Khorasan Campaign
142-450: Khorasan Campaign Afghan Campaigns Safavid restoration First Ottoman War Indian Campaign Central Asian Campaign Dagestan Campaign Persian Gulf Campaign Second Ottoman War Rebellions & Civil War Nader Shah Afshar ( Persian : نادر شاه افشار ; 6 August 1698 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of
284-412: A Parisian goldsmith. Although he had a strong Chinese contingent, Möngke relied heavily on Muslim and Mongol administrators and launched a series of economic reforms to make government expenses more predictable. His court limited government spending and prohibited nobles and troops from abusing civilians or issuing edicts without authorization. He commuted the contribution system to a fixed poll tax which
426-520: A bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagatayid factions, but disputes continued among the descendants of Tolui. The conflict over whether the Mongol Empire would adopt a sedentary, cosmopolitan lifestyle or continue its nomadic, steppe-based way of life was a major factor in the breakup. After Möngke Khan died (1259), rival kurultai councils simultaneously elected different successors, the brothers Ariq Böke and Kublai Khan , who fought each other in
568-522: A clandestine line of communication between Fathali and Sistani. Nader, fearful that the Qajar contingent may leave if any harm befell their leader, advised Tahmasp to spare his life for the time being. Tahmasp, though agreeing with Nader's judgement, nevertheless had Fathali executed the subsequent day. The Qajar contingent however remained with the Loyalist army despite Fathali's beheading and ironically it
710-539: A dialect of the Southern Oghuz group or a dialect of Azerbaijani . As he was growing up, he must have swiftly learned Persian, which was the language of the cities and high culture . But unless he was speaking to someone who spoke only Persian, he always preferred to communicate in Turkic. His knowledge of Arabic is not documented, but it seems doubtful given his lack of interest in literature and theology. Nader
852-497: A fifth school ( madhhab ) of Sunni Islam and that the Ottomans would allow its adherents to go on the hajj , or pilgrimage, to Mecca , which was within their territory. In the subsequent peace negotiations, the Ottomans refused to acknowledge Ja'farism as a fifth mazhab but they did allow Iranian pilgrims to go on the hajj . Nader was interested in gaining rights for Iranians to go on the hajj in part because of revenues from
994-466: A figure of national importance. When Nader discovered that Fath Ali Khan was in treacherous correspondence 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 . Nader chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated
1136-655: A form of Shia Islam he called "Ja'fari", in honour of the sixth Shia imam Ja'far al-Sadiq . He banned certain Shia practices which were particularly offensive to Sunni Muslims , such as the cursing of the first three caliphs of Islam. Personally, Nader is said to have been indifferent towards religion and the French Jesuit who served as his personal physician reported that it was difficult to know which religion he followed and that many who knew him best said that he had none. Nader hoped that "Ja'farism" would be accepted as
1278-404: A move to prepare for an improbable conquest of distant Kashgaria . Such a campaign did not materialize, but Nader frequently sent funds and engineers to Merv trying to restore its prosperity and rebuild its ill-fated dam. Merv, however, did not become prosperous. Nader now decided to punish Dagestan for the death of his brother Ebrahim Qoli on a campaign a few years earlier. In 1741, while Nader
1420-512: A new great khan, Batu called a kurultai on his own territory in 1250. As it was far from the Mongol heartland , members of the Ögedeid and Chagataid families refused to attend. The kurultai offered the throne to Batu, but he rejected it, claiming he had no interest in the position. Batu instead nominated Möngke , a grandson of Genghis from his son Tolui's lineage. Möngke was leading a Mongol army in Rus,
1562-448: A policy of sharing spoils with his warriors and their families instead of giving them all to the aristocrats. These policies brought him into conflict with his uncles, who were also legitimate heirs to the throne; they regarded Temujin not as a leader but as an insolent usurper. This dissatisfaction spread to his generals and other associates, and some Mongols who had previously been allies broke their allegiance. War ensued, and Temujin and
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#17327761297291704-470: A result of his illness and his desire to extort more and more tax money to pay for his military campaigns. New revolts broke out and Nader crushed them ruthlessly, building towers from his victims' skulls in imitation of his hero Timur. In 1747, Nader set off for Khorasan, where he intended to punish Kurdish rebels . Some of his officers and courtiers feared he was about to execute them and plotted against him, including two of his relatives: Muhammad Quli Khan,
1846-440: A roar. 'Where is my sword? Bring me my weapons!' The assassins were struck with fear by these words and wanted to escape, but ran straight into the two chiefs of the murder-conspiracy, who allayed their fears and made them go into the tent again. Nader Shah had not yet had time to get dressed; Muhammad Quli Khan ran in first and struck him with a great blow of his sword which felled him to the ground; two or three others followed suit;
1988-560: A rumour broke out that Nader had been assassinated, some Indians attacked and killed Iranian troops; by midday 900 Iranian soldiers had been killed. Nader, furious, reacted by ordering his soldiers to sack the city . During the course of one day (22 March) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians were killed by the Iranian troops and as many as 10,000 women and children were taken as slaves, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg Nader for mercy. In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid
2130-509: Is known to have acquired reading and writing skills at some point in his life, probably later on. Approximately three million people or more were nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists in Iran in the beginning of the 18th-century, accounting for one-third of the country's population. Strong ties of kinship as well as customs of helping each other out with fights and finances kept their tribal groups united. Despite being partially or fully absorbed into
2272-667: Is now part of or includes Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Oman, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the North Caucasus , and the Persian Gulf , but his military spending had a ruinous effect on the Iranian economy. Nader idolized Genghis Khan and Timur , the previous conquerors from Central Asia. He imitated their military prowess and—especially later in his reign—their cruelty. His victories during his campaigns briefly made him West Asia 's most powerful sovereign, ruling over what
2414-807: The Napoleon of Persia , the Sword of Persia , or the Second Alexander . Nader belonged to the Turkoman Afshars , one of the seven Qizilbash tribes that helped the Safavid dynasty establish their power in Iran . Nader rose to power during a period of chaos in Iran after a rebellion by the Hotaki Afghans had overthrown the weak Shah Soltan Hoseyn ( r. 1694–1722 ), while
2556-976: 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. Ashraf fled and Nader finally entered Isfahan, handing it over to Tahmasp in December. The citizens' rejoicing was cut short when Nader plundered them to pay his army. Tahmasp made Nader governor over many eastern provinces, including his native Khorasan, and Tahmasp's sister
