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Nader Shah

"Nadir Shah" redirects here. For the 20th-century king of Afghanistan, see Mohammad Nadir Shah. For other people with the same name, see Nadir Shah (disambiguation).

Nader Shah
Contemporary portrait of Nader Shah. Artist unknown, created in c. 1740 in Iran. Now located in the British Library in London.
Shah of Iran
Reign8 March 1736 – 20 June 1747[3]
Coronation8 March 1736
PredecessorAbbas III (Safavid dynasty)
SuccessorAdel Shah
BornNovember 1688 or 6 August 1698[4][5]
Dastgerd, Khorasan, Safavid Iran
Died20 June 1747 (aged 48 or 58)
Quchan, Khorasan, Afsharid Iran
Burial
Tomb of Nader Shah, Mashhad, Iran
QueenRazia Begum Safavi
Issue
DynastyAfsharid
FatherEmam Qoli
Religion
Twelver Shia Islam[6][7][8][9]
SealNader Shah's signature
Military career
Battles / warsNader's Campaigns

Nader Shah Afshar[a] (Persian: نادر شاه افشار; 6 August 1698[5] – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was assassinated during a rebellion. He fought numerous campaigns throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia, such as the battles of Herat, Mihmandust, Murche-Khort, Kirkuk, Yeghevārd, Khyber Pass, Karnal, and Kars. Because of his military genius,[10] some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia, the Sword of Persia,[11] or the Second Alexander. Nader belonged to the Turkoman Afshars, one of the seven Qizilbash tribes that helped the Safavid dynasty establish their power in Iran.

Nader rose to power during a period of chaos in Iran after a rebellion by the Hotaki Afghans had overthrown the weak Shah Soltan Hoseyn (r. 1694–1722), while the arch-enemy of the Safavids, the Ottomans, as well as the Russians had seized Iranian territory for themselves. Nader reunited the Iranian realm and removed the invaders. He became so powerful that he decided to depose the last members of the Safavid dynasty, which had ruled Iran for over 200 years, and become Shah himself in 1736. His numerous campaigns created a great empire that, at its maximum extent, briefly encompassed what is now part of or includes Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Oman, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the North Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf, but his military spending had a ruinous effect on the Iranian economy.[1]

Nader idolized Genghis Khan and Timur, the previous conquerors from Central Asia. He imitated their military prowess and—especially later in his reign—their cruelty. His victories during his campaigns briefly made him West Asia's most powerful sovereign, ruling over what was arguably the most powerful empire in the world.[12]: 84  Following his assassination in 1747, his empire quickly disintegrated and Iran fell into a civil war. His grandson Shahrokh Shah was the last of his dynasty to rule, ultimately being deposed in 1796 by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who crowned himself shah the same year.[13]

Nader Shah has been described as "the last great Asiatic military conqueror".[14]

  1. ^ a b Tucker 2006a.
  2. ^ Colebrooke 1877, p. 374.
  3. ^ Axworthy 2006, pp. 159, 279.
  4. ^ Axworthy 2006, p. 17.
  5. ^ a b Nader's exact date of birth is unknown but 6 August 1698 is the "likeliest" according to Axworthy, p. 17 (and note) and The Cambridge History of Iran (vol. 7, p. 3); other biographers favour 1688.
  6. ^ Axworthy 2006, p. 34.
  7. ^ Iranian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 1-4: Religion and Society in Islamic Iran during the Pre-Modern Era , 1994 , pp. 163–179.
  8. ^ Tucker 2006b.
  9. ^ Axworthy 2006, pp. 168–170.
  10. ^ The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant "Nader commanded the most powerful military force in Asia, if not the world" (quote from publisher's summary)
  11. ^ Axworthy, p. xvii
  12. ^ Elena Andreeva; Louis A. DiMarco; Adam B. Lowther; Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr.; Spencer C. Tucker; Sherifa Zuhur (2017). "Iran". In Tucker, Spencer C. (ed.). Modern Conflict in the Greater Middle East: A Country-by-Country Guide. ABC-CLIO. pp. 83–108. ISBN 9781440843617. Under its great ruler and military leader Nader Shah (1736–1747), Persia was arguably the world's most powerful empire
  13. ^ Axworthy 2006, pp. 282–283.
  14. ^ Cambridge History of Iran Vol. 7, p. 59.


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