Nader Shah: Difference between revisions

Nader Shah
Nader Shah
King of Persia
Reign	1736–1747
Predecessor	Abbas III
Successor	Adil Shah

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This article is about the Persian shah. For the 20th century king of Afghanistan, see Mohammed Nadir Shah.

Nāder Shāh Afshār (Template:PerB; also known as Nāder Qoli Beg - نادر قلی بیگ or Tahmāsp Qoli Khān - تهماسپ قلی خان) (August 6, 1698^[1] – June 19, 1747) ruled as Shah of Iran (1736–47) and was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia^[2] or the Second Alexander.^[3] Nader Shah was a member the Turkmen Afshar tribe of northern Persia,^[4] which had supplied military power to the Safavid state since the time of Shah Ismail I.^[5] He created a great Iranian Empire that briefly encompassed what is now Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, and parts of Central Asia.^[6] He won battles against the Afghans, Ottomans, Russians, and Mughals. Nader idolised previous conquerors from Central Asia, Genghis Khan and Timur, imitated their military prowess and--especially later in his reign--their cruelty. Nader Shah's victories briefly made him the Middle East's most powerful sovereign, but his empire quickly disintegrated after he was assassinated in 1747. Nader Shah was the last great Asian military conqueror. Nader is considered to be Iran's most gifted military commander^[2] and is credited for restoring Iranian power as an eminence between the Ottomans and the Mughals.^[7]

Early life

Nader Shah was born in Dastgerd^[8] into the Qereqlu clan of the Afshars, a semi-nomadic Turkmen tribe in Khorasan.^[6] His father, a poor peasant, died while Nader was still a child. According to legends, Nader and his mother were carried off as slaves by marauding Uzbek or Turkmen tribesmen, but Nader managed to escape. He joined a band of brigands while still a boy and eventually advanced to become their leader. Under the patronage of Afshar chieftains, he rose through the ranks to become a powerful military leader. Nader married the two daughters of Baba Ali Beg, a local chief.^[6]

The fall of the Safavid dynasty

Nader grew up during the final years of the Safavid dynasty which had ruled Persia since 1502. At its peak, under such figures as Abbas the Great, Safavid Persia had been a powerful empire, but by the early 18th century the state was in serious decline and the reigning shah, Soltan Hossein, was a weak ruler. When Soltan Hussein attempted to quell a rebellion by Ghilzai Afghans in Kandahar, the governor he sent was killed. Under their leader Mahmud, the rebellious Afghans moved westwards against the shah himself and in 1722 they defeated a vastly superior force at the Battle of Golnabad and then besieged the capital, Isfahan. After the shah failed to escape to rally a relief force elsewhere, the city was starved into submission and Soltan Hussein 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 Hossein’s son had declared himself Shah Tahmasp II, but found little support and fled to the Qajar tribe, who offered to back him. Meanwhile, Persia's imperial rivals, the Ottomans and the Russians took advantage of the chaos in the country to seize territory for themselves.^[9]

Defeat of the Afghans

Tomb of Nader Shah, a tourist attraction in Mashhad

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 Afghans out of Khorasan. He agreed and now became 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 captured Mashhad.^[10]

Nader chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated the Abdali Afghans near Herat (many of them subsequently joined his army). The new Ghilzai Afghan shah, Ashraf, decided to move against Nader but in September 1729, Nader defeated him at the Battle of Damghan and again, decisively, in November at Murchakhor. 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 married him to his sister. Nader pursued and defeated Ashraf, who was murdered by his own followers.^[11] In 1738 Nader Shah besieged and destroyed Kandahar. This was the ultimate defeat of any remaining Afghan forces. Nader Shah built a new city near Kandahar, which he named Naderabad.^[6]

Ottoman campaign

In the spring of 1730, Nader attacked 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 defeat the Abdali Afghans.