2698-557: The Chenab valley, and seized a large amount of the booty and freed most of the slaves in captivity. The Persians, however, were unable to pursue the Sikhs, because they were overloaded with the remaining plunder and overwhelmed by the terrible heat of that May. Traveling with an advance guard, Nader Shah stopped at Lahore where he learned of his losses. He traveled back to his forces, accompanied by Governor Zakariya Khan . Upon learning about
2840-690: The East with the West , and the Pacific to the Mediterranean , in an enforced Pax Mongolica , allowing the exchange of trade, technologies, commodities, and ideologies across Eurasia . The empire began to split due to wars over succession, as the grandchildren of Genghis Khan disputed whether the royal line should follow from his son and initial heir Ögedei or from one of his other sons, such as Tolui , Chagatai , or Jochi . The Toluids prevailed after
2982-856: The Golden Horde khanate in the northwest, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Iran, and the Yuan dynasty in China, based in modern-day Beijing . In 1304, during the reign of Temür , the three western khanates accepted the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty. The part of the empire that fell first was the Ilkhanate, which disintegrated in the period of 1335–1353. Next,
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#17327761297293124-420: The Golden Horde , refused to come to the kurultai, claiming that he was ill and that the climate was too harsh for him. The resulting stalemate lasted more than four years and further destabilized the unity of the empire. When Genghis Khan's youngest brother Temüge threatened to seize the throne, Güyük came to Karakorum to try to secure his position. Batu eventually agreed to send his brothers and generals to
3266-591: The Khanate of Khiva . After the Iranians had forced the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara to submit, Nader wanted Reza to marry the khan's elder daughter because she was a descendant of his hero Genghis Khan, but Reza flatly refused and Nader married the girl himself. With regard to Central Asia, Nader viewed Merv (present-day Bayramali , Turkmenistan ) vital to his north-eastern defenses. He also tried to secure
3408-857: The Khitan -led Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty and attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. In the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan , great-grandfather of Genghis Khan. The Mongolian plateau
3550-611: The Levant and the Carpathian Mountains . The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes in the Mongol heartland under the leadership of Temüjin, known by the more famous title of Genghis Khan ( c. 1162 – 1227), whom a council proclaimed as the ruler of all Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent out invading armies in every direction. The vast transcontinental empire connected
3692-636: The Maratha Empire were expanding upon its territory. 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 far eastern empire, and in a brilliant campaign against
3834-640: The Mongols captured Caizhou , the town to which Wanyan Shouxu had fled. In 1234, three armies commanded by Ögedei's sons Kochu and Koten and the Tangut general Chagan invaded southern China. With the assistance of the Song dynasty the Mongols finished off the Jin in 1234. Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin. Two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze , Liu Heima (劉黑馬, Liu Ni), and
3976-539: The North Caucasus , South Caucasus , as well as in northern mainland Iran. This included mainly, but was not limited to, the losses of Dagestan (including its principal city of Derbent ), Baku , Gilan , Mazandaran , and Astrabad . The regions to the west of that, mainly Iranian territories in Georgia , Iranian Azerbaijan , and Armenia , were taken by the Ottomans. The newly gained Russian and Turkish possessions were confirmed and further divided amongst themselves in
4118-661: The Ottoman Empire regained the lost territories in Western Armenia and Mesopotamia . Finally, Karim Khan founded the Zand dynasty and became ruler of Iran by 1760. Erekle II and Teimuraz II , who, in 1744, had been made the kings of Kakheti and Kartli respectively by Nader himself for their loyal service, capitalized on the eruption of instability, and declared de facto independence. Erekle II assumed control over Kartli after Teimuraz II's death, thus unifying
4260-453: The Ottoman Empire , as well as the campaigns in the North Caucasus . Nader also secured one of the Mughal emperor's daughters, Jahan Afruz Banu Begum, as a bride for his youngest son. The Indian campaign was the zenith of Nader's career. Afterwards he became increasingly despotic as his health declined markedly. Nader had left his son Reza Qoli Mirza to rule Iran in his absence. Reza had behaved highhandedly and somewhat cruelly but he had kept
4402-527: The Ottoman Empire . He believed that Safavid Shia Islam had intensified the conflict with the Sunni Ottoman Empire. His army was a mix of Shia and Sunni Muslims (with a notable minority of Christians and Kurds ) and included his own Qizilbash as well as Uzbeks , Afghans , Christian Georgians , and Armenians , and others. He wanted Iran to adopt a form of religion that would be more acceptable to Sunni Muslims and suggested that Iran adopt
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4544-763: The Qajar tribe , who offered to back him. Meanwhile, Iran's imperial neighboring rivals, the Ottomans and the Russians , took advantage of the chaos in the country to seize and divide territory for themselves. In 1722, Russia, led by Peter the Great and further aided by some of the most notable Caucasian regents of the disintegrating Safavid Empire, such as Vakhtang VI , launched the Russo-Iranian War (1722–1723) in which Russia captured swaths of Iran's territories in
4686-701: The Qing dynasty in the 1630s. The Golden Horde had broken into competing khanates by the end of the 15th century and its rule on Eastern Europe is traditionally considered to have ended in 1480 with the Great Stand on the Ugra River by the Grand Duchy of Moscow , while the Chagatai Khanate lasted in one form or another until 1687. The Mongol Empire is also referred to as the "Mongolian Empire" or
4828-536: The Toluid Civil War (1260–1264) and also dealt with challenges from the descendants of other sons of Genghis. Kublai successfully took power, but war ensued as he sought unsuccessfully to regain control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. By the time of Kublai's death in 1294, the Mongol Empire had fractured into four separate khanates or empires , each pursuing its own interests and objectives:
4970-573: The Treaty of Constantinople (1724) . During the chaos, Nader cut a deal with Mahmud Hotaki to rule Kalat in the north of Iran. However, when Mahmud Hotaki began minting coins in his name and asked for everyone's allegiance, Nader refused. Tahmasp and the Qajar leader Fath Ali Khan (the ancestor of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ) contacted Nader and asked him to join their cause and drive the Ghilzai Afghans out of Khorasan. He agreed and thus became
5112-695: The Turkoman Afshar tribe , which was one of the seven tribes of the Qizilbash who helped the Safavid dynasty establish their power in Iran. The Afshar tribe had originally lived in the Turkestan region, but during the 13th-century they moved to the Azerbaijan region in northwestern Iran as a result of the expansion of the Mongol Empire . Nader was from the semi-nomadic Qirqlu clan of
