Campaigns of Nader Shah

Naderian Wars
Part of Ottoman–Persian Wars and Mughal–Persian Wars
Portrait of Nader Shah
Date 1720s–1747 Location Khorasan, Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Caucasus, Anatolia, Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, Indian Subcontinent, Hindu Kush, Punjab, Indus Valley, Transoxiana, Khwarezm Result Resurgence & Eventual Collapse of Persian Hegemony throughout Central Eurasia[3] Expulsion of the Hotaki from Persia Re-establishment of the Safavids Expulsion of the Ottomans & Russians from Persia Conquest of the Caucasus Overthrow of the Safavids Establishment of the Afsharid dynasty End of the Hotaki Dynasty Conquest of the Persian Gulf Invasion of & partial annexation of Mughal India Conquest of Central Asia Nader Shah's Psychological & Mental Deterioration[3][4][5] Military Setbacks in Daghestan Outbreak of Numerous Rebellions in the Empire Assassination of Nader Shah Collapse of the Persian Empire Persian Civil War Territorial changes The Persian Empire expands to its greatest extent since antiquity and subsequently collapses
Belligerents
Empires of Persia: Safavid Iran (prior to 1736) Afsharid Iran[1] (post 1736) Numerous clients & vassal states	Sadozai Sultanate of Herat Hotaki dynasty Ottoman Empire Crimean Khanate[2] Mughal Empire Khanate of Bukhara Khanate of Khiva Lezgis Avars Shaki Khanate Sultanate of Muscat Imamate of Oman Russian Empire Elisu Sultanate Hyderabad Oudh Dal Khalsa Arab tribes
Commanders and leaders
/ Nader Shah / Tahmasp Jalayer / Lotf Ali Khan / Fath Ali Kayani / Latif Khan / Ahmad Shah Abdali / Mirza Qoli / Haji Beg Khan / Ibrahim Khan / Adineh Mostafi / Nassrollah Mirza / Heraclius II / Givi Amilakhvari	Allahyar Khan Abdali Zulfaqar Khan Abdali Ashraf Hotaki Mohammad Seidal Nasrullah Khan Zebardust Khan Hussain Hotaki (POW) Mohammad Seidal Khan (POW) Tahmasp II  Ahmed III Mahmud I Topal Osman Pasha † Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha Köprülü Abdullah Pasha † Ahmad Pasha Mehmet Yegen Pasha † Abdollah Pasha Jebhechi Muhammad Shah Nizam-ul-Mulk Burhan-ul-Mulk Khan Dauran VII, 1st Mir Bakhshi  † Qamar-ud-Din Khan, Grand Vizier Sa’ad ud-Din Khan, Mir Atish Nisar Muhammad Khan Sher Jung Khwaja Ashura Muzaffar Khan  † Nawab Kapur Singh Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Bagh Singh Abu ol-Fayz Khan Ilbares Khan Haji Dawood Myushkyurskogo Muhammad Khan Avar

The campaigns of Nader Shah (Persian: لشکرکشی‌های نادرشاه), or the Naderian Wars (Persian: جنگ‌های نادری), were a series of conflicts fought in the early to mid-eighteenth century throughout Central Eurasia primarily by the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah. His campaigns originated from the overthrow of the Iranian Safavid dynasty by the Hotaki Afghans. In the ensuing collapse and fragmentation of the empire after the capture of the Iranian capital of Isfahan by the Afghans, a claimant to the Safavid throne, Tahmasp II, accepted Nader (who was no more than a petty warlord in Khorasan) into his service. After having subdued north-west Iran as well as neutralising the Abdali Afghans to the east and turning Tahmasp II into a vassal, Nader marched against the Hotaki Afghans in occupation of the rest of the country. In a series of incredible victories the Afghans were decimated and Tahmasp II returned to the throne as a restored Safavid monarch.

In the aftermath of the Safavid restoration Nader campaigned in the western and northern reaches of the empire to regain territory lost to the Ottomans and Russians. After a bitter war lasting five years Nader had managed to restore the western frontier of Iran as well as reimposed Iranian suzerainty over most of the Caucasus. The legitimacy which his astonishing military achievements brought him allowed a bloodless coup against the Safavid monarchy in which he had the unanimous support of the Iranian ruling elite. Nader Shah's first campaign as the monarch of the newly established Afsharid dynasty was the subjugation of Afghanistan in its entirety. The result of the annexation of Afghanistan by Nader's empire was that he now had a direct path to the invasion of Mughal India. In one of his most extraordinary campaigns he crossed the Khyber pass with just 10,000 men and subsequently descended down into the Mughal heartland where he engaged the Mughal army and despite being outnumbered six to one, crushed his foes in little over three hours. After he had made the Mughal emperor his vassal and marched to Delhi he looted the city and massacred its population after they revolted against his occupation.

Nader's return to the empire signaled new wars in the central Asian regions. Nader expanded Iranian hegemony in central Asia to such extents that they surpassed even the old Iranian empires of the Sassanids. At this juncture however Nader was beset by ever worsening mental health as he slowly deteriorated into insanity and paranoia. His subsequent campaigns against the Lezgis in the northernmost reaches of the Caucasus proved to be less successful and his siege of Baghdad was lifted prematurely due to an uncharacteristic lethargy in Nader's generalship. As Nader continued ruinous policies against the inhabitants of the empire and brutal suppression of dissent he alienated many of his subordinates and close associates. He had his heir's eyes gouged out in a fit of delusional paranoia and declared many of his loyal subjects traitors and rebels, forcing them to erupt in rebellion against him.

Nader's last years are characterised by wandering his own empire in a series of barbaric campaigns in which rebellions were put down in the most brutal and cruel manner. One of his very last major battles was a battle near Kars against the Ottomans where he annihilated the Ottoman army sent against him, prompting Istanbul to seek terms of peace. He was finally assassinated by a faction of his officers in his own tent. The death of Nader spelt the beginning of an extremely troubled and bloody chapter in Iranian history were continuous civil war engulfed the nation for over half a century before the establishment of the Qajar dynasty under Agha-Mohammad Khan Qajar.