Nader Shah From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nader Shah Shahanshah of Iran Portrait of Nader Shah Reign 1736–1747 Born 1688[1] or 1698[2] Birthplace Dastgerd,[3] (Khorasan, Iran) Died 19 June 1747[4] Place of death Quchan (Khorasan, Iran) Predecessor Abbas III Successor Adil Shah This article is about the Persian shah. For the 20th-century king of Afghanistan, seeMohammed Nadir Shah. For the cricket umpire, seeNadir Shah (umpire). Nāder Shāh Afshār or Nadir Shah (Persian:نادر شاه افشار; also known as Nāder Qoli Beg - نادر قلی بیگ or Tahmāsp Qoli Khān - تهماسپ قلی خان) (November, 1688[1] or August 6, 1698[5] – 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[6] or the SecondAlexander.[7] Nader Shah was a member of the Turkic Afshar tribeof northern Persia,[8] which had supplied military power to theSafavid state since the time of Shah Ismail I.[9] Nader rose to power during a period of anarchy in Iran after a rebellion by the Hotaki Afghans had overthrown the weak PersianShah Sultan Husayn, and both the arch enemy of the Safavids, the Ottomans, and the Russians had seized Persian territory for themselves. Nader reunited the Persian 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 briefly encompassed what is now part of or includes Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, theNorth Caucasus, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, North India, Oman and the Persian Gulf, but his military spending had a ruinous effect on the Persian economy.[1] 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 briefly made him West Asias most powerful sovereign, but his empire quickly disintegrated after he was assassinated in 1747. Nader Shah has been described as the last great Asian military conqueror.[10] He is credited for restoring Iranian power as an eminence amongst Persias arch rival, the Ottomans.[11][12][13][14] Contents [hide] • 1 Early life • 2 Fall of the Safavid dynasty • 3 Fall of the Hotaki dynasty • 4 Ottoman campaign • 5 Nader becomes shah • 6 Religious policy • 7 Invasion of the Mughal Empire • 8 After India • 9 Domestic policies • 10 Death and legacy • 11 See also • 12 References • 13 Sources • 14 Additional reading • 15 External links Early life[edit] Nader Shah was born in the fortress of Dastgerd[15] into the Qereqlu clan of the Afshars, a semi-nomadic Qizilbash tribe settled in the northern valleys of Khorasan, a province in the north-east of the Persian Empire.[16] His father, Emam Qoli, was a herdsman who may also have been a camel driver and coatmaker.[17] He died while Nader was still young.[18] 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 became their leader. Under the patronage of Afshar chieftains, he rose through the ranks to become a powerful military figure. Nader married the two daughters of Baba Ali Beg, a local chief.[1] Fall of the Safavid dynasty[edit] Nader grew up during the final years of the Safavid dynasty which had ruled Persia since 1502. At its peak, under such figures asAbbas 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, Sultan Husayn, was a weak ruler. When Sultan Husayn attempted to quell a rebellion by the Ghilzai Afghans inKandahar, 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 the capital,Isfahan.[19] After the shah failed to escape to rally a relief force elsewhere, the city was starved into submission and Sultan 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. Sultan Husayns son had declared himself Shah Tahmasp II, but found little support and fled to the Qajar tribe, who offered to back him. Meanwhile, Persias imperial rivals, the Ottomans and theRussians, took advantage of the chaos in the country to seize territory for themselves.[20] Fall of the Hotaki dynasty[edit] Tomb of Nader Shah, a tourist attraction in Mashhad Tahmasp and the Qajar leader Fath Ali Khan (the ancestor ofAgha Mohammad Khan Qajar) contacted Nader and asked him to join their cause and drive theGhilzai Afghans out of Khorasan. He agreed and thus 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 recaptured Mashhad.[21] Nader chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated 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 Damghanand again decisively in November at Murchakhort, banishing the Afghans from Persian soil forever. 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.[22] In 1738 Nader Shah besieged and destroyedthe last Hotaki seat of power at Kandahar. He built a new city near Kandahar, which he named Naderabad.[1] Ottoman campaign[edit] Main articles: Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35) and Treaty of Resht Painting of Nader Shah In the spring of 1730, Nader attacked Persias arch rival theOttomans 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 crush this uprising. Relations between Nader and the Shah had declined as the latter grew jealous of his generals 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 Naders recent gains to 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 favor of the Shahs 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 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. Nader decided he needed to regain the initiative as soon as possible to save his position because 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 and by the summer of 1735, 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,[23][24] resulting in the reestablishment of Persian rule over all of the Caucasus again. Nader becomes shah[edit] In January 1736, Nader held a qoroltai (a grand meeting in the tradition of Genghis Khan and Timur) on the Moghan plain inAzerbaijan. The leading political and religious figures attended. Nader suggested he should be proclaimed the new shah in place of the young Abbas III. Everyone agreed, many—if not most—enthusiastically, the rest fearing Naders anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Iran on March 8, 1736, a date his astrologers had chosen as being especially propitious.[25] Religious policy[edit] Nader Shah and two of his sons on the reverse side of Nader Shahs Sword The Safavids had introduced Shia Islam as the state religion of Iran. Nader was probably brought up as a Shia [26]but later espoused theSunni[27] faith as he gained power and began to push into the Ottomanand Mughal Empires. He believed that Safavid Shiism had intensified the conflict with the Sunni Ottoman Empire. His army was a mix of Shia and Sunni and included his ownQizilbash as well as Uzbeks, Afghans and others. He wanted Persia to adopt a form of religion that would be more acceptable to Sunnis and suggested that Persia adopt a form of Shiism he called Jafari, in honour of the sixth Shia imam Jafar al-Sadiq. He banned certain Shia practices which were particularly offensive to Sunnis, such as the cursing of the first three caliphs. 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.