5254-464: The "Mongol World Empire" in some English sources. The empire referred to itself as ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ yeke mongɣol ulus ( lit. 'nation of the great Mongols' or the 'great Mongol nation') in Mongol or kür uluγ ulus ( lit. the 'whole great nation') in Turkic. After the 1260 to 1264 succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke , Kublai's power became limited to
5396-720: The 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous empire in history . Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia , the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe , extending northward into parts of the Arctic ; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent , mounted invasions of Southeast Asia , and conquered the Iranian Plateau ; and reached westward as far as
5538-618: The 1732 Treaty of Resht yet, resulting in the reestablishment of Iranian rule over all of the Caucasus and northern mainland Iran again. Nader suggested to his closest intimates, after a great hunting party on the Moghan plains (presently split between Azerbaijan and Iran), that he should be proclaimed the new king ( shah ) in place of the young Abbas III. The small group of close intimates, Nader's friends, included Tahmasp Khan Jalayer and Hasan-Ali Beg Bestami . Following Nader's suggestion,
5680-529: The Afshars, which lived in the Khorasan region of northeastern Iran. They had either settled there during the reign of the first Safavid Shah Ismail I ( r. 1501–1524 ), or had been resettled by Shah Abbas I ( r. 1588–1629 ) to fend off Uzbek attacks. Regardless, Afshars moving to Khorasan was already taking place by start of the 16th-century. The Afshar dialect is categorized either as
5822-456: The Arabs. In 1743, he conquered Oman and its main capital 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, the Treaty of Kerden , in which the Ottomans agreed to let Nader occupy Najaf . Nader changed
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5964-522: The Asian invaders except for a few northern cities. Mongol troops under Chormaqan in Persia connecting his invasion of Transcaucasia with the invasion of Batu and Subutai, forced the Georgian and Armenian nobles to surrender as well. Giovanni de Plano Carpini , the pope's envoy to the Mongol great khan, travelled through Kiev in February 1246 and wrote: They [the Mongols] attacked Russia, where they made great havoc, destroying cities and fortresses and slaughtering men; and they laid siege to Kiev,
6106-562: The Hotaki leader Mahmud Hotaki . In a pitched battle Mahmud inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Imperial forces sent from Isfehan in the battle of Gulnabad , after which he marched on the capital itself where he captured Isfehan after a terrible siege . A courtier in Isfahan by the name of Malek Mahmoud Sistani reached an accord with the Hotaki Afghan conquerors in which he would set up an independent kingdom in khorasan in exchange for his recognition of Mahmud as Shah of Persia. Sistani entered Khorasan and managed to regain most of Khorasan from
6248-400: The Iranian coinage system. He minted silver coins, called Naderi , that were equal to the Mughal rupee . Nader discontinued the policy of paying soldiers based on land tenure. Like the late Safavids he resettled tribes. Nader Shah transformed the Shahsevan , a nomadic group living around Azerbaijan whose name literally means "shah lover", into a tribal confederacy which defended Iran against
6390-415: The Iranians could make little headway against them. Though Nader managed to take most of Dagestan during his campaign, the effective guerrilla warfare as deployed by the Lezgins, but also the Avars and Laks made the Iranian re-conquest of the particular North Caucasian region a short lived one; several years later, Nader was forced to withdraw . During the same period, Nader accused his son of being behind
6532-430: The Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan. Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols. There were four Han Tumens and three Khitan Tumens, with each Tumen consisting of 10,000 troops. The Yuan dynasty created a Han army 漢軍 from Jin defectors, and another of ex-Song troops called the Newly Submitted Army 新附軍. In
6674-415: The Kipchak-controlled steppes. In the east, Ögedei's armies re-established Mongol authority in Manchuria, crushing the Eastern Xia regime and the Water Tatars . In 1230, the great Khan personally led his army in the campaign against the Jin dynasty of China. Ögedei's general Subutai captured the capital of Emperor Wanyan Shouxu in the siege of Kaifeng in 1232. The Jin dynasty collapsed in 1234 when
6816-409: The Koreans through both diplomacy and military force. The advance into Europe continued with Mongol invasions of Poland and Hungary. When the western flank of the Mongols plundered Polish cities, a European alliance among the Poles , the Moravians , and the Christian military orders of the Hospitallers , Teutonic Knights and the Templars assembled sufficient forces to halt, although briefly,
6958-430: The Kurds and successfully incorporated many of them into his small army). A combined force of 30,000 men lay siege to Mashad with Sistani and his commander-in-chief Pir Mohammad trapped within the city's walls. Tahmasp had developed a tense relationship with Fathali Khan and matters came to a head on October 10, 1726, when Nader brought Tahmasp an intercepted letter, the damning contents of which provided abundant evidence of
7100-464: The Mongol Empire. This marked a major shift in the leadership of the empire, transferring power from the descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei to the descendants of Genghis's son Tolui. The decision was acknowledged by a few of the Ögedeid and Chagataid princes, such as Möngke's cousin Kadan and the deposed khan Qara Hülëgü, but one of the other legitimate heirs, Ögedei's grandson Shiremun, sought to topple Möngke. Shiremun moved with his own forces toward
7242-420: The Mongol advance at Legnica . The Hungarian army, their Croatian allies and the Knights Templar were beaten by the Mongols at the banks of the Sajo River on 11 April 1241. Before Batu's forces could continue on to Vienna and northern Albania , news of Ögedei's death in December 1241 brought a halt to the invasion. As was customary in Mongol military tradition, all princes of Genghis's line had to attend
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#17327761297297384-418: The Mongol aristocracy, constituted the ruling class. Genghis Khan arranged for the Chinese Taoist master Qiu Chuji to visit him in Afghanistan, and also gave his subjects the right to religious freedom, despite his own shamanistic beliefs. Genghis Khan died on 18 August 1227, by which time the Mongol Empire ruled from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea , an empire twice the size of the Roman Empire or
7526-410: The Mongol generals in Persia. Güyük appointed his best friend's father Eljigidei as chief commander of the troops in Persia and gave them the task of both reducing the strongholds of the Nizari Ismailis and conquering the Abbasids at the center of the Islamic world, Iran and Iraq . In 1248, Güyük raised more troops and suddenly marched westward from the Mongol capital of Karakorum. The reasoning
7668-499: The Mongols and helped them conquer the rest of Yunnan . Möngke's general Qoridai stabilized his control over Tibet, inducing leading monasteries to submit to Mongol rule. Subutai's son Uryankhadai reduced the neighboring peoples of Yunnan to submission and went to war with the kingdom of Đại Việt under the Trần dynasty in northern Vietnam in 1258, but they had to draw back. The Mongol Empire tried to invade Đại Việt again in 1285 and 1287 but were defeated both times. After stabilizing
