Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746)

Ottoman-Persian War of 1743–1746
	Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars and the Campaigns of Nader Shah
	; Gates of Tabriz
Date	1743–1746
Location	Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Persia, Eastern Anatolia
Result	Treaty of Kerden
Territorial; changes	Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Afsharid Iran	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nader Shah; Nassrollah Mirza	Mahmud I; Field commanders:; Mehmed Yegen Pasha †; Abdullah Pasha Jebhechi;
Strength
375,000	Unknown

The Ottoman–Persian War of 1743–1746 was fought between the Ottoman Empire and Afsharid Iran.

Background

Persia attempted to ratify the Treaty of Constantinople, by demanding that the Ja'fari, also known as the Imamiyyah was to be accepted as a fifth legal sect of Islam.^[7]

In 1743, Nader Shah declared war on the Ottoman Empire. He demanded the surrender of Baghdad. The Persians had captured Baghdad in 1623 and Mosul in 1624, but the Ottomans had recaptured Mosul in 1625 and Baghdad in 1638. The Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire had resulted in peace for 85 years. During the fall of the Safavid dynasty, Russia and the Ottoman Empire agreed to divide the northwest and the Caspian region of Persia, but with the advent of Nader Shah, the Russians and the Turks withdrew from the region. Nader Shah waged war against the Ottomans from 1730 to 1736 but it ended with a stalemate. Nader Shah afterwards turned east and declared war on the Mughal Empire and invaded India, in order to refund his wars against the Ottomans.

The war

Nader Shah dreamt of an empire which would stretch from the Indus to the Bosphorus. Therefore he raised an army of 200,000, which consisted largely of rebellious Central Asian tribesmen, and he planned to march towards Constantinople, but after he learnt that the Ottoman ulema was preparing for a holy war against Persia, he turned eastwards. He captured Kirkuk, Arbil and besieged Mosul on 14 September 1743. The siege lasted for 40 days. The Pasha of Mosul, Hajji Hossein Al Jalili, successfully defended Mosul and Nader Shah was forced to retreat.^[8] The offensive was halted due to revolts in Persia (1743–1744) over high taxes.^{[citation needed]} Hostilities also spilled into Georgia, where Prince Givi Amilakhvari employed an Ottoman force in a futile attempt to undermine the Persian influence and dislodge Nader's Georgian allies, Princes Teimuraz and Erekle.^[9]

In July 1744, Nader Shah resumed his offensive and unsuccessfully besieged Kars, but was forced to return to Dagestan to suppress a revolt. He returned afterwards and routed an Ottoman army at the battle of Kars in August 1745. The war disintegrated. Nader Shah grew insane and started to punish his own subjects, which led to a revolt from early 1745 to June 1746. In 1746 peace was made. The boundaries were unchanged and Baghdad remained in Ottoman hands. Nader Shah dropped his demand for Ja'fari recognition. The Porte was pleased and dispatched an ambassador but before he could arrive, Nader Shah was assassinated by his own officers.

References

Dictionary of Wars, George C. Kohn, 2007, p. 561
Iran and the West: a critical bibliography, Cyrus Ghani, 1987, p. 287-288

Notes

^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 169. ISBN 978-1598843361. The Iranian victory [at Baghavard], which cost Nadir up to 8,000 men, compelled the sultan to accept the peace treaty that was signed in September 1746 in Kordan, northwest of Tehran.
^ Ghafouri, Ali(2008). History of Iran's wars: from the Medes to now,p. 402-403. Etela'at Publishing
^ Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008). The Great Batlles of Nader Shah,p. 128. Donyaye Ketab
^ Selcuk Aksin Somel (2010), The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire, quote: This indecisive military conflict resulted in the preservation of the existing borders., The Scarecrow Press Inc., p. 170, ISBN 9780810875791
^ Fisher; et al. (1991). Volume 7 van The Cambridge History of Iran: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0521200950. Both sides now saw that neither could win a decisive victory, and that continuation of the war would only drain their strength. Nadir Shah hoped to use his victory at Baghavard to secure a favourable settlement, finally abandoning his claims on behalf of the Ja'fari sect, and instead concentrating on the demand that all of Iraq, including Baghdad, Basra and the Shi'i holy places of Najaf and Karbala, be turned over to him along with the Kurdish area of Van. A series of letters and exchanges of ambassadors followed, and eventually an agreement was hammered out on 4 September 1746, by which the Qasr-i-Shirin treaty boundaries were restored without change, with provisions made for the exchange of prisoners, as well as the exchange of ambassadors once every three years. Nadir Shah thereby abandoned all his former demands and the Ottomans accepted peace in accordance with the earlier agreements.
^ Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008). The Great Batlles of Nader Shah. Donyaye Ketab
^ Nicolae Jorga: Geschichte des Osmannischen Reiches, vol IV, (trans: Nilüfer Epçeli) Yeditepe Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-6480-19-9, p. 371
^ Olson, Robert W. (1975). The Siege of Mosul and Ottoman-Persian Relations 1718-1743. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 124. Indiana: Indiana University Publications.
^ Allen, William Edward David (1932), A History of the Georgian People: From the Beginning Down to the Russian Conquest in the Nineteenth Century, p. 193. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-7100-6959-6

[1] Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 169. ISBN 978-1598843361. The Iranian victory [at Baghavard], which cost Nadir up to 8,000 men, compelled the sultan to accept the peace treaty that was signed in September 1746 in Kordan, northwest of Tehran.

[2] Ghafouri, Ali(2008). History of Iran's wars: from the Medes to now,p. 402-403. Etela'at Publishing

[3] Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008). The Great Batlles of Nader Shah,p. 128. Donyaye Ketab

[4] Selcuk Aksin Somel (2010), The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire, quote: This indecisive military conflict resulted in the preservation of the existing borders., The Scarecrow Press Inc., p. 170, ISBN 9780810875791

[5] Fisher; et al. (1991). Volume 7 van The Cambridge History of Iran: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0521200950. Both sides now saw that neither could win a decisive victory, and that continuation of the war would only drain their strength. Nadir Shah hoped to use his victory at Baghavard to secure a favourable settlement, finally abandoning his claims on behalf of the Ja'fari sect, and instead concentrating on the demand that all of Iraq, including Baghdad, Basra and the Shi'i holy places of Najaf and Karbala, be turned over to him along with the Kurdish area of Van. A series of letters and exchanges of ambassadors followed, and eventually an agreement was hammered out on 4 September 1746, by which the Qasr-i-Shirin treaty boundaries were restored without change, with provisions made for the exchange of prisoners, as well as the exchange of ambassadors once every three years. Nadir Shah thereby abandoned all his former demands and the Ottomans accepted peace in accordance with the earlier agreements.

[6] Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008). The Great Batlles of Nader Shah. Donyaye Ketab

[7] Nicolae Jorga: Geschichte des Osmannischen Reiches, vol IV, (trans: Nilüfer Epçeli) Yeditepe Yayınları, 2009, ISBN 978-975-6480-19-9, p. 371

[Olson-8] Olson, Robert W. (1975). The Siege of Mosul and Ottoman-Persian Relations 1718-1743. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 124. Indiana: Indiana University Publications.

[Allen-32-9] Allen, William Edward David (1932), A History of the Georgian People: From the Beginning Down to the Russian Conquest in the Nineteenth Century, p. 193. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-7100-6959-6

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Background

The war

See also

References

Notes