Afsharid dynasty
Nadir Shah or King Nadir (1688–1747), the founder of Afsharid Dynasty, an enigmatic figure in Iranian history ruled from 1736 – 1747 A.D.
Nadir Shah, or Nadir Qoli Beg was born in Kobhan, Iran, on October 22, 1688, into one of the Turkish tribes loyal to many Safavid shahs of Iran. He was the son of a very poor peasant, who lived in the city of Khorasan and died while Nadir was still a child. The Ozbegs carried off Nadir and his mother as slaves, but after the death of his mother in captivity Nadir managed to escape and became a persian soldier. Soon he attracted the attention of a chieftain of the Afshar in whose service Nadir rapidly advanced. Eventually, the ambitious Nadir fell out of favour. He also became a rebel and gathered a substantial army.
In 1719 the Afghans had invaded Persia. They deposed the reigning Shah of the Safavid dynasty in around 1722. Their ruler, Mahmoud Ghilzai (±1699–1725), murdered a large number of the Safavid Princes, hacking many of them to death by his own hand. After he had invited the leading citizens of Esfahan to a feast and had massacred them there, his own supporters assassinated him in 1725. His cousin, Ashraf (±1700–1730), took over and married a Safavid princess.
At first, Nadir fought with the Afghans against the Ozbegs until they withheld him further payment. In 1727 Nadir offered his services to Tamasp II (±1704–1740), heir to the Safavid dynasty. Nadir started the re-conquest of Persia and drove the Afghans out of Khorasan. The Afghans suffered very heavy losses, but before they fled Ashraf massacred an additional 3000 citizens of Esfahan. Most of the fleeing Afghans were soon overtaken and killed by Nadir's men, while others died in the desert. Ashraf himself was hunted down and murdered.
By 1729 Nadir had freed Persia from the Afghans. Tamasp II was crowned Shah, although he was little more than a figurehead. While Nadir was putting down a revolt in Khorasan, Tamasp moved against the Turks, losing Georgia and Armenia. Enraged, Nadir deposed Tamasp in 1732 and installed Tamasp's infant son, Abbas III (1732–1740), on the throne, naming himself regent. Within two years Nadir re-captured the lost territory and extended the Empire at the expense of the Turks and the Russians.
In 1736 Nadir evidently felt that his own position had been established so firmly that he no longer needed to hide behind a nominal Safavid Shah and ascended the throne himself. In 1738 he invaded Kandahar, captured Kabul and marched on to India. He seized and sacked Delhi and, after some disturbances, he killed 30000 of its citizens. He plundered the Indian treasures of the Mughal Empires, taking with him the famous jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. In 1740 Nadir had Tamasp II and his two infant sons put to death. Then he invaded Transoxania. He resumed war with Turkey in 1743. In addition, he built a navy and conquered Oman.
Gradually Nadir's greedy and intolerant nature became more pronounced. The financial burden of his standing armies was more than the Persians could bear and Nadir imposed the death penalty on those who failed to pay his taxes. He stored most of his loot for his own use and showed little if any concern for the general welfare of the country. Nadir concentrated all power in his own hands. He was a brilliant soldier and the founder of the Persian navy, but he was entirely lacking any interest in art and literature. Once, when Nadir was told that there was no war in paradise, he was reported to have asked: "How can there be any delights there?". He moved the capital to Mashhad in Khorasan, close to his favourite mountain fortress. He tried to reconcile Sunnism with Shi'itism, because he needed people of both faiths in his army, but the reconciliation failed.
In his later years, revolts began to break out against his oppressive rule. Nadir became increasingly harsh and exhibited signs of mental derangement following an assassination attempt. He suspected his own son, Reza Qoli Mirza (1719–1747), of plotting against him and had him blinded. Soon he started executing the nobles who had witnessed his son's blinding. Towards the end, even his own tribesmen felt that he was too dangerous a man to be near. In 1747 a group of Afshar and Qajar chiefs decided "to breakfast off him ere he should sup off them". His own commanders surprised him in his sleep, but Nadir managed to kill two of them before the assassins finished him off.
Nadir was Persia's most gifted military genius and is known as "The Second Alexander" and "The Napoleon of Persia". Although he restored national independence and effectively protected Iran's territorial integrity at a dark moment of the country's history, his obsessive suspicions and jealousies plunged Iran into political turmoil. Little is known about Nadir's personal life. His grandiosity, his insatiable desire for more conquests and his egocentric behavior suggest a narcissistic personality disorder and in his last years he seems to have developed some paranoid tendencies. Nadir was married four times and had 5 sons and 15 grandsons.
List of Afsharid Monarchs
- Nadir Shah (1737-1747)
- Adel Shah (1747-1748)
- Ebrahim (1748-1748)
- Shahrokh of Khorasan (1748-1749)He was also king in name not power from the years of(1750-1797)