7810-426: The Mongols established Karakorum as their capital lasting until 1260. During that period, Ogedei Khan ordered the construction of a palace within the surrounding of its walls. Meanwhile, in an offensive action against the Song dynasty , Mongol armies captured Siyang-yang, the Yangtze and Sichuan , but did not secure their control over the conquered areas. The Song generals were able to recapture Siyang-yang from
7952-412: The Mongols in 1161. During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the usually cold, parched steppes of Central Asia enjoyed their mildest, wettest conditions in more than a millennium. It is thought that this resulted in a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock, which significantly enhanced Mongol military strength. Known during his childhood as Temüjin, Genghis Khan
8094-428: The Mongols in 1239. After the sudden death of Ögedei's son Kochu in Chinese territory the Mongols withdrew from southern China, although Kochu's brother Prince Koten invaded Tibet immediately after their withdrawal. Batu Khan , another grandson of Genghis Khan, overran the territories of the Bulgars , the Alans , the Kypchaks, Bashkirs, Mordvins , Chuvash , and other nations of the southern Russian steppe. By 1237
8236-428: The Mongols were encroaching upon Ryazan , the first Kievan Rus' principality they were to attack. After a three-day siege involving fierce fighting, the Mongols captured the city and massacred its inhabitants. They then proceeded to destroy the army of the Grand Principality of Vladimir at the Battle of the Sit River . The Mongols captured the Alania capital Maghas in 1238. By 1240, all Kievan Rus' had fallen to
8378-476: The Mongols' decision to withdraw. Following the Great Khan Ögedei's death in 1241, and before the next kurultai, Ögedei's widow Töregene took over the empire. She persecuted her husband's Khitan and Muslim officials and gave high positions to her own allies. She built palaces, cathedrals, and social structures on an imperial scale, supporting religion and education. She was able to win over most Mongol aristocrats to support Ögedei's son Güyük . But Batu, ruler of
8520-411: The Mughal empire caused much consternation in Delhi, prompting the Mughal ruler, Muhammad Shah , to raise an army of some 300,000 men and march to confront Nader Shah. Despite being outnumbered by six to one, Nader Shah crushed the Mughal army in less than three hours at the huge Battle of Karnal on 13 February 1739. After this spectacular victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered Delhi . When
8662-418: The Muslim Caliphate at their height. Genghis named his third son, the charismatic Ögedei , as his heir. According to Mongol tradition, Genghis Khan was buried in a secret location . The regency was originally held by Ögedei's younger brother Tolui until Ögedei's formal election at the kurultai in 1229. Among his first actions Ögedei sent troops to subjugate the Bashkirs , Bulgars , and other nations in
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#17327761297298804-514: The Ottoman ambassador Ali Pasha. He cut a deal with notables and the clergy that he would only assume the position of Shah if they promised to refrain from cursing Omar and Uthman , avoid beating themselves to draw blood at the Ashura festival, accept Sunni practices as legitimate, and to obey Nader's children and relatives after his death, thereby setting up a dynasty in his name. He was effectively realigning Persia with Sunni Islam. The notables accepted. The Safavids had forced Shia Islam as
8946-485: The Ottomans and Mughals more closely than the Safavids had been, Nader Shah started creating new concepts. One of these was a focus on a shared Turkmen descent, by having several official documents evoke how Nader Shah, the Ottomans, Uzbeks, and Mughals all had a shared Turkmen background. In a broad sense, this concept mirrored the origin fables of 15th century Anatolian Turkmen dynasties . The Ottomans, however, were left unimpressed with Nader Shah's new concept. According to
9088-425: The Ottomans and Mughals. He may have perceived a need to unite disparate components of the ummah against the expanding power of Europe at that time, however his view of Muslim unity was different from later concepts of it. He proposed a peace treaty with the Ottomans , in it, he proclaimed the Persians wanted the Ja'fari Maddhab to be incorporated as a Madhhab of Islam. While only a nominal claim, Nader's army
9230-413: The Ottomans, and signed a treaty ceding Georgia and Armenia in exchange for Tabriz . Nader, furious, saw that the moment had come to ease Tahmasp from power. 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
9372-401: The Shah's baby son, Abbas III, to whom Nader became regent . Nader decided, as he continued the 1730–1735 war, that he could win back the territory in Armenia and Georgia by seizing Ottoman Baghdad and then offering it in exchange for the lost provinces, but his plan went badly amiss when his army was routed by the Ottoman general Topal Osman Pasha near the city in 1733. the soldiers under
9514-487: The Sikhs, he told Khan that these rebels would one day rule the land. Still, the remaining plunder his forces had seized from India was so much that Nader was able to stop taxation in Iran for three years following his return. Many historians believe that Nader attacked the Mughal Empire to give his country some breathing space after previous turmoil. His successful campaign and replenishment of funds meant that he could continue his wars against Iran's archrival and neighbour,
9656-545: The West Ögedei's general Chormaqan destroyed Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu , the last shah of the Khwarizmian Empire . The small kingdoms in southern Persia voluntarily accepted Mongol supremacy. In East Asia, there were a number of Mongol campaigns into Goryeo Korea , but Ögedei's attempt to annex the Korean Peninsula met with little success. Gojong , the king of Goryeo , surrendered but later revolted and massacred Mongol darughachis (overseers); he then moved his imperial court from Gaeseong to Ganghwa Island . In 1235,
9798-412: The Yuan dynasty lost control of the Tibetan Plateau and China proper in 1354 and 1368, respectively, and collapsed after its capital of Dadu was taken over by Ming forces . The Genghisid rulers of the Yuan then retreated north and continued to rule the Mongolian Plateau . The regime is thereafter known as the Northern Yuan dynasty in historiography, surviving as a rump state until the conquest by
9940-737: The advent of the Zands and Qajars, its rulers had various forms of autonomy, but stayed vassals and subjects to the Iranian king. In the far east, Ahmad Shah Durrani had already proclaimed independence, marking the foundation of modern Afghanistan . Iran finally lost Bahrain to House of Khalifa during Invasion of Bani Utbah in 1783. Khorasan campaign of Nader Shah Afghan Campaigns Safavid restoration First Ottoman War Indian Campaign Central Asian Campaign Dagestan Campaign Persian Gulf Campaign Second Ottoman War Rebellions & Civil War The conquest of Khorasan (Persian: جنگ خراسان) by Safavid loyalist forces against separatists in Khorasan
10082-440: The arch-enemy of the Safavids, the Ottomans , as well as the Russians had seized Iranian territory for themselves. Nader reunited the Iranian realm and removed the invaders. He became so powerful that he decided to depose the last members of the Safavid dynasty, which had ruled Iran for over 200 years, and become Shah himself in 1736. His numerous campaigns created a great empire that, at its maximum extent, briefly encompassed what
