qoli Khan had planned to attack the Hotaks and reconquer Qandahar in 1730. However, multiple events postponed this. As Hussain Hotak was afraid of an Afsharid attack on Qandahar he incited the Abdalis of Herat to revolt,[3] causing Nader to abandon his campaign against the Ottomans and incorporate Herat back into the Safavid Empire. This was done with the Fall of Herat on February 27, 1732.[4][5][3] When Nader made peace with the Ottomans in 1736, he began to prepare to attack.

The siege

Much of the duration of the siege saw little fighting as Nader's forces' lack of heavy artillery forced them to settle into a blockade of the fortified town.

Persians became more impatient, they made several attempts to take the city by storm but the Afghans defiantly repulsed these attempts.[6]

Bakhtiari assault

Kandahar and its environs
Ruins of Old Kandahar Citadel that was destroyed by the Persian Afsharid army in 1738.

In anticipation of the siege, the Afghans had stockpiled large amounts of provisions in the fortified town and although starvation had begun to take hold by the end of 1737, Nader realized that it would take a long time for the Afghans to exhaust the last of their provisions. He was unsure of his position in Persia; although he had deposed

human wave assault on Kandahar.[2]
A Bakhtiari named Mullah Adineh Mostafi was selected to lead the assault party.

Nader initially tried to dissuade the

rupees and a share of the spoils of the city if the assault succeeded.[2] On March 24, the assault commenced and the Bakhtiaris surged forth from their concealed positions on the cliffs of Chehel Zina and charged towards the city. The Afghan gunners in the fortified city guard towers managed to kill some of the attackers but many of the Bakhtiaris reached the city walls and used their ladders to scale it. Mullah Adineh was the first to make it to the top and a fierce struggle took place atop the Kandahar city walls.[2]
Gradually, the Bakhtiaris managed to take control of the walls and proceeded to take the inner fortifications of the city. The attackers then raised guns atop the walls and used them to bombard the city.

The Afghans made several attempts to retake the city's fortifications but they were beaten back by heavy fire from the Bakhtiari Jazayerchis. Realizing the hopelessness of the struggle,

Hussain Hotaki and a few Afghans retreated into the Kandahar citadel, leaving the rest of the inhabitants of the city to be killed or captured.[2] The Persians then proceeded to commandeer the cannons installed on the city's walls and used these cannons to bombard the citadel. Finally, the next day, on March 25, 1738, Hussain Hotaki and the rest of his retinue which had taken shelter in the citadel, surrendered.[2]

Aftermath

Nader Shah generously rewarded the Bakhtiaris and personally rewarded Adineh Mostafi with a bag full of gold.

Mazandaran along with the rest of the Hotaki royal family; it is presumed that he and his family were later killed during the Zand massacres of Afghans in what is now northern Iran.[9] On the other hand, Nader was suspicious of Hussain's main military commander, Mohammad Seidal Khan, and suspected him of being a troublemaker; Nader therefore ordered that he be blinded.[6]

The city of Kandahar was systematically destroyed by artillery fire and the surviving inhabitants were transferred to a new city that the Afsharid forces had prepared and planned to build about 6 miles south-east of the ancient city.[6] Nader named the city "Naderabad", after himself. The old city was not reoccupied but the ruins of the old Kandahar Citadel remain visible to this day. The capture of Kandahar is a resonant event in Bakhtiari Oral history and in Lur culture in general; it is an event which has become a cultural touchstone.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Afghanistan at War: From the 18th-Century Durrani Dynasty to the 21st Century "He was able to take Kandahar in 1738, ending the Hotak dynasty"
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Axworthy p.185
  3. ^ a b Nejatie, Sajjad (November 2017). The Pearl of Pearls: The Abdālī-Durrānī Confederacy and Its Transformation under Aḥmad Shāh, Durr-i Durrān (Thesis thesis).
  4. ISBN 978-0-521-20095-0
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-84511-982-9
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Axworthy p.182
  7. ^ Axworthy p.183
  8. ^ Axworthy p.187
  9. ISBN 9780521200950. Retrieved 2010-10-24. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  10. ISBN 9780554359090. Retrieved 2010-10-24. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )

Sources

31°37′N 65°43′E / 31.617°N 65.717°E / 31.617; 65.717

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Siege_of_Kandahar&oldid=1214067480"