Naderian Wars

The Naderian Wars (in Persian:جنگ‌ھای نادری pronounced Janghā-ye Nāderi) were a series of conflicts fought in the early to mid-eighteenth century in western Asia primarily by the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah. After the Afghan invasion of Persia and the disastrous Battle of Gulnabad the central government of the Safavid dynasty lost sway over many regions under its nominal control and was shortly after overthrown. Amidst the chaos an orphaned son of a goat-herder by the name of Nader Qoli became one of the plethora of warlords in the country. After the Safavid pretender to the Persian throne, Tahmasp II requested and received Nader's allegiance a number of expeditions were undertaken which successfully resulted in the securing of Khorasan as well as subduing Herat.

Nader soon liberated Persia from Afghan rule and went on to expel The Ottomans and Russians from the former territories of the empire. In an astonishingly brilliant set of campaigns, Nader drove the Ottomans out of Persia and cast the shadow of Persian hegemony over the Caucasus after having all but crushed the Ottoman presence there. Nader's extraordinary successes allowed him to seize the crown himself by ending the Safavid dynasty and establishing his own with himself, Nader Shah, as the new Persian Shahanshah (king of kings).

The first campaign after bestowing a regal legitimacy to his power, was the conquest of Qandahar which he followed up with his daring invasion of the Mughal empire of Northern India. His Indian campaign stands among his most impressive military achievements and filled the Persian empires coffers up with such a stupendous amount of riches that Nader proclaimed that there would be no taxes in the empire for the following three years. Upon his return from India he launched a masterpiece of a campaign against the Khanate of Central Asia and brought them under Persian suzerainty, in effect expanding the eastern reaches of his empire so greatly that not since the days of the Persian Shahs of antiquity, could Iran boast of such dominance on her eastern flank. Nader Shah also sought to control the Persian gulf, ordering numerous expeditions to various islands and across the gulf to establish a Persian enclave in Oman.

The invasions of both Ottoman Iraq and northern Daghestan were much less successful, however, due both to Nader's deteriorating mental health as well as the numerous rebellions throughout his vast realm. In inexplicable explosions of rage and paranoia, Nader would order loyal subjects and even his own successor to be either killed or maimed. The militarism of Nader's reign had strained the Persian empire greatly and caused a great deal of political turmoil across the land, providing fertile ground for rebellions. Nader Shah was assassinated by a faction of his own officers in 1747, plunging the country into civil war and partition.