10224-538: The assassination attempt in Mazanderan. Reza Qoli angrily protested his innocence, but Nader had him blinded as punishment, and ordered his eyes to be brought to him on a platter. When his orders had been carried out, however, Nader instantly regretted it, crying out to his courtiers, "What is a father? What is a son?" Soon afterwards, Nader started executing the nobles who had witnessed his son's blinding. In his last years, Nader became increasingly paranoid , ordering
10366-464: The assassination of large numbers of suspected enemies. Following the orders of Nadir Shah, his soldiers executed 150 monks at Monastery of Saint Elijah after they refused to convert to Islam . With the wealth he gained, Nader started to build an Iranian navy . With lumber from Mazandaran , he built ships in Bushehr . He also purchased thirty ships in India. He recaptured the island of Bahrain from
10508-581: The beginning of May 1739, but before they left, he ceded back to Muhammad Shah all territories to the east of the Indus which he had overrun. The booty they had collected was loaded on 700 elephants, 4,000 camels, and 12,000 horses. Nader Shah left the area via the mountains in Northern Punjab . Learning of his planned route, the Sikhs started gathering light cavalry bands, and planned an attack to capture his plunder. The Sikhs fell upon Nadir's army in
10650-416: The building of foreign merchants' quarters, Buddhist monasteries , mosques , and Christian churches in the Mongol capital. As construction projects continued, Karakorum was adorned with Chinese, European, and Persian architecture . One famous example was a large silver tree with cleverly designed pipes that dispensed various drinks. The tree, topped by a triumphant angel, was crafted by Guillaume Boucher ,
10792-414: The capital of Russia; after they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death. When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of dead men lying about on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there are at the present time scarce two hundred houses there and
10934-478: The capital, Isfahan . After the Shah failed to escape or to rally a relief force elsewhere, the city was starved into submission and Soltan Husayn abdicated, handing power to Mahmud. In Khorasan, Nader at first submitted to the local Afghan governor of Mashhad , Malek Mahmud, but then rebelled and built up his own small army. Soltan Husayn's son had declared himself Shah Tahmasp II , but found little support and fled to
11076-434: The captain of the guards, and Salah Khan, the overseer of Nader's household. Nader Shah was assassinated on 20 June 1747, at Quchan in Khorasan . He was surprised in his sleep by around fifteen conspirators, and stabbed to death. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins before he died. The most detailed account of Nader's assassination comes from Père Louis Bazin, Nader's physician at the time of his death, who relied on
11218-445: The command of Mohammad Khan Baloch to besiege finally, after hours of fighting, Nader's troops were defeated and retreated. This was the only time that he was ever defeated in battle. Nader decided he needed to regain the initiative as soon as possible to save his position because revolts were already breaking out in Iran. He faced Topal again with a larger force and defeated and killed him. He then besieged Baghdad, as well as Ganja in
11360-460: The conclusion of the Siege of Isfahan , Mamud sent a contingent of his Afghans to subdue Qazvin where a new Safavid pretender Tahmasp had risen and proclaimed himself Shah. He was forced to flee Qazvin but could not stay in the region permanently as those areas not under Afghan control were unremittingly coming under the marching boots of Ottoman soldiers invading from the west. Tahmasp was chased from
11502-631: The consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and losing even the fabled Peacock Throne to the Iranian emperor. The Peacock Throne, thereafter, served as a symbol of Iranian imperial might. It is estimated that Nader took away with him treasures worth as much as seven hundred million rupees. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader also looted the Koh-i-Noor (meaning "Mountain of Light" in Persian) and Darya-ye Noor (meaning "Sea of Light") diamonds . The Iranian troops left Delhi at
11644-675: The control of Genghis Khan. His most powerful allies were his father's friend, Khereid chieftain Toghrul , and Temujin's childhood anda (i.e. blood brother ) Jamukha of the Jadran clan. With their help, Temujin defeated the Merkit tribe, rescued his wife Börte , and went on to defeat the Naimans and the Tatars. Temujin forbade the looting of his enemies without permission, and he implemented
11786-513: The eastern part of the empire, centered on China. Kublai officially issued an imperial edict on 18 December 1271 to give the empire the Han -style dynastic name of "Great Yuan" ( Dai Yuan , or Dai Ön Ulus' ; Chinese : 大 元 ; pinyin : Dà Yuán ) and to establish the Yuan dynasty . Some sources give the full Mongol name as Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus . The area around Mongolia , Manchuria , and parts of North China had been controlled by
11928-428: The emperor's nomadic palace with a plan for an armed attack, but Möngke was alerted by his falconer of the plan. Möngke ordered an investigation of the plot, which led to a series of major trials all across the empire. Many members of the Mongol elite were found guilty and put to death, with estimates ranging from 77 to 300, though princes of Genghis's royal line were often exiled rather than executed. Möngke confiscated
12070-956: The empire's finances, Möngke once again sought to expand its borders. At kurultais in Karakorum in 1253 and 1258 he approved new invasions of the Middle East and south China . Möngke put Hulagu in overall charge of military and civil affairs in Persia, and appointed Chagataids and Jochids to join Hulagu's army. The Muslims from Qazvin denounced the menace of the Nizari Ismailis , a well-known sect of Shiites . The Mongol Naiman commander Kitbuqa began to assault several Ismaili fortresses in 1253, before Hulagu advanced in 1256. Ismaili Grand Master Rukn al-Din Khurshah surrendered in 1257 and
12212-577: The empire. In addition to laws regarding family, food, and the army, Genghis also decreed religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. He exempted the poor and the clergy from taxation. He also encouraged literacy and the adaptation of the Uyghur script into what would become the Mongolian script of the empire, ordering the Uyghur Tata-tonga , who had previously served
12354-519: The estates of the Ögedeid and the Chagatai families and shared the western part of the empire with his ally Batu Khan. After the bloody purge, Möngke ordered a general amnesty for prisoners and captives, but thereafter the power of the great khan's throne remained firmly with the descendants of Tolui. Möngke was a serious man who followed the laws of his ancestors and avoided alcoholism. He was tolerant of outside religions and artistic styles, leading to
12496-477: The eyewitness testimony of Chuki, one of Nader's favourite concubines : Around fifteen of the conspirators were impatient or merely eager to distinguish themselves, and so turned up prematurely at the agreed meeting place. They entered the enclosure of the royal tent, pushing and smashing their way through any obstacles, and penetrated into the sleeping quarters of that ill-starred monarch. The noise they made on entering woke him up: 'Who goes there?' he shouted out in
12638-845: The first four caliphs of Islam . Alternatively, it has also been recorded that the four peaks symbolised the territories of Persia , India , Turkestan , and Khwarezm . In 1741, eight Muslim scholars and three European and five Armenian priests translated the Koran and the Gospels. The commission was supervised by Mīrzā Moḥammad Mahdī Khan Monšī , the court historiographer and author of the Tarikh-e-Jahangoshay-e-Naderi ( History of Nader Shah's Wars ). Finished translations were presented to Nāder Shah in Qazvīn in June 1741, who, however,
