Afsharids

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The state flag of the Afsharids (1737–1796)
The Afsharid Empire in 1747
The empire of the Afsharids

The Afsharids ( Persian سلسله افشار) were a short-lived ruling dynasty of Turkmen origin who ruled Persia (modern-day Iran and Afghanistan ) from 1736 to 1796 . The rulers of the Afsharids were members of the Oghuz tribe of the same name, Afshar .

With the collapse of the Safavid Empire after the conquest of Isfahan by the Afghans (1722), the adopted Afsharid general Nadir Khan started from Mashhad in Khorasan with the unification of Persia and the expulsion of the Afghan Ghilzai . He fought formally for the Safavid Shah Tahmasp II (1722-1732), who was politically powerless. Nadir Chan's support, along with the Persian army, was the Afshar tribe into which he had married.

As early as 1726, Nadir Chan succeeded in driving the Afghan Ghilzai out of Isfahan. In 1730 Nadir Chan had gained control of all of Persia, but continued with Abbas III after Thamasps II was eliminated in 1732 . (1732–1736) again a Safavid as Shah of Persia. It was not until 1736 that he ascended the throne as Nadir Shah (1736–1747) himself and founded the Afsharid dynasty.

Nadir Shah's government was characterized by constant campaigns. After the subjugation of the Ghilzai in Afghanistan (1737), a campaign against the Mughals was launched in India . With the conquest of Delhi at the Battle of Karnal in 1739 , the peacock throne came to Persia. Further campaigns led to Bukhara and Khiva in 1740 . In 1747 the Ottomans were expelled from Azerbaijan and the Caucasus , which they had occupied after the Safavids were ousted (1722).

As a Sunni, Nadir Shah tried to find a balance with the Shiites and to gain recognition from the Sunni Ottomans. This failed because of the resistance of the Shiite clergy and in 1747 also led to the assassination of Nadir Shah, who had planned the influential tribal leaders of the Afshars and Qajars .

Despite his great military successes, Nadir Shah could not stop the economic decline of the empire, as the economy was further damaged by the high taxes for the maintenance of the army. He also missed the administrative and financial security of his rule, which led to the rapid decline of the dynasty. After Nadir Shah's death, serious power struggles broke out again in Persia, in which his grandson Shah Ruch (1748–1796) was only able to assert himself in Khorasan. Afghanistan made itself finally independent from Persia after 1747 under Ahmad Shah Durrani . In 1796 the Afsharids were overthrown here by the Qajars. In large parts of Persia, the Zand princes have meanwhile prevailed.

Ruler of the Afsharids

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supporting documents

  1. ↑ Monika Gronke : History of Iran. From Islamization to the present. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48021-7 , p. 82.