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 Nader’s recent gains to the Ottomans, and signed a treaty ceding Georgia and Armenia in exchange for Tabriz. Nader 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 the shah’s baby son, Abbas III, to whom Nader became regent.

Nader decided he could win back the territory in Armenia and Georgia by seizing Ottoman Baghdad then offering it in exchange for the lost provinces. Unfortunately, his plan went badly wrong when his army was routed by the Ottoman general Topal Osman Pasha near the city in 1733. Nader decided he needed to regain the initiative as soon as possible to save his position; revolts were already breaking out in Persia. He faced Topal again with a larger force and defeated and killed him. He then besieged Baghdad as well as Ganja in the northern provinces, earning a Russian alliance against the Ottomans. Nader scored a great victory over a superior Ottoman force at Baghavard; by the summer of 1735, the Persian 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 Persian territory.^[12]

Nader becomes shah

In January 1736, Nader held a qoroltai (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur) on the Moghan Plain in Azerbaijan. The leading figures in Persian political and religious life attended. It was suggested Nader be crowned as the new shah. Everyone agreed, many - if not most - enthusiastically, the rest fearing Nader’s anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Persia on March 8, 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially propitious.

Religious reforms

Nader also proposed religious reforms. The Safavids had introduced Shi'a Islam as the state religion of Persia. Nader claimed this had intensified the conflict with the Ottoman Empire which was Sunni. He wanted Persia to adopt a form of religion that would be more acceptable to Sunnis and suggested Persia should adopt the Ja'fari form of Shi'ism. He banned certain Shi'a practices and had the chief mullah in Persia strangled. Nader's aim in doing this was to further weaken the Safavids since Shi'a Islam had always been a major element in support for the dynasty. It is also highly probable that Nader had plans to make himself the master of the Ottoman and Moghul Empires (which were both Sunni) and so needed to establish a form of religion that would be accepted by the majority of his future subjects. ^[13]

Invasion of India

In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar. Nader’s thoughts now turned to Moghul India. This once powerful Muslim state was falling apart as the nobles became increasingly disobedient and the Hindu Marathas made inroads on its territory from the south-west. Its ruler Mohammed Shah was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader used the pretext of his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India to cross the border and capture Kabul, Ghazni and Lahore. He then advanced deeper into India crossing the river Indus before the end of year. He defeated the Moghul army at the huge Battle of Karnal in February, 1739. After this victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him into Delhi. In the rioting that followed, more than 30,000 were killed by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg for mercy. In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence – handing over the keys of his royal treasury; losing even the Peacock Throne to the Persian emperor. The Peacock Throne thereafter served as a symbol of Persian imperial might. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader also gained the Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds (Koh-i-Noor means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, Darya-ye Noor means "Sea of Light"). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739. Nader's soldiers also took with them thousands of elephants, horses and camels, loaded with the booty they had collected. The plunder seized from India was so rich that Nader stopped taxation in Iran for a period of three years, following his return.^[14]

After India

The Indian campaign was the zenith of Nader's career. After this he would become increasingly despotic as his health declined markedly. Nader had left his son Reza Qoli Mirza to rule Persia in his absence. Reza had behaved highhandedly and somewhat cruelly but he had kept the peace in Persia. When he 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 land in Transoxiana. The Persians forced the Uzbek khanate of Bokhara to submit and 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. Nader also conquered Khwarezm.

Nader now decided to punish Daghestan for the death of his brother Ebrahim Qoli on a campaign a few years before. In 1741, while Nader was passing through the forest of Mazanderan, 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 Daghestan. Frustratingly for him, they resorted to guerrilla war and the Persians could make little headway against them. Nader accused his son of being behind the assassination attempt. Reza angrily protested his innocence, but Nader had him blinded as punishment, though 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.

Nader started to build a powerful Persian navy. He recaptured the island of Bahrain from the Arabs. In 1743 he conquered Oman and its main capital the city of 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.^[15]

Death and legacy

File:Naderafshartomb.jpg

Nader Shah's tomb was designed by Hooshang Seyhoon.