12780-585: The following year when he became suspect in Nader's eyes). The results of the siege had gifted the capital of Khorasan to Tahmasp as well as gifting Fathali's position to the sole person of Nader as he now took to subdue the remaining Khans and tribes of the province hence further augmenting his forces. His conquest of Khorasan allowed the Safavid loyalist movement to next focus on an expedition further east towards Herat. Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of
12922-502: The forces still loyal to him prevailed, defeating the remaining rival tribes between 1203 and 1205 and bringing them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the khagan (Emperor) of the Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Great Mongol State) at a Kurultai (general assembly/council). It was there that he assumed the title of Genghis Khan (universal leader) instead of one of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan, marking
13064-474: The fortress of Dastgerd in the northern valleys of Khorasan , a province in the northeast of the Iranian Empire. His father, Emam Qoli, was a herdsman who may also have been a coatmaker. His family lived a nomadic way of life. Nader was a long-waited son in his family. At the age of 13, his father died and Nader had to find a way to support himself and his mother. He had no source of income other than
13206-410: The future. Nader returned to the province of Khorasan in 1708. At the age of 15, he enlisted as a musketeer for a governor. He rose the ranks and became the governor's right-hand man. Nader grew up during the final years of the Safavid dynasty which had ruled Iran since 1502. At its peak, under such figures as Abbas the Great , Safavid Iran had been a powerful empire, but by the early 18th century
13348-471: 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, utterly beating them despite being outnumbered two-to-one. This led to the capture of Ghazni , Kabul , Peshawar , Sindh , and Lahore . As he moved into the Mughal territories, he
13490-467: The group did not "demur", and Hasan-Ali remained silent. When Nader asked him why he remained silent, Hasan-Ali replied that the best thing for Nader to do would be assembling all leading men of the state, in order to receive their agreement in "a signed and sealed document of consent". Nader approved with the proposal, and the writers of the chancellery, which included the court historian Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi , were instructed with sending out orders to
13632-412: The inhabitants are kept in complete slavery. Despite the military successes, strife continued within the Mongol ranks. Batu's relations with Güyük , Ögedei's eldest son, and Büri , the beloved grandson of Chagatai Khan , remained tense and worsened during Batu's victory banquet in southern Kievan Rus'. Nevertheless, Güyük and Buri could not do anything to harm Batu's position as long as his uncle Ögedei
13774-596: The khan of Naimans , to instruct his sons. Genghis quickly came into conflict with the Jin dynasty of the Jurchens and the Western Xia of the Tanguts in northern China. He also had to deal with two other powers, Tibet and Qara Khitai . Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, making the Mongol Empire the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with
13916-586: The kurultai convened by Töregene in 1246. Güyük by this time was ill and alcoholic, but his campaigns in Manchuria and Europe gave him the kind of stature necessary for a great khan. He was duly elected at a ceremony attended by Mongols and foreign dignitaries from both within and without the empire — leaders of vassal nations, representatives from Rome, and other entities who came to the kurultai to show their respects and conduct diplomacy. Güyük took steps to reduce corruption, announcing that he would continue
14058-403: The kurultai to elect a successor. Batu and his western Mongol army withdrew from Central Europe the next year. Today researchers doubt that Ögedei's death was the sole reason for the Mongols withdrawal. Batu did not return to Mongolia, so a new khan was not elected until 1246. Climatic and environmental factors, as well as the strong fortifications and castles of Europe, played an important role in
14200-541: The military, clergy and nobility of the nation to summon at the plains. The summonses for the people to attend had gone out in November 1735, and they began arriving in January 1736. In the same month of January 1736, Nader held a qoroltai (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur ) on the Moghan plains. The Moghan plain was specifically chosen for its size and "abundance of fodder ". Everyone agreed to
14342-470: The modern historian Ernest Tucker, comparing this concept to an early version of " pan-Turkism " would be "anachronistic and misleading." He adds that this was part of unpolished drafts of concepts that would get polished throughout the 11 years of Nader Shah's reign, and would include wide political and religious aspects. Nader's concepts regarding the Ja'farism and common Turkmen descent were directed primarily at
14484-514: The more progressive, urbanized Persian culture, many of them nevertheless identified culturally with the Turco-Mongol heritage that had been passed down from the era of Timur and Genghis Khan . The settled population was seen by the semi-nomads and nomads as inferior. Nader was part of this heritage, which the British academic Michael Axworthy calls "paradoxical". Nader Shah was born in
14626-549: The most powerful rulers in Iranian history , ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was assassinated during a rebellion. He fought numerous campaigns throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia, such as the battles of Herat , Mihmandust , Murche-Khort , Kirkuk , Yeghevārd , Khyber Pass , Karnal , and Kars . Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as
14768-415: The neighbouring Ottomans and Russians . In addition, he increased the number of soldiers under his command and reduced the number of soldiers under tribal and provincial control. His reforms may have strengthened the country, but they did little to improve Iran's suffering economy. He also always paid his troops on time, no matter what. In order to construct a broad political framework that could link him to
14910-431: The northern Caucasus and Hungary. The pro-Tolui faction supported Batu's choice, and Möngke was elected; though given the kurultai's limited attendance and location, it was of questionable validity. Batu sent Möngke, under the protection of his brothers, Berke and Tukhtemur, and his son Sartaq to assemble a more formal kurultai at Kodoe Aral in the heartland. The supporters of Möngke repeatedly invited Oghul Qaimish and
15052-456: The northern provinces, earning a Russian alliance against the Ottomans. Nader scored a great victory over a superior Ottoman force at Baghavard and by the summer of 1735, Iranian Armenia and Georgia were his again. 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, those which had not been ceded back by
15194-483: The other major Ögedeid and Chagataid princes to attend the kurultai, but they refused each time. The Ögedeid and Chagataid princes refused to accept a descendant of Genghis's son Tolui as leader, demanding that only descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei could be great khan. When Möngke's mother Sorghaghtani and their cousin Berke organized a second kurultai on 1 July 1251, the assembled throng proclaimed Möngke great khan of
