Siege of Isfahan

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Campaigns of Ashraf Hotaki

The siege of Isfahan was a 6-month-long siege of Isfahan, the capital of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, by the Hotaki-led Afghan army, which lasted from March to October 1722 and resulted in the city's fall and the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty.

Isfahan was besieged by the Afghan forces led by Shah Mahmud Hotaki after their decisive victory over the Safavid army at the battle of Gulnabad, close to Isfahan, on 8 March 1722. After the battle, the Safavid forces fell back in disarray to Isfahan. The Afghans lacked artillery to breach the city walls and blockaded Isfahan in order to bend Shah Sultan Husayn Safavi, and the city's defenders into surrender. Ill-organized Safavid efforts to relieve the siege failed and the shah's disillusioned Georgian vassal, Vakhtang VI of Kartli, refused to come to the Safavid aid. Shah Husayn's son, Tahmasp, and some 600 soldiers fled their way out of the city. The famine soon prevailed and the shah capitulated on 23 October, abdicating in favor of Mahmud, who triumphantly entered the city on 25 October 1722.[1][2][3]

Most scholars agree that the loss of Isfahan was due to the inferiority of the Persian troops as well as the cowardly behavior of the Safavid leaders.

References

  1. ↑ Lang, David Marshall (1952). "Georgia and the Fall of the Ṣafavī Dynasty". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 14 (3): 537–538. 
  2. ↑ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). "Isfahan, siege of". In Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 426–427. ISBN 1598843370. 
  3. ↑ Tucker, Spencer C. (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. anta Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 726–727. ISBN 1851096728. 
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