The campaigns of Nader Shah (Persian: لشکرکشیهای نادرشاه), or the Naderian Wars (Persian: جنگهای نادری), were a series of conflicts fought in the early to mid-eighteenth century throughout Central Eurasia primarily by the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah. His campaigns originated from the overthrow of the Iranian Safavid dynasty by the Hotaki Afghans. In the ensuing collapse and fragmentation of the empire after the capture of the Iranian capital of Isfahan by the Afghans, a claimant to the Safavid throne, Tahmasp II, accepted Nader (who was no more than a petty warlord in Khorasan) into his service. After having subdued north-west Iran as well as neutralising the Abdali Afghans to the east and turning Tahmasp II into a vassal, Nader marched against the Hotaki Afghans in occupation of the rest of the country. In a series of incredible victories the Afghans were decimated and Tahmasp II returned to the throne as a restored Safavid monarch. In the aftermath of the Safavid restoration Nader campaigned in the western and northern reaches of the empire to regain territory lost to the Ottomans and Russians. After a bitter war lasting five years Nader had managed to restore the western frontier of Iran as well as reimposed Iranian suzerainty over most of the Caucasus. The legitimacy which his astonishing military achievements brought him allowed a bloodless coup against the Safavid monarchy in which he had the unanimous support of the Iranian ruling elite. Nader Shah's first campaign as the monarch of the newly established Afsharid dynasty was the subjugation of Afghanistan in its entirety. The result of the annexation of Afghanistan by Nader's empire was that he now had a direct path to the invasion of Mughal India. In one of his most extraordinary campaigns he crossed the Khyber pass with just 10,000 men and subsequently descended down into the Mughal heartland where he engaged the Mughal army and despite being outnumbered six to one, crushed his foes in little over three hours. After he had made the Mughal emperor his vassal and marched to Delhi he looted the city and massacred its population after they revolted against his occupation. Nader's return to the empire signaled new wars in the central Asian regions. Nader expanded Iranian hegemony in central Asia to such extents that they surpassed even the old Iranian empires of the Sassanids. At this juncture however Nader was beset by ever worsening mental health as he slowly deteriorated into insanity and paranoia. His subsequent campaigns against the Lezgins in the northernmost reaches of the Caucasus proved to be less successful and his siege of Baghdad was lifted prematurely due to an uncharacteristic lethargy in Nader's generalship. As Nader continued ruinous policies against the inhabitants of the empire and brutal suppression of dissent he alienated many of his subordinates and close associates. He had his heir's eyes gouged out in a fit of delusional paranoia and declared many of his loyal subjects traitors and rebels, forcing them to erupt in rebellion against him. Nader's last years are characterised by wandering his own empire in a series of barbaric campaigns in which rebellions were put down in the most brutal and cruel manner. One of his very last major battles was a battle near Kars against the Ottomans where he annihilated the Ottoman army sent against him, prompting Istanbul to seek terms of peace. He was finally assassinated by a faction of his officers in his own tent. The death of Nader spelt the beginning of an extremely troubled and bloody chapter in Iranian history where continuous civil war engulfed the nation for over half a century before the establishment of the Qajar dynasty under Agha-Mohammad Khan Qajar.
Conquest of Khorasan
=== Rebellion & Separation === 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 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 Iran. Sistani entered Khorasan and managed to regain most of Khorasan from 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.
=== Tahmasp II and the siege of Mashhad === After the conclusion of the siege of Isfahan Mahmud 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 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 Iran 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 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 10 October 1726, when Nader brought Tahmasp an intercepted letter, the damning contents of which provided abundant evidence of 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 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.
=== Aftermath of the Siege === 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 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.
Conquest of Western Afghanistan
The Conquest of Afghanistan by Nader Shah consisted of a series of intermittent and fluid engagements culminating in the finale of Nader's military operations against the Abdali Afghans. Nader having recently concluded a successful campaign against his own monarch and prince, the badly humiliated Tahmasp II, set out from Mashad on 4 May 1729, making sure the Shah also accompanied him on this journey where he could be kept under close supervision. The conflict also bears significance in terms of the effects of Nader's army perfecting its tactical system through experience gained from going up against deadly light cavalry armies, something that would prove of incalculable importance in the battle of Mihmandoost (where the Afghans were given a rude introduction to modern warfare by Nader's well-drilled army). The Abdali forces consisted of 15,000 riders under Allahyar Khan, the governor of Herat, concentrated around Kafer Qal'eh and another detachment of 12,000 men led by an impetuous commander by the name of Zulfaqar Khan which was approaching Kafer Qal'eh from the south. In the ensuing ebb and flow of marches and counter marches where dozens of skirmishes, charges, feints, ruses and retreats Nader would find himself hard-pressed to keep the upper hand in a constantly changing battlefield environment where even the weather would prove unpredictable.
