The Safavids
Arash Monzavi-Kia
The first wave of Mongol invasion (1220 to 1224) destroyed most of the Khorasan cities, killing millions and enslaving millions more. All Eastern centers of Iranian culture and Farsi language were irrevocably destroyed or devastated. Genghis wanted such a bloody revenge on the Eastern Iranians, that the rest of the country would collapse in fear. The second wave of carnage (1260 to 1275) was unleashed by Hullago the grandson of Genghis, who invaded central Iran to Baghdad and Syria. He even killed the Muslim Caliph and destroyed all the Esmaeli castles. The third wave (1365 to 1405) was carried out by another Mongol descendent (Tamerlane), who this time under the banner of Islamic Jihad, ravaged Turkestan, Iran, Turkey, Syria and even India.
Figure 39: Tamerlane’s realm of blood and terror
The total Mongol carnage is estimated to have killed about 50 million people in the Middle East. This barbaric blow destroyed most of the Arab and Farsi urban centers, and blocked the development of Islamic civilization for 200 years. At the same time, the European countries were waking up from their middle-age slumber and entering the Renaissance period.
Figure 40: The school of Athens – Renaissance painting by Raphael
After Tamerlane, Iran was again divided among feuding Mongol and Turkic tribes, who established several small khanates. Their fighting and consolidation took another 100 years, before a confederation of Turkic tribes (Ghezelbash) united around a spiritually mesmerizing Sufi family (the Safavids). The Safavids were a powerful Shia-Sufi cult who started in Ardabil and expanded into the rest of Azerbaijan and Gilan. Tamerlane who was also Shia, had granted them some land and thousands of Turkic slaves, whom he had captured during his Asia Minor campaigns.
Figure 41: Safavid shrine in Ardabil
It took the Safavids fifty years and three generations of warriors to gain the control of North Western Iran. Finally, their young leader (Esmael) crushed the resistance of rival Turkic tribes and was crowned as the Shah, in 1501 at Tabriz. The fifteen year old Esmael was so inspiring, courageous and heroic that many of his followers believed him to be the Shia messiah (Mahdi). In ten short years, Shah Esmael captured all the traditional land of Iran and became neighbours with the Ottomans in West and Uzbeks in East, both Sunni Muslims. Unfortunately, instead of building trade, cultural and military alliances with the neighbouring Muslim nations, the fanatic Safavids attacked first the Uzbeks and then the Ottomans. This started 350 years of animosity that bleed all three nations’ strength like an infectious chronic injury. But at the beginning, the Ghezelbash were jubilant that their invincible leader would soon take over the world! Indeed, Esmael really looked invincible too, until the more modern Ottoman army equipped with rifles and artillery, defeated him in 1514, at the battle of Chalderon.
Figure 42: Shah Esmael in Battle
After the defeat of Chalderon and the collapse of Tabriz, the Safavids had to move their capital to Ghazvin and then Isfahan. The frustrated Ghezelbash took revenge on the indigenous Sunni population of Iran (approximately 75% of nation) and forcefully converted most of them to Shia and killed or harassed the rest. After Esmael, Shah Tahmausp came to power, who imported many Shia clerics from Lebanon, in order to strengthen the Safavids ideological hold on the Iranian society. Those clerics soon proliferated in the central Iran and especially Isfahan, and established such a priestly caste that was unprecedented since the time of the Zoroastrian Moubads.
Figure 43: Safavids propagate the Shia mullahs in Iran
After the half-century reign of Tahmausp ended in 1579, the country descended in fierce fighting among his many sons and successors. Finally, after eight bloody years, the young and energetic Abbas came to power, who built the fledging kingdom into a powerful empire. Shah Abbas (the great) revived the Iranian army through close ties with the emerging European powers, especially the British. He also curtailed the wanton hold of the Ghezelbash throughout the country and established a sense of normalcy and security. With those improvements, the nation prospered and the Safavid’s military might grew. Abbas defeated both Uzbeks and Ottomans, obtaining more favourable border arrangements in Khorasan and Khuzestan.
Figure 44: Shah Abbas the zenith of Safavid dynasty
Sadly, like so many other dictators, Abbas could not escape the corrupting influence of absolute power, and near the end, turned neurotic and suspicious. He killed and blinded so many of his sons and other Safavids that after his death, finding a successor became a difficult challenge. His suspicion and bloody suppression of the Ghezelbash also alienated most of them from playing an active role in the kingdom. Hence, despite his many constructive contributions to Iran and especially Isfahan, the Safavids rule started a steady decline after Abbas’s passing in 1629.
Figure 45: Shah Solomon’s court in Isfahan, with local and foreign dignitaries
The final blow to the Safavids dynasty came from the disgruntled Sunni people of Afghanistan. In 1720, a rebellious Afghan army toppled the weak Safavid king (Shah Sultan Hussein) and pillaged Isfahan. Their uprising was a direct result of Sunni suppression in the Kandahar province, and their success was due to the steady weakening of the army and Ghezelbash, and the deteriorating court spirit under the mind-numbing influence of mullahs.
Figure 46: Isfahan is ravaged by the invading Afghans