Nader became crueller and crueller as a result of his illness and his desire to extort more and more tax money to pay for his military campaigns. More and more 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 feared he was about to execute them and plotted against him. Nader Shah was assassinated on 19 June, 1747, at Fathabad in Khorasan. He was surprised in his sleep by Salah Bey, captain of the guards, and stabbed with a sword. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins.^[16]^[17]

After his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Ali Qoli, who renamed himself Adil Shah ("righteous king"). Adil Shah was probably involved in the assassination plot.^[12] Adil Shah was deposed within a year. During the struggle between Adil Shah, his brother Ibrahim Khan and Nader's grandson Shah Rukh almost all provincial governors declared independence, established their own states, and the entire Empire of Nader Shah fell into anarchy. Finally, Karim Khan founded the Zand dynasty and became ruler of Iran by 1760, while Ahmad Shah Durrani had already proclaimed independence in the east, marking the foundation of modern Afghanistan.

During Nader Shah's brief reign a 400,000-man army was created, and the boundaries of his empire extended to the greatest extent in Iran's history since the days of the Sassanids.

In 1768, Christian VII of Denmark commissioned Sir William Jones to translate a Persian language biography of Nader Shah written by his Minister Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi into French. It was published in 1770 as Histoire de Nadir Chah, and subsequently translated into English, becoming the vehicle by which Nader Shah became known to the reading public in the West.

Preceded by Abbas III	King of Persia 1736–1747	Succeeded by Adil Shah Afshar

References

^ Nader's exact date of birth is unknown but August 6 is the "likeliest" according to Axworthy p.17 (and note) and The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 7 p.3); other biographers favour 1688.
^ ^a ^b [1] Encyclopedia Britannica
^ http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/nadir/nadir_bio.htm
^ Michael Axworthy's biography of Nader, The Sword of Persia (I.B. Tauris, 2006), p.17-19: "His father was of lowly but respectable status, a herdsman of the Afshar tribe ... The Qereqlu Afshars to whom Nader's father belonged were a semi-nomadic Turcoman tribe settled in Khorasan in north-eastern Persia ... The tribes of Khorasan afgwere 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."
^ Stephen Erdely and Valentin A. Riasanovski. The Uralic and Altaic Series, Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0700703802, p. 102
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d NAÚDER SHAH 1736-47 Encyclopedia Iranica, by Ernest Tucker March 29, 2006 Cite error: The named reference "NAÚDER SHAH" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ Vali Nasr, "The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future" (New York 2006)
^ Axworthy p.18
^ Axworthy Chapter 1
^ Axworthy, Chapter 2
^ Axworthy Chapters 3-4
^ ^a ^b Elton L. Daniel, "The History of Iran" (Greenwood Press 2000) p.94
^ Axworthy Chapter 6
^ Axworthy Chapter 7
^ Axworthy chapters 7-9
^ http://www.iranchamber.com/history/afsharids/afsharids.php
^ Axworthy chapters 9 and 10

Additional Reading

Lawrence Lockhart "Nadir Shah" (London, 1938)
Cambridge History of Iran, vol 7
Michael Axworthy, "Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant" Hardcover 348 pages (26 July 2006) Publisher: I.B. Tauris Language: English ISBN 1-85043-706-8
Ernest Tucker, "Nadir Shah's Quest for Legitimacy in Post-Safavid Iran" Hardcover 150 pages (4 October 2006) Publisher: University Press of Florida Language: English ISBN 0-8130-2964-3

External links

[1] Nader's exact date of birth is unknown but August 6 is the "likeliest" according to Axworthy p.17 (and note) and The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 7 p.3); other biographers favour 1688.