=== The Road to Herat === The battle of Kafer Qal'eh resulted in a tactical victory for Nader after which Allahyar Khan was pursued and re-engaged. At the height of the battle Nader's scouts brought word of Zulfaqar Khans approach prompting Nader to carry out an ingenious ruse. A column of Iranian troops was sent on a march round Allahyar Khan's army with their victory drums & horns sounding loudly which led him to believe that Zulfaqar Khan's men had already been defeated forcing him to beat another hasty retreat. As Allahyar broke away towards Herat Nader dispatched a portion of his army to pursue him but kept the bulk of his men to turn and face the fresh troops under Zulfaqar Khan's command, however before Nader engaged Zulfaqar's contingent a sandstorm swept into the area rendering any further fighting all but impossible, thereby providing a cover under which the Abdali forces managed to withdraw towards Herat unmolested. The entire campaign thus far had been a chain of skirmishes, marches and counter marches where Nader excelled as a quick thinking commander who outwitted his foes at every corner despite at times seemingly caught in near impossible situations such as when news of Zulfaqar's imminent arrival reached him when he was already heavily engaged with Allahyar Khan's men. The impressive campaign however did not result in the Abdali's destruction and Nader followed their retreat eastward until he came in view of Herat where the combined forces of Allahyar & Zulfaqar rode out to meet him in a finale to the campaign.
=== Subjugation of Herat === When battle was joined for the final time in view of Herat itself the action was uncannily similar to the previous engagements between the Iranians and the Abdalis except that on this particular occasion the frontal charge of the Abdalis was firmly halted by muskets of the Iranian line infantry crashing out simultaneously breaking the impetus of the Afghans charge and providing adequate persuasion to the Abdalis to fall behind the city walls. Herat now came under an intense bombardment from the Iranian guns and mortars, convincing the governor of Herat, Allahyar Khan, to sue for peace in exchange for recognition of Iran as suzerain of Herat.
=== Strategic & Tactical Ramifications === With the Abdalis in Herat brought into orbit the road now lay open to the heartland of the Iranian empire and the liberation of Isfahan seemed feasible given the successes of the previous campaigns. Nader had also demonstrated the effectiveness of his military system and through numerous engagements had perfected the art and technique of overcoming fierce cavalry charges by steady infantry formations supported by cannon and guarded by cavalry on the flanks where the combined fire of musketry and cannon-fire would break the charge of the mounted assailants. This tactical system would be put to the ultimate test in the battles of Mihmandust & Murche-Khort by Nader's veteran troops going up against the very best of the cavalry the Oriental world had to offer.
Safavid Restoration
The Safavid restoration to the throne of Iran took place in the latter part of 1729 by a series of battles fought between Nader, Tahmasp's commander-in-chief and Ashraf Hotaki. Despite nominally bringing Tahmasp to the seat of power, true authority still rested with Nader who had, ever since the debacle in northern Khorasan, managed to seize Tahmasp II as his vassal. As for Afghan rule, the Ghilzai Afghans were ejected from the Iranian Plateau permanently and in the following years were re-annexed by Nader whence they were once again absorbed into the Iranian empire.
Battle of Mihmandoost
Having delayed a confrontation with Tahmasp long enough, Ashraf found himself threatened by the pretender to the Safavid throne and his young general Nader. Hearing of their expedition against the Abdali of Herat Ashraf decided to march on the capital of Khorasan and capture Mashad before Nader could return from the east. However Nader was back in Mashad well before Ashraf had a chance of invading Khorasan. Marching towards Damghan Nader and Ashraf clashed near the village of Mihmandoost where despite being heavily outnumbered the Iranians gave the Afghans a terribly bloody lesson in modern warfare and crushed Ashraf's army, forcing him to retire towards Semnan.
