Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–90)

The Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) was a war between Safavid Persia under Mohammed Khodabanda and later Abbas I, and the Ottoman Empire under Murad III. It began in 1577-1578 and ended in 1590.

The Ottomans started the war, with the objective of conquering Azerbaijan and the Caucasus. The war lasted for years, but the Ottomans took Tiflis in 1578, Kars and Tabriz in 1585, and Georgia became a tributary vassal of the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the Ottomans effectively came to rule over Azerbaijan and the Caucasus as far as the Caspian Sea.

The battles of the war included: A peace of Istanbul was concluded on 21 March 1590, in which Iran confirmed these Ottoman conquests, as well as promising to end Shiite propaganda in Ottoman territories and persecution of Sunnis in its own lands.
 * Battle of Çıldır (August 9, 1578)
 * Battle of Torches (May 9–11, 1583)

The advent of the Ottoman-Safavid war temporarily deflected Ottoman interest from European affairs, where the Ottoman Empire had been active with the Franco-Ottoman alliance and the support of the Dutch Revolt, in an interesting episode of mutually-supportive relations between Islam and Protestantism.