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INTRODUCTION In 1740, Nader Shah was arguably the most powerful ruler in the Middle East. In less than a decade, he took the throne of Iran, defeated two of the mightiest empires - the Ottomans and the Mughals. At this point, it probably felt to him that he could do nothing wrong. Nader Shah had no intention of resting on his laurels and ruling his empire in peace. He was preparing for new campaigns. Yet while he was conquering India, trouble was brewing at home. It was trouble that would change everything.
TROUBLE AT HOME When Nader Shah launched his campaign against India, he appointed his eldest son, Reza Qoli, as his viceroy and ordered him to keep the close guard of the Safavid royal family in Sabzavar and to listen to Nader's advisors. Reza Qoli was only 17 at the time and full of youthful energy and overzealousness to prove himself, he made several mistakes. Despite his father's explicit instructions, he quickly got tired of some of his father's advisors and dismissed them. The key figure here was Taqi Khan, a man who had the Shah's ear. Reza Qoli came into conflict with Taqi Khan for a number of reasons,
and the latter was keen to exaggerate the problems at home while reporting to Nader Shah. Reza Qoli had been ruling cruelly, unlike his father, beheading people for most ordinary offences. He was enriching himself from the Caspian silk trade, helping himself to fancy clothes and creating a 12,000-man jezayerchi unit wearing uniforms of cloth of gold with weapons decorated with gold and silver. His paranoia and cruelty got the better of him in his actions toward the former royal family. At the time, when Nader Shah's army was winning so much in India, there was a breakdown in
communication, and rumours of Nader Shah's death began to circulate in the Empire. Mohammad Hosein Khan Qajar, who was in charge of the deposed Safavid royal family's custody in Sabzavar, told Reza Qoli that if the rumours were true, the people of Sabzavar would revolt and restore the Safavids to the throne. He advised the prince to kill the Safavid men as a preemptive action. Reza Qoli gave his consent, and Mohammad Hosein Khan Qajar murdered former Shahs Tahmasp and his nine-year-old son Abbas, along with the former's younger son Ismayil, in cold blood. The Safavids had been under guard, and even though there could have been
a situation wherein their blood and name would have meant something in the contest for power, as things stood, they constituted no threat to Nader's rule. Killing them in cold blood was rightly seen as an unnecessary cruelty. And doing something so politically risky and unpopular without consent was not going to go down well for the prince. Another grave mistake was going against his father's express instructions to stay put and not launch a campaign against the Bukhara and Khiva khanates, since Nader wanted to lead it personally. But Reza Qoli did not heed his sire
and launched a punitive campaign against them. These mistakes, along with the constant whispers of Taqi Khan and other advisors of the Shah about Reza Qoli's insubordination, stoked the paranoia of Nader, who started fearing that his son was planning to depose him. The pair met near Herat, where Nader Shah's army camped on their return from India. Even then, after such a long time away, Reza Qoli was late meeting his father. Nader did not express his displeasure in public, but in private, Reza Qoli was in for a proper round of scolding.
Nader Shah disbanded his expensive unit of jezayerchis, dividing them among his own commanders and reminding his son that one empire can have only one army and one court. He criticized Reza Qoli for displaying wealth, which reminded him of the vanity of the late Safavids he had witnessed in Isfahan. The Shah, of course, also reprimanded the prince for the murder of Tahmasp. As a punishment, he removed Reza Qoli from his position of authority, granting viceroyalty to his younger son, Mortaza Mirza instead. This was a humiliating episode
for young and proud Reza Qoli. On the other hand, Nader Shah gave his son a chance to prove himself on the battlefield and told him to accompany him on his next campaign. OXUS CAMPAIGN Even though Nader had just scored a resounding victory in India, he decided to deal with the Bukhara and Khiva khanates on his way back. For decades, Uzbek and Turkmen tribes have been raiding Khorasan and taking its inhabitants as slaves. Remember, Khorasan was Nader's native land, and subjugating the Bukhara and Khiva khanates and removing the threat of raids were personal to him. This was partly why he was so resentful of Reza Qoli's attempt to campaign against them without Nader.
