Safavid - Faction Thread
I decided that the Safavid Empire deserves a thread all it's own, for Empire Total War. The Safavid Empire was one of the most powerful in the World at the time, and was the leader of Shi'a Islam, though by this date it had fallen on hard times.
Technically, the Safavid Empire collapsed in 1722, and then was united under Nadir Shah Afshar, creating Afsharid Persia, then after their demise in 1779, the Qajars created a dynasty lasting until 1925.
This Empire had been founded by Shah Ismail I in 1501, who reunited the various Persian speaking lands ruled by the Timurids into a cohesive state, and created the first native dynasty since the invasion of the Arabs. Ismail spread the borders far, and made Iran the greatest Shi'a Islamic state in the World. This period saw the Safavids at their greatest, and saw them already facing their rivals. The Uzbeks were driven from Khorasan, and Ismail campaigned into Central Asia against them, and they were no longer a threat to the Persians. To the West however, lay the Ottoman Empire, under the rule of the Great Sultan, Selim Yavuz. Selim feared the Shi'as of Eastern Anatolia and managed to get a jurist opinion that condemned the Shi'as, including Ismail and a man named Kizil-Bash as heretics and non-believers. In response, Ismail accused Selim of violence against fellow Muslims, and shedding innocent blood. So Selim moved eastwards, while Ismail went to meet him. At the same time Uzbeks again invaded the East, and Ismail was forced to fight a delaying withdrawal back into Persia. On 23 August, 1514, Selim decisively defeated Ismail at the Battle of Chaldiran. For this reason, the Ottomans gained most of Mesopotamia and parts of Western Iran, making Tabriz a border city, which compelled the Safavids to remove their capital to Isfahan in 1598.
After the death of Ismail, and of Selim, the Turks and Persians continued to fight, under Shah Tahmasp, and Sultan Suleiman, called "the Magnificent,"and "the Grand Turk," by Europeans. Suleiman led several campaigns against Persia, in which the Persians traded space for time, and the wars were largely inconclusive, though Suleiman managed to gain Luristan, Azerbaijan, and Karabagh for the Ottoman Empire, including the city of Tabriz.
Under Shah Abbas the Great, the Persians were able to re-gain many losses to the Ottomans, he siezed Baghdad, and after the a victory at Basra, extended his borders beyond the Euphrates. In 1611, Sultan Ahmed I formally ceded Shirvan and Kurdistan to the Persians. He then succeeded in driving the Portuguese from their holdings in Bahrain, Hormuz, and Bandar Abbas, opening the rich Persian Gulf to trade between the Persians and the Europeans. Meanwhile, while the Turks were busy fighting in Europe, during the Thirty Years War, Abbas attacked them and defeated them at Soltaniyeh, and recaptured Baghdad. Once the Turks were settled in Europe, they turned East and drove the Persians out of Baghdad in 1638, establishing the border between the two Empires. Abbas made the Persian Empire into a major power, once again.
Unfortunately for the Persians, the successors of Shah Abbas were weak and ineffective, mirroring the Turks in the corruption that their rulers sunk into, neglecting the Government and preferring to pay more attention to wine and women. After the death of Abbas II in 1666, the Safavid Empire was disintegrating, the foolish determination of Shah Soltan Hosein to convert the Afghans to Shiism resulted in the defeat of the Persian Army by an Afghan Chieftain named Mir Wais Khan, whose son, Mahmud, marched across Persia and sacked Isfahan, proclaiming himself Shah, in 1722. The Afghans ran rampant across Persia until Nadir Shah Afshar led the resistance to victory at the Battle of Damghan, 29 September, 1729, in which the Afghans were driven from Persia. He essentially ruled for Tahmasp II, and served as regent for Abbas III (both Safavids) until he crowned himself Shah in 1736. He led the Persians into dazzling victories to the East, sacking Delhi and dragging the Peacock throne back to Persia.
In 1747, Nadir Shah Afshar was assasinated, and the Safavids were restored to the throne, but the new Shah, Ismail III, lasted only until 1760, when Karim Khan overthrew the Safavids officially, and for good.
After this, Persia was severely weakened, and fought a savage War against Catherine the Great of Russia, in 1796. This was because the Russians proclaimed a protectorate over the Kingdom of Georgia, which the Persians saw as their sphere of influence. In retaliation, Agha Mohammed Khan invaded Georgia and burned Tbilisi to the ground. The Russians in turn invaded Azerbaijan under the command of Valerian Zubov, who captured a number of important cites, but then Catherine the Great died, and her son withdrew the Russian troops and patched up a hasty peace with Persia, where Paul withdrew from the Southern Caucasus, though his son Alexander was to gain all of the disputed territory in 1813, after he defeated Fath Ali Shah Qajar, and his son Abbas Mirza, ending Persian vestiges of great power status.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Illidan
. Thanks for the info.
I had not known that there were Iranian dynasties after the Timurids, yet before the Safavids. Perhaps they did not rule all of Iran? I knew of smaller princes and rulers, claiming the title "Shah" but not claiming to be Shah of all Iran.
, but at least we will be able to see them, and fight them in this game. The Persians were sorely missed in both Rome (two provinces of Parthia didn't cut it
) and MTW/MTW2, at least they were for me.
. I unfortunately don't know medieval british history.