[The_Afshar_and_Zand_Periods-2] [1] Encyclopedia Britannica

[3] ttp://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/nadir/nadir_bio.htm

[4] Michael Axworthy's biography of Nader, The Sword of Persia (I.B. Tauris, 2006), p.17-19: "His father was of lowly but respectable status, a herdsman of the Afshar tribe ... The Qereqlu Afshars to whom Nader's father belonged were a semi-nomadic Turcoman tribe settled in Khorasan in north-eastern Persia ... The tribes of Khorasan afgwere 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."

[5] Stephen Erdely and Valentin A. Riasanovski. The Uralic and Altaic Series, Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0700703802, p. 102

[NAÚDER_SHAH-6] NAÚDER SHAH 1736-47 Encyclopedia Iranica, by Ernest Tucker March 29, 2006 Cite error: The named reference "NAÚDER SHAH" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

[7] Vali Nasr, "The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future" (New York 2006)

[8] Axworthy p.18

[9] Axworthy Chapter 1

[10] Axworthy, Chapter 2

[11] Axworthy Chapters 3-4

[The_History_of_Iran-12] Elton L. Daniel, "The History of Iran" (Greenwood Press 2000) p.94

[13] Axworthy Chapter 6

[14] Axworthy Chapter 7

[15] Axworthy chapters 7-9

[Afsharid_Dynasty-16] ttp://www.iranchamber.com/history/afsharids/afsharids.php

[17] Axworthy chapters 9 and 10

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@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 ==Invasion of India==
-[[Image:Afsharid Dynasty 1736 - 1802 (AD).PNG|left|200px|thumb|The territory of the Afsharid dynasty]]
 In 1738, Nader Shah conquered [[Kandahar]]. Nader’s thoughts now turned to [[Moghul Empire|Moghul India]]. This once powerful Muslim state was falling apart as the nobles became increasingly disobedient and the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Maratha]]s made inroads on its territory from the south-west. Its ruler [[Mohammed Shah]] was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader used the pretext of his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India to cross the border and capture [[Kabul]], [[Ghazni]] and [[Lahore]]. He then advanced deeper into [[India]] crossing the river [[Indus River|Indus]] before the end of year. He defeated the Moghul army at the huge [[Battle of Karnal]] in February, 1739. After this victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him into [[Delhi]]. In the rioting that followed, more than 30,000 were killed by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg for mercy. In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence – handing over the keys of his royal treasury; losing even the [[Takht e Taus|Peacock Throne]] to the Persian emperor. The [[Peacock Throne]] thereafter served as a symbol of Persian imperial might. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader also gained the [[Koh-i-Noor]] and [[Darya-ye Noor]] [[diamond]]s ([[Koh-i-Noor]] means "Mountain of Light" in Persian,  [[Darya-ye Noor]] means "Sea of Light"). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739. Nader's soldiers also took with them thousands of [[elephant]]s, [[horse]]s and [[camel]]s, loaded with the [[booty]] they had collected. The plunder seized from India was so rich that Nader stopped [[taxation]] in Iran for a period of three years, following his return.<ref>Axworthy Chapter 7</ref>
@@ Line 68: / Line 67: @@
 ==Death and legacy==
 [[Image:Naderafshartomb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Nader Shah's tomb was designed by [[Hooshang Seyhoon]].]]
+[[Image:Afsharid Dynasty 1736 - 1802 (AD).PNG|right|200px|thumb|The territory of the Afsharid dynasty]]
 Nader became crueller and crueller as a result of his illness and his desire to extort more and more tax money to pay for his military campaigns. More and more 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]] [[rebel]]s. Some of his officers feared he was about to execute them and plotted against him. Nader Shah was assassinated on [[19 June]], [[1747]], at Fathabad in [[Khorasan]]. He was surprised in his sleep by Salah Bey, captain of the guards, and stabbed with a [[sword]]. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins.<ref name="Afsharid Dynasty"> http://www.iranchamber.com/history/afsharids/afsharids.php</ref><ref>Axworthy chapters 9 and 10</ref>