User:HistoryofIran/Nader Shah's invasion of India

Nader Shah's invasion of India
Part of the Naderian Wars
Equestrian portrait of Nader Shah during the sack of Delhi. Created in Isfahan, dated c. 1740–1745
Date 10 May 1738–1740 Location Northern Indian subcontinent Result Iranian victory
Belligerents
Afsharid Iran	Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nader Shah Morteza Mirza Afshar Ahmad Shah Abdali	Muhammad Shah Zakariya Khan Bahadur

Nader Shah's invasion of India

Prelude

By the end of 1736, Nader Shah had consolidated his rule over Iran and dealt with the internal uprisings that had developed over the three years before that. He now shifted his focus towards the Afghan Ghilji tribe, who had been reorganized by their new leader Hussain Hotak (r. 1725–1738), a cousin of Ashraf Hotak. By the middle of the 1730s, Hussain Hotak had built up a substantial power base as the ruler of Herat and had been striving for some years to weaken Nader Shah's authority over present-day Afghanistan. By April 1737, Nader Shah had gone east and established his camp at a location close to the city Kandahar, where he ordered the construction of a city named Naderabad. He soon defeated Hussain Khan and captured Kandahar, thus putting an end to the Ghilji tribe's dominance. On 21 May 1738, Nader Shah left Naderabad and marched towards the city of Kabul. On 11 June, he reached Ghazni after crossing the traditional border between Iran and the Mughal Empire.

At first, Nader Shah told the Mughals that he had no issues with them and he only moved into their domain to look for runaway Afghans. According to some contemporary Indian sources, Mughal vassals plotting to weaken the authority of their suzerain were the reason behind Nader Shah's invasion of the Indian subcontinent. According to the Iranologist Laurence Lockhart, Nader Shah understood that he could fund his aspirations of expansion "with the spoils of India" because "the almost continual campaigns of the past few years had caused famine in Persia and brought her to the verge of bankruptcy." However, another Iranologist, Ernest S. Tucker, argues that "Long before the 1730s, though, Iran had already been in a state of financial crisis, partly because of the continued steady decline in Iranian exports that had caused a substantial reduction in state revenues." According to the Iranologist Michael Axworthy, the aim of the invasion was because Nader Shah "needed a breathing space, for the country to recover, and a new source of cash to pay the army, before he renewed his attack on the Ottomans."

By the start of the 18th century, the Mughals were struggling with a number of political issues. India started to fragment after the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, eventually becoming a collection of kingdoms ruled by individuals who claimed nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719–1748), but essentially acted as independent rulers. Another political danger was the expansion of the Maratha Empire under Bajirao I. By challenging long-held beliefs about the necessity of Muslim political power in India, the Marathas presented a unique challenge to Mughal rule. By the beginning of the 18th century, the Indian subcontinent was a huge, prosperous, and becoming more and more divided agricultural culture, making it an alluring target for a conqueror short on finance.

The invasion

The conquest of Kabul, Jalalabad and their surroundings

In order to defend Kabul against Nader Shah, the Mughal governor of Kabul and Peshawar had earlier pleaded with his Delhi-based superiors to send him at least one year of the five years' salary his troops were due. The Mughal commander-in-chief Khan Dowran VII downplayed his request, claiming there was still plenty of time and that the payments could wait until after the rainy season ended, when money would have been imported from Bengal. Since his requests went unanswered, the governor withdrew to Peshawar with the majority of his men. Kabul was subsequently taken over by a small group of unyielding individuals who attempted to protect it.

A delegation met Nader Shah as he neared Kabul. They were city nobility who had come to submit. Nader Shah had Kabul shelled for several weeks, while the citizens implored him not to let them suffer for the stubbornness of a few. According to one report, while the siege continued, Nader Shah gave the order to have 80 of his soldiers executed by having their bellies torn open because they had witnessed an Indian woman being raped and had done nothing to stop it. The Mughals' own large gun, whose recoil supposedly caused a tower and a portion of wall to crumble, unexpectedly made up for Nader Shah's lack of heavy weaponry.

After a short while, at the end of June 1738, Kabul submitted. Nader Shah had prepared a letter to Muhammad Shah, which criticized him for doing nothing to stop the Afghan escapees. In order to justify his invasion of Kabul, Nader Shah said that he had been obliged to go after the fugitives by himself. However, he claimed that he had been kind to the locals by leaving them in control of their belongings. The letter was sent with an Iranian ambassador toward Delhi, but the ambassador was slain on the trip close to Jalalabad. Nader Shah led his troops north from Kabul to the Charikar District so they were able to recuperate in a location with easy access to food, water, and other supplies.

As units set out to subjugate the local Afghan tribes, more recruits joined the army as they became aware of the potential for personal prosperity that Nader Shah's army in India would offer. In early September, the army resumed their march, this time toward Gandamak, Jalalabad, and Peshawar. Whilst en route, Nader Shah learned that his ambassador had been killed, and thus sent a group of his jazayerchi unit to get to Jalalabad in advance. When they reached the place, they ambushed its garrison, pillaging the area and carrying out a retaliatory massacre. However, the Afghan chief who killed Nader Shah's ambassador fled to his adjacent mountain fortress. After a fierce battle through the trenches the Afghans had constructed in the hillside, the Iranians were able to take it. All of the males were executed, and the women—including the wives and sister of the chief—were carried away in chains.

Before reaching Jalalabad, the main army halted and set up camp a few miles to the southwest at Bahar Sofla. On November 7, they were joined by Nader Shah's eldest son, Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, who had traveled from Balkh on his father's instructions. As he grew older, Nader Shah regularly gave orders for his kids and grandchildren to come see him because he enjoyed seeing them. In order to appoint Reza Qoli as viceroy of Iran, Nader Shah had summoned him. The majority of Reza Qoli's forces joined the army of Nader Shah. On 17 November, Reza Qoli left for Balkh again, and the day after, Nader Shah resumed his march.

The battle of Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass in 2008

On Jalalabad's eastern flank, Nader Shah army set up camp. While there, he learned that the Mughal governor of Kabul and Peshawar had finally made preparations despite the absence of help. He had 20,000 Afghan soldiers with him in the Khyber Pass, cutting access to Peshawar. Despite the Iranian army's size being significantly greater, their numbers would not matter much in the Khyber Valley's confined space.

Sources

• Axworthy, Michael (2006). The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1850437062.
• Babaie, Sussan (2018). "Nader Shah, the Delhi Loot, and the 18th-Century Exotics of Empire". In Axworthy, Michael (ed.). Crisis, Collapse, Militarism and Civil War: The History and Historiography of 18th Century Iran. Oxford University Press. pp. 215–234. ISBN 978-0190250331.
• Tucker, Ernest S. (2006). Nadir Shah's Quest for Legitimacy in Post-Safavid Iran. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813029641.