AFSHARID

The Afsharid Dynasty’s inception was in 1719 when ruler Nader offered his army to the heir of the Safavid Dynasty [i]. In 1729, Under the rule of the Safavids, Nader successfully freed Persia [ii] from the Afghan Hotaki Dynasty. However, in 1732 Nader replaced the Safavid king with his infant son while naming himself as regent [iii]. In 1736, Nader ascended the throne, resulting in the inception of the Afsharid Dynasty. Following his death in 1747, the empire was ousted by the Zand Dynasty [iv] in 1750 to all regions except Khorasan, where the dynasty continued under his descendants until it was overthrown in 1796 [v].

Nader had many enemies and few allies during his reign, primarily due to his insistence on conquering nearby territory. One ally, the Georgians, accompanied him during his invasion of the Mughal Empire, a rival of the dynasty. Future Georgian king, Erekle II, led a Georgian contingent as part of Nader’s military [vi]. Russia was another ally of the Afsharid’s after Nader Shah successfully negotiated the withdrawal of Russian troops [vii] by arranging an anti-Ottoman alliance. His defeat of the Ottomans in the West and the anti-Ottoman alliance made with the Russians was established under the guise of the Afsharid rivalry with the Mughals.

The Afsharid Dynasty upheld multiple streams of influence in the arts, military power, and population settlement that carried through other dynasties and still have an impact today. Oil paintings [viii] were originally introduced to Persia during the Afsharid Dynasty and became especially popular during the Zand Dynasty. In addition to the arts, the Afsharid influence also expanded through its military developments, where the first Persian naval fleet was developed [ix]. Nader’s ruling brutality resulted in multiple streams of migration from Iran to India. His religious intolerance resulted in the emigration of many minorities [x] including Jewish communities that suffered from extreme prejudice under his rule.

Nader Hassan proclaimed himself to be the Shah of Persia following his ascension to the throne in 1736 [xi]. He was ultimately killed in an assassination attempt in 1747 [xii], arranged by Afshar and Qajar chiefs; it was perpetrated by his own commanders who were frustrated with his harsh ruling. Following his death, the empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, Georgians, and Caucasian Khanates. The leftover Afsharid rule was confined to a small state in Khorasan, where Nader’s descendants had maintained power [xiii] What was left of the Afsharid Dynasty was eventually overthrown by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar [xiv] under the Qajar Dynasty [xv] in 1796.

During his reign, Nader Shah restored all the borders of Persia, defeated the Ottomans [xvi] in the West and Afghans in the East, and secured a withdrawal of the Russians in the North by negotiating an anti-Ottoman alliance. To cover these military acquisitions, taxation was so high [xvii] during his rule that increasing revolts threatened stability. As a result of these social outbreaks, Nader began to show increasingly harsh tactics and began exhibiting signs of mental illness [xviii] following an assassination attempt made against him. Following his death in 1747, Nader’s nephew, Ali Qoli, took the throne and proclaimed himself as Adil Shah [xix].

During the Afsharid Dynasty’s reign, Persia was able to reach its greatest land extent [xx] since the Sasanian Empire [xxi] During this fruitful period [xxii], Persia covered modern-day Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. In addition to this, it also nominally controlled parts of Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. During Nader’s reign, the Afsharid Dynasty was considered to be the most powerful force [xxiii] in Asia, and arguably the world [xxiv], and became the first empire in Persian history [xxv] to have both the cavalry and infantry equipped with modern gunpowder weapons, including an artillery train of both cannons and siege mortars.

The invasion of Persian land by the Afghans, and the subsequent collapse of Safavid control, resulted in the disintegration of diplomatic relations between Persian rulers and the Mughal Empire [xxvi], which resulted in substantial political and economic turmoil for the Afsharid Dynasty. Dwindling trade in the region also threatened internal stability. As Nader Shah consolidated authority through territorial conquests, taxation [xxvii] and ruling brutality burdened the Afsharid populace to cover the cost of these operations. Despite his success in acquiring much of this territory, the need for additional revenue influenced Nader’s invasion of the Mughal empire in 1739 [xxviii] and ultimately led to his assassination.