At the end of July 1740, Nader Shah's army arrived in Balkh. After a brief skirmish in September, the Bukharans understood the futility of any resistance and submitted to Nader Shah. According to the arrangement, the Bukharan ruler Abulfeiz was to wed his two daughters to Nader Shah's sons Reza Qoli and Ali Qoli. As per tradition. The older Reza Qoli was to marry the older daughter, but he preferred the younger daughter and demanded to wed her instead. Angry with Reza Qoli's behavior and unable to persuade him, Nader married the elder girl
himself. Reza Qoli asked his father's permission to leave the camp and return to Mashhad. Nader was already very annoyed and happy to see him go, he let Reza Qoli leave. The relationship between the shah and his older son continued deteriorating. But it had not yet reached the point of no return. Their next meeting was going to be tragic. After dealing with the Bukhara khanate, Nader sent envoys to Ilbars Khan II of Khwarezm to persuade the Khivans to surrender as well. Instead, his envoys were killed. The first battle between the
sides happened near the Oxus River, and Nader's cavalry forced the Khivans to flee. On October 19, Nader Shah's army marched Southwards from Chaharju along the Oxus in four divisions in an orderly rectangular formation, protecting the army's baggage in the middle. This prevented the Khivan forces from harassing the army's rear and flanks. At this point, Ilbars II was waiting for Nader Shah at his fortress, Hazarasp. Nader wanted to lure the enemy army into the open field. To do tha,t he moved his army towards the Khangah fortress, which hosted Ilbars II's treasury and
family. This did the trick. Ilbars II moved his army to protect Khangah. On the way to the fortress, Nader Shah and his forward units defeated a party of Yomut and Tekke Turkmens. By that point, Ilbars and his forces had reached Khangah. He sent out a force of Uzbek and Turkmen infantry to confront Nader outside the fortress once again, but this group was defeated, too. On November 6, Nader Shah besieged Khangah. After a week of bombardment, the fortress was significantly damaged. Its garrison surrendered. Ilbars II was executed for killing Nader Shah's
envoys. All in all, it was an easy victory for Nader. He ordered his subjects to address him as Shahanshah - King of Kings after yet another triumph. Nader Shah probably felt unstoppable. ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT. GROWING PARANOIA Following his victory, Nader returned to Mashhad. Briefly, he attended to other matters, such as building a navy in the Indian Ocean, financial and administrative issues, but Nader Shah was not a man content to stay in one place for long. Nader Shah chose Dagestan as his next target in order to avenge the killing of his brother Ibrahim
and to stop the raids of the Lezgi tribes in the Greater Caucasus. On March 14, 1741, his 150,000-strong army started a long march from Mashhad with his Abdali Afghan force already fighting in Dagestan. The Afghans had some success against the rebels, subduing some tribes, but the mountainous terrain proved difficult and costly for the attacking side. The Lezgis continued to challenge Nader Shah's rule in the Greater Caucasus and to ravage parts of Georgia. At this point in his military career, Nader preferred to travel with his harem - his wives,
concubines, and entertainer women protected only by his personal Keshikchi guard with some distance from the main force. If this habit sounds risky to you, it actually was. On May 15, 1741, an assassin's bullet coming from a forest grazed Nader Shah's arm and hit his horse. The Shah survived this attempt on his life with minor injuries, but it made his paranoia worse. On top of that, the symptoms of his illness were getting worse and apparently affecting his judgment, making him more rash and irritable. According to historical sources, Alavi Khan, an Indian doctor,
whom he hired to his service while on his Indian campaign, did a great job to help Nader Shah with pain and restrain some of his worst impulses. But around the time of the Dagestan campaign, Nader allowed Alavi Khan to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca. We do not know the exact date, but the Shah's mother, who was very close and dear to Nader, had died while he was campaigning in India. His closest companions, Tahmasp Khan Jalayer and Taqi Khan, were regional governors away from Nader. He had, of course, fallen out with his older son Reza Qoli. The shah
was growing increasingly depressed, lonely and irritable. And this was affecting his judgment. DAGESTAN CAMPAIGN The initial fighting by the Afghans and the arrival of the massive 150,000-strong army in Shirvan were sufficient to subdue many Lezgi chiefs, who personally offered their submission to the Shah. Nader continued moving deep into Dagestan in the summer of 1741, subduing more and more rebel tribes on his way to Khunzakh, one of the final centers of resistance. But Dagestan's mountainous terrain was almost impossible for a large army to operate in
due to movement and supply challenges. Even at the height of the summer, the weather was windy, snowy and extremely cold in the highlands of the Greater Caucasus. Back in his prime, Nader would have pushed to achieve his goal and subdue the remaining territories despite all difficulties. But all his success and the discomforts of the illness made him complacent. He sought more comfort. In September, he decided to withdraw his army to Darband on the shore of the Caspian Sea, planning to restart the campaign once the weather improved. And this allowed the mountain tribes, still not yet submitted to Nader Shah, to wage war more freely.
They used hit-and-run tactics to attack Nader's patrols and supply carriages. Nader retaliated by ordering to burn the villages of these tribes and resettling them in Khorasan. This included the villages, which had nothing to do with war. This had the opposite effect, and many tribes believed resistance was their only option. According to one account, the Lezgis even managed to raid Nader's own camp, capturing some of his harem women and valuables. This enraged Nader even more, who executed his officers and guards for negligence. In October, he moved from his camp on a retaliatory mission.