Ambush at Khwar pass
Ashraf retreated west where he set up a well thought out ambush in the Khwar pass where he hoped the Iranians, flushed with their recent triumph, would be surprised and dealt a heavy blow. Nader upon discovering the ambush encircled and then completely destroyed it with whatever remnants fleeing towards Isfahan.
Battle of Murche-Khort
Requesting urgent support from the Ottoman Empire Ashraf sought to counter the Iranian army's thrust towards Isfahan. The Ottomans keen to hold Ashraf in power instead of seeing a resurgent Iran on their eastern frontier were all too eager to help with both guns and artillerymen. At the battle of Murche-Khort, the Afghans were yet again decisively defeated, forcing Ashraf to flee south.
Liberation of Isfahan
Nader liberated Isfahan and soon after received Tahmasp II outside the main city gates where the Shah expressed his gratitude to Nader. The city had been devastated by the Afghans leaving very little in terms of riches for when Nader arrived. Tahmasp famously wept when he saw what had befallen the capital. The city was greatly reduced both in terms of population and in terms of wealth. The people took vengeance on those Afghans who were found hiding throughout the city.
End of Afghan rule in Iran
Nader set out from Isfahan heading towards Shiraz where Ashraf was busy raking together what he could with the support of some of the local Arab tribes. At this juncture there was no realistic hope for a revival of Afghan fortunes and near Zarghan the Iranian engaged and decimated the last army Ashraf commanded, with historical sources disagreeing on the latter's exact fate in the aftermath of the battle.
Campaign of Western Iran
Nader's first Ottoman Campaign was his first against perhaps his most formidable adversary, namely the Ottomans, where he proved triumphant in conquest. The great successes of his expedition, however, were rendered null when Shah Tahmasp II decided to take personal command of the operations in Nader's absence, forcing a furious Nader to return and rectify the situation after forcing Tahmasp to abdicate in favour of his infant son, Abbas III.
=== The Ottoman occupation === The Ottomans had entered the western regions of the country in the early 1720s when the Hotaki invasion of Mahmud I was launched against the Safavid state. In a decisive engagement near Gulnabad, Mahmud Hotaki managed a surprising victory against a far greater (though severely divided) Iranian army. The rout of the imperial army allowed him to march on the capital Isfahan, which he captured after a 6-month siege that caused unheard misery and loss of life in the city. During the chaos of the Safavid overthrow, the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire seized on this opportunity to annex as much land as they could, with Ottoman Turkey taking western Iran and dividing up the Caucasus with the Russians. During the Russian occupation of Persian territories in the Caspian coast, about 130,000 Russian troops died due to disease. Soon, the Hotaki conquerors installed a new leader as king through a coup d'état in which Mahmud I was replaced with a capable cousin of his, Ashraf. Ashraf marched west to put a halt to any further expansion by the Ottomans and, to the surprise of many, defeated them. The diplomatic outcome however was very much reconciliatory as the Ottomans promised recognition of Ashraf as the legitimate Shah of Iran in exchange for Ashraf's acknowledgement of Ottoman rule in their new territories in the Caucasus and western Iran. As Nader and Ashraf came head-to-head in a conflict that would decide the fate of the country, the Ottomans wisely supported Ashraf against the Safavid loyalists, as a resurgent Iran under an ambitious and talented general who would be flushed with the success of conquest would not bode well for the Ottomans' hold on their newly acquired provinces. Despite the support his opponent received from the Turks, Nader still managed to completely destroy Ashraf's forces in numerous engagements which led to re-establishing the Safavid state under the nominal rule of Tahmasp II. Istanbul's fears had been realised as Nader would certainly turn to liberating the lost territories of the empire. The Ottomans, however, had been present in the west of the country for close to a decade and would prove a very formidable challenge to any efforts aimed at their expulsion from what now formed the eastern boundaries of their empire.
=== Nader marches on Nahavand === On 9 March 1730, the Iranian army exited Shiraz and celebrated the new year (Nowruz) in a leisurely manner, after which Nader started a rapid, forced march westwards in the hope of catching the Ottomans off balance. Reaching Ottoman-occupied town of Nahavand via Luristan, Nader put the Turks here to flight towards Hamadan, where, recovering from their initial shock and panic, they regrouped and presented themselves in the valley of Malayer to give battle in the hope of ending the Iranian advance on Hamadan.