15336-527: The peace in Iran. Having heard rumours that his father had died, he had made preparations for assuming the crown. These included the murder of the former shah Tahmasp and his family, including the nine-year-old Abbas III. On hearing the news, Reza's wife, who was Tahmasp's sister, committed suicide. Nader was not impressed with his son's waywardness and reprimanded him, but he took him on his expedition to conquer territory in Transoxiana . In 1740, he conquered
15478-474: The pilgrimage trade. Nader's other primary aim in his religious reforms was to weaken the Safavids further since Shia Islam had always been a major element in support for the dynasty. He had a Shia mullah of Iran strangled after he was heard expressing support for the Safavids. Among his reforms was the introduction of what came to be known as the kolah-e Naderi . This was a hat with four peaks which symbolised
15620-732: The policies of his father Ögedei, not those of Töregene. He punished Töregene's supporters, except for governor Arghun the Elder . He also replaced young Qara Hülëgü , the khan of the Chagatai Khanate , with his favorite cousin Yesü Möngke , to assert his newly conferred powers. He restored his father's officials to their former positions and was surrounded by Uyghur, Naiman and Central Asian officials, favoring Han Chinese commanders who had helped his father conquer Northern China. He continued military operations in Korea, advanced into Song China in
15762-443: The poor. Throughout his career, he was only interested in his own advancement. Legend has it that in 1704, when he was about 17, a band of marauding Uzbeks invaded the province of Khorasan, where Nader lived with his mother. They killed many peasants. Nader and his mother were among those who were carried off into slavery. His mother died in captivity. According to another story, Nader managed to convince Turkmens by promising help in
15904-400: The proposal of Nader becoming the new king, 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 8 March 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially favorable, in attendance of an "exceptionally large assembly" composed of the military, religious and nobility of the nation, as well as
16046-475: The rebels and local warlords in a relatively short period of time with the capital Mashad falling into his hands. At this juncture Nader had established himself in the fortress of kalat north of Mashad and with a mere force of 1,200 men raided Sistani's territory, although they did not come into direct confrontation Nader had established himself as the only real challenge to Sistani's influence in Khorasan. After
16188-480: The ruler of Bukhara as his vassal, imitating previous great conquerors of Mongol - Timurid descent. According to a British scholar Peter Avery, Nader's attitude towards Bukhara was irredentist to an extent that he "may even have thought that, if only the Ottoman power in the west could be contained, he might make Bukhara a base for conquests further afield in Central Asia". Nader dispatched numerous artisans to Merv in
16330-481: 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. Relations between Nader and the Shah had declined as the latter grew jealous of his general's military successes. While Nader was absent in the east, Tahmasp tried to assert himself by launching a foolhardy campaign to recapture Yerevan . He ended up losing all of Nader's recent gains to
16472-640: The south, and into Iraq in the west, and ordered an empire-wide census. Güyük also divided the Sultanate of Rum between Izz-ad-Din Kaykawus and Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan , though Kaykawus disagreed with this decision. Not all parts of the empire respected Güyük's election. The Hashshashins , former Mongol allies whose Grand Master Hasan Jalalud-Din had offered his submission to Genghis Khan in 1221, angered Güyük by refusing to submit. Instead he murdered
16614-591: The southern part of the empire he continued his predecessors' struggle against the Song dynasty. In order to outflank the Song from three directions, Möngke dispatched Mongol armies under his brother Kublai to Yunnan , and under his uncle Iyeku to subdue Korea and pressure the Song from that direction as well. Kublai conquered the Dali Kingdom in 1253 after the Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to
16756-556: The start of the Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan introduced many innovative ways of organizing his army: for example dividing it into decimal subsections of arbans (10 soldiers), zuuns (100), Mingghans (1000), and tumens (10,000). The Kheshig , the imperial guard , was founded and divided into day ( khorchin torghuds ) and night ( khevtuul ) guards. Genghis rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions, as heads of army units and households, even though many of them came from very low-ranking clans. Compared to
16898-437: The state religion of Iran. Nader may have been brought up as a Shiite on the basis of his name and background but later replaced Shia law with a version that was more sympathetic and compatible with Sunni law he called the "Ja'fari school" in an effort to disassociate radical Shia Islam from the state in part to please his supporters and also to improve relationships with other Sunni powers. as he gained power and began to push into
17040-579: The state was in serious decline and the reigning shah, Soltan Hoseyn , was a weak ruler. When Soltan Husayn attempted to quell a rebellion by the Ghilzai Afghans in Kandahar , the governor he sent ( Gurgin Khan ) was killed. Under their leader Mahmud Hotaki , the rebellious Afghans moved westwards against the shah himself and in 1722 they defeated a force at the Battle of Gulnabad and then besieged
17182-532: The sticks he gathered for firewood, which he transported to the market. Many years later, when he was returning in triumph from his conquest of Delhi , he led the army to his birthplace and made a speech to his generals about his early life of deprivation. He said, "You now see to what height it has pleased the Almighty to exalt me; from hence, learn not to despise men of low estate." Nader's early experiences did not, however, make him particularly compassionate toward
17324-524: The time, possibly to pay homage, or perhaps with other plans in mind. Before the forces of Batu and Güyük met, Güyük, sick and worn out by travel, died en route at Qum-Senggir (Hong-siang-yi-eulh) in Xinjiang , possibly a victim of poison. Güyük's widow Oghul Qaimish stepped forward to take control of the empire, but she lacked the skills of her mother-in-law Töregene, and her young sons Khoja and Naku and other princes challenged her authority. To decide on
17466-571: The two as the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , becoming the first Georgian ruler in three centuries to preside over a politically unified eastern Georgia, and due to the frantic turn of events in mainland Iran he would be able to maintain its autonomy until the advent of the Iranian Qajar dynasty . The rest of the Iranian territories in the Caucasus, comprising modern-day Azerbaijan , Armenia , and Dagestan broke away into various khanates . Until
17608-501: The units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were relatively few. He proclaimed a new code of law of the empire, Ikh Zasag or Yassa ; later he expanded it to cover much of the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads. He forbade the selling of women, theft, fighting among the Mongols, and the hunting of animals during the breeding season. He appointed his stepbrother Shikhikhutug as supreme judge (jarughachi), ordering him to keep records of