Along with attacking rebel outposts and destroying villages, Nader Shah also ordered the construction of forts in captured areas to expand their area of control and influence. One of them, built in the summer of 1742, northwest of Darband, was called Iran Kharab - the Ruin of Iran. In hindsight, it was a prophetic name. But the underlying problems were still there. The mountainous terrain made the massive manpower advantage less of a factor. On top of that, the Afsharid army suffered from supply difficulties, again caused by the terrain.
Bringing food and other provisions to the army was a major challenge due to the narrowness of mountain passages, which also made them an ideal target for the Dagestani raiders. Nader Shah sought to mitigate this problem by requesting that Russia provide large vessels to transport supplies to Darband via the Caspian Sea. But by that point, the positive relationship Nader Shah had with the Russian Empire at the beginning of his military career had broken down. In the 1730s, Nader and Russian envoys agreed that Iran would not sign a peace treaty with its common
enemy, the Ottoman Empire, before consulting Russia, but Nader Shah did exactly that in 1736. On top of that, Russians were worried about the rise of Nader Shah and his well-drilled, massive army. There was concern that Russia would at some point have to enter into direct conflict with Iran. Of course, we now know that Nader never went to war against Russia, but a conflict between Nader's army and one of the strongest European armies would have been fascinating, given that, at the time, the other Eastern armies were severely overmatched by the European powers. In any case,
once the weather improved, Nader marched against the rebels in Tabasaran in May 1742. They continued responding with guerrilla-style attacks. Despite major difficulties, Nader Shah's men had some success, such as capturing the Lezgi stronghold of Quraish, but in the short time he had to conduct any meaningful military operations in the Caucasus mountains, he failed to achieve decisive success. According to Axworthy, on two occasions, his rather large forces of 6,000 and 3,000 men were defeated by the rebels. Fielding a larger force in the mountains would have been extremely tricky. He had to withdraw to the newly built Iran Kharab fort in October 1742, hoping for better luck next time.
Troubles in Dagestan made Nader's mood miserable. Like many conquerors before and after him, Nader, who had so much success in open fields against larger and better-equipped armies, was having trouble against hit-and-run tactics. Still, he intended to finish the job once the weather improved. Nader Shah even contemplated moving against the Russian territories captured in the Caucasus, amid rumours of Russian support for the Lezgi rebels. REZA QOLI'S BLINDING But his plans were upended by external threat and internal tragedy. In the summer of 1742, Nader's officials arrested a man named Nik Qadam in Herat,
who had confessed to trying to assassinate him under the orders of the Shah's son Reza Qoli. Nik Qadam was brought to the Shah, who confirmed the story. Nader summoned Reza Qoli to the Caucasus and to avoid arousing any suspicion, he invited his other sons as well. In October 1742, they arrived in Darband. What followed next was a family drama. Nader Shah ordered his guards to apprehend Reza Qoli. Over the next few days, Nader's advisors urged Reza Qoli to apologize to his father to avoid the worst. But just like his father, Reza Qoli was
a stubborn man and denied orchestrating Nader's assassination. The problem was that Nader Shah was convinced that his son tried to kill him based on Nik Qadam's story and reports from his spies. Nader tried to convince his son to ask for forgiveness and swear allegiance once again. The prince refused. All the officials' attempts to smooth things out between the father and son failed. Nader decided to blind Reza Qoli, his eldest son and heir. 3 days later, Nader visited Reza Qoli and broke down in tears. Reza Qoli's words were prophetic: 'You
should know that by taking my eyes out, you have blinded yourself and destroyed your own life'. CONCLUSION We do not know if Reza Qoli truly ordered his father's assassination. His companions and friends may indeed have been interested in Nader Shah's death for their own careerist purposes. Reza Qoli's shahdom would have been in their interests. And they may have talked about this to the prince. But most sources agree that Reza Qoli did not explicitly order any attempt on his father's life, although he may have been aware that something was being planned in the background,
at the time when he was being alienated by Nader Shah. In any case, that does not matter. What matters is that the punishment of Reza Qoli was an event, which foretold the future. Nader Shah's world was about to come crashing down on him. After such a brilliant rise. As his court historian Mirza Mahdi wrote: "From the beginning of Nader Shah's reign until his return from Khwarezm and his march into Daghestan, he was entirely occupied with the care of his empire and the administration of justice, in such a manner that the people of Iran would
have given their lives for his preservation; but after this time he changed his conduct entirely. At the instigation of some hostile spirit, this unhappy monarch gave his ear to ill-intentioned spies, and had the eyes of Reza Qoli, the best and the dearest of his sons, torn out. Remorse quickly followed this rash cruelty, and Nader Shah became like a madman. The reports of bad news that he received in succession thereafter of troubles in various parts of his dominion increased his rage." In the next episode, we will conclude Nader Shah's story.
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