The Battle of Malayer Valley
The Ottoman force arrayed in front of the Iranian army was of a different nature altogether from all the previous foes the Iranian army had faced up to this point. The Afghan and tribal opponents of Nader had been almost completely devoid of any infantry or artillery units (excluding Murche-Khort), comprised almost exclusively of excellent mounted warriors instead. Nader now faced an adversary who, in many respects, mirrored the Iranian army's own composition in structure as well as constituent unit types. The Turks had drawn themselves up parallel to a stream flowing through the valley, on the other side of which Nader deployed his men into three separate divisions, placing himself in the centre. As the two armies came within musket range of each other, a general fire broke out along the entire length of the line, with the smoke created from the muskets & cannon dancing over shallow body of water separating the two armies, obscuring the Iranians and Ottomans from each other's view. Nader, under the veil of smoke, started strengthening and preparing his right wing for a bold gamble.
Nader gave the order for a sudden thrust by his right flank across the stream. The Iranians appeared from the billowing cloud of smoke that had concealed their advance and threw the Ottomans, who were dazzled by the unexpected appearance of the enemy seemingly out of thin air, into disarray. An intense few hours of fighting followed, with the Ottomans attempting to salvage their left to no avail. The onslaught of the Iranian right cut further into the flesh of the Turk's left wing and the killing of the chief Ottoman Bannerman caused a much demoralised army to turn tail and flee, with Iranian cavalry in pursuit cutting down and imprisoning a large number of men. A clear victory was won, opening the road to Hamadan for Nader's troops.
=== Nader pivots north === After liberating Hamadan along with its 10,000 imprisoned Iranian soldiers, Nader gained Kermanshah, thus liberating large swathes of western Iran from Ottoman rule. Leaving behind a fortified position, he now moved his army to Azerbaijan, where he took Tabriz on 12 August, crushing an army sent (too late) to reinforce Tabriz. The Turkish prisoners were treated kindly, with Nader freeing many of the Pashas, dispatching them with messages of peace to Constantinople (Istanbul). In a lightning campaign, Nader had reincorporated all the main provinces of the Iranian heartland.
== Tahmasp's Campaign == The Campaign of Tahmasp was a failed attempt to launch an offensive into Ottoman-held Caucasus which ended in a disastrous defeat with all of Nader's gains during the previous year being lost. The result of this particular military catastrophe was still overturned with Nader's return from the east but would have much more significant impact on the Safavid dynasty itself as Tahmasp II sealed his own fate by initiating this ill-fated expedition. Nader had to cancel his planned invasion of Ottoman-held Caucasus territory in light of the fact that the Abdali Afghans had rebelled and invaded Khorasan, besieging its provincial capital Mashhad. Gathering and training new recruits during the winter of 1731 in northern Iran he set out eastwards to secure the right flank of the empire. Tahmasp II who sat observantly on the newly regained throne (which he owed to Nader) was cajoled by his courtiers into taking to the field himself. Although Michael Axworthy and many other historians accuse Tahmasp of being motivated primarily by jealousies caused by his illustrious commander-in-chief's incessant victories, there is reason to suspect his decision was in fact induced by court intrigue amongst the imperial entourage eager to have their Shah outshine Nader and thereby lessen his influence.