17750-544: The west of the country and in Astarabad found a loyal if difficult subject warlord by the name of Fathali Khan of the Qajar clan. Deciding that it was too soon to march on Isfahan to liberate the heartland of Persia they would begin in Khorasan where they could forge alliances and rally more troops under their banner. Marching toward Khorasan they came into contact with Nader whose loyalty they acquired along with his now much enlarged fighting force (Nader had campaigned against
17892-483: The wretched monarch, covered in his own blood, attempted – but was too weak – to get up, and cried out, 'Why do you want to kill me? Spare my life and all I have shall be yours!' He was still pleading when Salah Khan ran up, sword in hand and severed his head, which he dropped into the hands of a waiting soldier. Thus perished the wealthiest monarch on earth. After his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Ali Qoli, who renamed himself Adel Shah ("righteous king"). Adel Shah
18034-420: Was Nader Shah 's first major military campaign which he waged on behalf of the new Safavid pretender to the throne, Tahmasp II . It would propel him into the centre of the political landscape of war-torn early eighteenth-century Persia. Revolts swept through the province during the 1720s as a direct consequence of the Afghan revolt in the eastern provinces of the empire which eventually led to an invasion led by
18176-404: Was a betrayal on the other side of the conflict that brought the siege to an end where Pir Mohammad allowed Nader to infiltrate the city walls forcing Sistani to take refuge in the citadel, surrendering shortly after. The defeated Malek Mahmoud Sistani was surprisingly treated with courtesy and in a show of reconciliatory mercy allowed to spend the rest of his life as a sage (Though he was executed
18318-590: Was a son of a Mongol chieftain and rose very rapidly as a young man by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. After Temujin went to war against Kurtait (also known as Wang Khan; given the Chinese title "Wang" for its meaning of King ), who was the most powerful Mongol leader at the time, he gave himself the name Genghis Khan. He then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin, with the term Mongol coming to be used in reference to all Mongolic speaking tribes under
18460-423: Was arguably the most powerful empire in the world. Following his assassination in 1747, his empire quickly disintegrated and Iran fell into a civil war. His grandson Shahrokh Shah was the last of his dynasty to rule, ultimately being deposed in 1796 by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar , who crowned himself shah the same year. Nader Shah has been described as "the last great Asiatic military conqueror". Nader belonged to
18602-522: Was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143. In 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, opening a long period of active hostilities. The Jin and Tatar armies defeated
18744-557: Was collected by imperial agents and forwarded to units in need. His court also tried to lighten the tax burden on commoners by reducing tax rates. He also centralized control of monetary affairs and reinforced the guards at the postal relays. Möngke ordered an empire-wide census in 1252 that took several years to complete and was not finished until Novgorod in the far northwest was counted in 1258. In another move to consolidate his power, Möngke assigned his brothers Hulagu and Kublai to rule Persia and Mongol-held China respectively. In
18886-407: Was given in marriage to Nader's son. Nader pursued and defeated Ashraf, who was murdered by his own followers. In 1738 Nader Shah besieged and destroyed the last Hotaki seat of power at Kandahar . He built a new city near Kandahar, which he named " Naderabad ". In the spring of 1730, Nader attacked Iran's archrival the Ottomans and regained most of the territory lost during the recent chaos. At
19028-573: Was increasingly drawing from Sunni Afghans, Kurds , Turkmens , Baloch , and others who were happy with a less sectarian Persia. Externally he presented Persia as completely sympathetic to Sunnis. He probably did this for political reasons in order to increase his legitimacy within the Muslim world; he would have never been accepted if he remained a radical Shia Muslim like the Safavid Shahs . Though as stated countless times before, internally, he
19170-410: Was loyally accompanied by his Georgian subject and future king of eastern Georgia , Erekle II , who led a Georgian contingent as a military commander as part of Nader's force. Following the prior defeat of Mughal forces, he then advanced deeper into India, crossing the river Indus before the end of year. The news of the Iranian army's swift and decisive successes against the northern vassal states of
19312-582: Was not impressed. Nader diverted money going to Shia mullahs and redirected it to his army instead. In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the Hotaki dynasty . His thoughts now turned to the Mughal Empire of India. This once powerful Muslim state to the east was falling apart as the nobles became increasingly disobedient and local opponents such as the Sikhs and Hindu Marathas of
19454-420: Was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations ( khanlig ): Keraites , Khamag Mongol , Naiman , Mergid , and Tatar . The Jin emperors, following a policy of divide and rule , encouraged disputes among the tribes, especially between the Tatars and the Mongols, in order to keep the nomadic tribes distracted by their own battles and thereby away from the Jin. Khabul's successor was Ambaghai Khan , who
19596-576: Was passing through the forest of Mazanderan on his way to fight the Dagestanis, an assassin took a shot at him but Nader was only lightly wounded. He began to suspect his son was behind the attempt and confined him to Tehran . Nader's increasing ill health made his temper ever worse. Perhaps it was his illness that made Nader lose the initiative in his war against the Lezgin tribes of Dagestan. Frustratingly for him, they resorted to guerrilla warfare and
19738-411: Was probably agnostic. Whenever Nader laid siege to a city, he would construct a city of his own outside the walls. His encampment was filled with markets, mosques, bathhouses, coffeehouses, and stables. He did this to show the besieged his army would be there for the long haul, to prevent diseases from spreading within his troops' ranks, and to occupy his troops' time. Nader became increasingly cruel as
19880-470: Was probably involved in the assassination plot. Adel Shah was deposed within a year. During the struggle between Adel Shah, his brother Ibrahim Khan and Nader's grandson Shah Rukh and almost all provincial governors declared independence , established their own states, and the entire Empire of Nader Shah fell into anarchy . Oman and the Uzbek khanates of Bukhara and Khiva regained independence, while
20022-643: Was still alive. Ögedei continued with offensives into the Indian subcontinent , temporarily investing Uchch , Lahore , and Multan of the Delhi Sultanate and stationing a Mongol overseer in Kashmir , though the invasions into India eventually failed and were forced to retreat. In northeastern Asia, Ögedei agreed to end the conflict with Goryeo by making it a client state and sent Mongol princesses to wed Goryeo princes. He then reinforced his kheshig with
20164-585: Was unclear. Some sources wrote that he sought to recuperate at his personal estate, Emyl; others suggested that he might have been moving to join Eljigidei to conduct a full-scale conquest of the Middle East, or possibly to make a surprise attack on his rival cousin Batu Khan in Rus. Suspicious of Güyük's motives, Sorghaghtani Beki , the widow of Genghis's son Tolui, secretly warned her nephew Batu of Güyük's approach. Batu had himself been traveling eastward at
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