The Turbulent 12th/18th Century

Abstract

The internal oppositional currents that had developed within the Safavid empire eventually became so acute that the dynasty was no longer able to keep the situation under control. The all-powerful upper ranks of the Shī‹ite priesthood were at strife with the secular feudal lords, which latter were also engaged in quarrels among themselves. As if this state of affairs alone were not enough to greatly weaken the influence of the ruling circles, the opposition of the peasant population to the secular and ecclesiastical feudal rulers did the rest. Besides this, the religious, or rather national, feud between the subjugated Sunnite districts and the intolerant Shī‹a, the state religion, became more and more difficult to check. The logical conclusion of this struggle for supremacy was the Afghan revolt, the results of which were a rapid overrunning of Persia, a sudden downfall of the dynasty and - most serious of all - an atrocious laying waste of the countryside; for the Afghan rising, that in itself was understandable, soon degenerated into a marauding campaign. The reign of terror of its leaders and the lust for plunder on the part of neighbouring states were put an end to in 1730 by Nādir-Khān, who had first come to the fore as Tahmāsp-qulī-Khān, ‘Tahmāsp II’s slave’, under the pretence of being a submissive disinterested servant to the later Safavids. The general hatred of the almost incredible desire for robbery and murder on the part of the Afghan leaders came most opportunely for this undoubtedly competent upstart. But within a short time he ripped off the mask, drove the last of the Safavids from the throne (1736) and soon proclaimed himself the sole holder of power in Persia. Nadir-Shah was a warrior of the Napoleonic type.

An erratum to this chapter is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3479-1_49