The Campaign and Siege of Yerevan
At this time in Constantinople, Patrona Halil, a mob rebellion, had produced a change in leadership bringing Mahmud I to power. Sultan Mahmud I appointed a half-Venetian statesman to command in the east at the head of an army which would prove Tahmasp's undoing. Aiming to cloak the Caucasus under Iranian hegemony as in the time of his forefathers, Tahmasp aimed to conquer Chokhur-e Sa'd, i.e. Georgia and Daghestan, from the Turks. An army of 18,000 men was led into Chokhur-e Sa'd where Tahmasp found himself scoring a victory over an Ottoman army near Yerevan. Hakimoghlu Khan reacted immediately by setting out to break the siege of Yerevan. Realizing Tahmasp had not taken any precaution to guard his line of communication southwards Hakimoghlu cut Tahmasp's logistical line to Tabriz, thus forcing him to end the siege and head back to Tabriz. Hearing of Ahmad Pasha entering Western Iran with the intention of taking Kermanshah and Hamadan, Tahmasp was now caught in a dire situation. As the Iranian and Ottoman armies came into view of each other, numerous letters were being exchanged between Ahmad Pasha and Tahmasp. The Iranian army was largely composed of raw recruits (the veterans campaigning far in the east under Nader) and was formed up in the traditional manner of three divisions making up the centre and the flanks. There seems to have been an unintentional initiation of musketry by the inexperienced Iranian infantry leading to a pitched battle where the Iranian cavalry on either flank overcame their counterparts but were let down by the nervous infantry in the centre, who were easily put to flight by the advance of the Janissaries which now turned to aid their mounted comrades in a counter-attack on the Iranian horsemen, also routing them in turn. Tabriz also fell to Hakimoghlu Khan with Ahmad Pasha complementing his gains by capturing Hamadan. Tahmasp was obliged to sign a treaty by which he accepted Ottoman suzerainty over the Caucasus and would, in exchange, be given back Tabriz, Hamadan and Kermanshah. The conclusion of his incompetence in this foreign venture had resulted in signing one of the most humiliating treaties of his dynasty, although this seemed to weigh little on his mind as he soon returned to Isfahan to resume a magnificently opulent lifestyle. On discovering the cataclysmic events that had unfolded in the west, Nader abandoned any further conquest in the east to return to Isfahan with much justified anger at the Shah's inept statesmanship which must have been all the more infuriating as Nader's impressive achievements against the Ottomans during the previous year had been rendered utterly irrelevant. This gave Nader the political moment necessary to force Tahmasp II to abdicate in favour of his infant son, Abbas III, thus effectively making Nader the supreme and unchallenged authority in the realm. This paved the way for his eventual overthrow of the Safavid dynasty altogether.
Mesopotamian Campaign
As a direct result of Tahmasp II's blunders in his ill-fated invasion of the Ottoman Caucasus all of Nader's previous gains on the battlefield were lost and a humiliating treaty had been signed, giving away Isfahan's hegemony over the Caucasus to Istanbul. This settlement gave Nader the authority to force Tahmasp's abdication and resume the war against the Turks by launching an invasion on Ottoman Iraq.
=== The Strike into Iraq === Ottoman Iraq seemed a peculiar choice for Nader's invasion, as all the western territories of Iran were restored under the ignominious treaty signed by Tahmasp with the Caucasus under Turkish control. Axworthy speculates that Nader intended to seize Baghdad as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Caucasus, but with Baghdad being such a strategic prize in itself, it is rather doubtful he had any civil exchange of territory in mind at the time. Despite the unexpected choice of theatre, the Ottomans in the region were well prepared to receive the Iranians. To achieve a modicum of surprise, Nader decided to launch a march through the mountains, as opposed to a direct advance against the fortified border town of Zohab, near Qasr-e Shirin. The mountain path was a difficult and snowy route to navigate and some amongst the soldiers perished but Nader managed to get his 600 men to descend down into the valley behind the Ottoman battlements and, without any hesitation, struck in the dead of night. Completely out-witted by Nader, the garrison of Zohab woke up and fled their posts in terror. Nader ordered a new fort to be built and moved south to join the main Iranian army that had left Hamadan and was heading to Baghdad.
Crossing the Tigris
Besieging Kirkuk with a residue force of 7,000 soldiers, the main Iranian army marched on until they defeated an Ottoman army near Baghdad and then proceeded to encircle the city itself in preparation for a siege after a hard-fought maneuvering campaign where Nader managed to cross the Tigris. Ahmad Pasha would prove a stubborn defender of the city and held out until the approach of a relief effort in the form of an army of 80,000 soldiers, placed under the command of Topal Pasha.
The Battle of Samara
In a cunning ruse, Topal drew Nader into a disadvantageous battle where, despite losing a quarter of his own men, Topal inflicted a crushing defeat on the Iranian army, half of which was destroyed and all its guns lost. This monumental victory allowed the lifting of the siege further to the south where Ahmad Pasha - having heard of Topal Osman's victory - came out with an enthusiastic garrison to chase away the 12,000 Iranians left to maintain the blockade of Baghdad.