[28] Nader hoped that Jafarism would be accepted as a fifth school (mazhab) of Sunni Islam and that the Ottomans would allow its adherents to go on thehajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, which was within their territory. In the subsequent peace negotiations, the Ottomans refused to acknowledge Jafarism as a fifth mazhab but they did allow Persian pilgrims to go on the hajj. Nader was interested in gaining rights for Persians to go on the hajj in part because of revenues from the pilgrimage trade.[1] Naders 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 the chief mullah of Persia 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 the first four caliphs.[1][25] Invasion of the Mughal Empire[edit] Main articles: Nadir Shahs invasion of India and Battle of Karnal Afsharid forces negotiate with aMughal Nawab. 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 was falling apart as the nobles became increasingly disobedient and the HinduMarathas of the Maratha Empire made inroads on its territory from the south-west. Its rulerMuhammad Shah was powerless to reverse this disintegration. Nader asked for 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 capture Ghazni,Kabul, Peshawar, Sindh and Lahore. He then advanced deeper into India crossing the river Indus before the end of year. Battle of Karnal painting by adel adili He crushed the Mughal army easily at the hugeBattle of Karnal on 13 February 1739 in less than three hours. After this victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him intoDelhi.[13] When a rumour broke out that Nader had been assassinated, some of the Indians attacked and killed Persian troops. Nader, furious, reacted by ordering his soldiers to plunder and sack the city. During the course of one day (March 22) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians were killed by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg Nader for mercy.[29] In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but Mohammad Shah paid the consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and 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 Noormeans Sea of Light). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739. Naders soldiers also took with them thousands of elephants, horses and camels, loaded with the booty they had collected. Nadir Shah[edit] In the summer of 1739, Nadir Shah, the Persian invader, was returning home after plundering Delhi and Punjab. The Sikhs lay in wait, not far from the route he had taken. When he reached Akhnur, on the Chenab (in the present-day Jammu region), they swooped down upon the rear guard, relieving the invaders of much of their booty. On the third night they made an even fiercer attack and rescued from their hands, thousands of girls who were escorted back to their families. For a long part of his return journey, the Sikhs pursued Nadir Shah in this manner.[30] After India[edit] See also: Ottoman–Persian War (1743–46) Map of the Afsharid Empire after Naders conquests. The Indian campaign was the zenith of Naders career. Afterwards he became 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. 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, Rezas wife, who was Tahmasps sister, committed suicide. Nader was not impressed with his sons waywardness and reprimanded him, but he took him on his expedition to conquer territory in Transoxiana. In 1740 he conquered Khanate of Khiva. After the Persians had forced the Uzbek khanate of Bokhara to submit, Nader wanted Reza to marry the khans 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 Khwarezmon this expedition into Central Asia. Nader now decided to punish Daghestan for the death of his brother Ebrahim Qoli on a campaign a few years earlier. In 1741, while Nader was passing through the forest of Mazanderan on his way to fight the Daghestanis, 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. Naders increasing ill health made his temper ever worse. Perhaps it was his illness that made Nader lose the initiative in his war against theLezgin tribes of Daghestan. Frustratingly for him, they resorted to guerrilla warfare and the Persians could make little headway against them. Nader accused his son of being behind the assassination attempt in Mazanderan. Reza angrily protested his innocence, but Nader had him blinded as punishment, although he immediately regretted it. Soon afterwards, Nader started executing the nobles who had witnessed his sons blinding. In his last years, Nader became increasingly paranoid, ordering the assassination of large numbers of suspected enemies. With the wealth he gained, Nader started to build a Persian navy. With lumber from Mazandaran, he built ships in Bushehr. He also purchased thirty ships in India.[1] He recaptured the island ofBahrain 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.[31] Domestic policies[edit] Nader changed the Iranian coinage system. He minted silver coins, called Naderi, that were equal to the Mughal rupee.[1] Nader discontinued the policy of paying soldiers based on land tenure.[1]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 the Ottomans and Russians.[32][33] In addition, he increased the number of soldiers under his command and reduced the number of soldiers under tribal and provincial control.[1] His reforms may have strengthened the country, but they did little to improve Irans suffering economy.[1] Death and legacy[edit] A Western view of Nader in his later years from a book byJonas Hanway (1753). The background shows a tower of skulls.[34] Nader Shahs dagger with a small portion of his jewelry. Now part of theIranian Crown Jewels. Nader Shahs 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 punishKurdish rebels. Some of his officers feared he was about to execute them and plotted against him. Nader Shah was assassinated on 20 June 1747,[35] at Quchan inKhorasan. 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 before he died.[36][37] 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.[23] Adil Shah was deposed within a year. During the struggle between Adil Shah, his brother Ibrahim Khan and Naders 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 dynastyand became ruler of Iran by 1760, while Ahmad Shah Durrani had already proclaimed independence in the east, marking the foundation of modern Afghanistan. Nader Shah was well known to the European public of the time. 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.[38] It was published in 1770 as Histoire de Nadir Chah.[39] Naders Indian campaign alerted the British East India Company to the extreme weakness of the Mughal Empire and the possibility of expanding to fill the power vacuum. Without Nader, eventual British [in India] would have come later and in a different form, perhaps never at all - with important global effects.[40] The descendants of Nader Shah through his grandson Shah Rukh (Shahrokh) are under the Afshar Naderi surname. See also
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