The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1616–1618 was a brief war between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran.
| Ottoman–Safavid War of 1616–1618 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Safavid Iran |
 Ottoman Empire  Bukhara Khanate[1] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Shah Abbas I Qarachaqay Khan |
Ahmed I Öküz Mehmed Pasha Damat Halil Pasha Imam Quli Khan[3] Mohammad Qoli Durman [4] | ||||||
After the Ottoman–Safavid war (1603–1612), the Ottomans and Safavids had signed the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha, in which their borders were changed back to the previous one under Selim I and Shah Ismail I. In exchange, the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I promised to send the Ottomans 200 pack-loads of silk each year. In 1616, the Ottomans used the Safavids' failure to deliver the silk as a pretext to start another war.[5] At the end of August 1616, a sizable Ottoman army led by the grand vizier Öküz Mehmed Pasha besieged Erivan. Abbas harassed the Ottoman supply lines, and by the time winter was nearing, Mehmed Pasha ended the siege and retreated, leading to death of many of soldiers due to the cold weather.[6] Due to his setback, he was replaced by Damat Halil Pasha as the new grand vizier. In 1618, with the assistance of Tatar and Georgian warriors, Halil Pasha launched another Ottoman invasion into Iran.[7]
He dispatched an emissary to Abbas in Qazvin with the prospect of withdrawing if the Safavids gave back the lands they had conquered. Abbas rejected the offer and marched to the Azerbaijan province to confront the invading Ottoman army. He marched to the Safavid shrine city of Ardabil with a portion of the army, and there he rejected another Ottoman emissary. Even after the emissary dropped the territorial demands and urged Abbas only to pay the silk tribute and surrender his son to Istanbul as a hostage, he refused to consider a peace proposal.[7]
Abbas' new commander-in-chief, Qarachaqay Khan, an Armenian gholam, was given orders to raze the countryside and target enemy gathering groups while avoiding a major battle until the winter was upon them and the Ottomans were starving and cold.[7]
In 1618, the Ottomans and Safavids made peace by signing the Treaty of Serav which reaffirmed the terms of the previous peace treaty.[5]
References
edit- ^ The Bukharans A Dynastic, Diplomatic, and Commercial History, 1550-1702 Audrey Burton 1997 p.144-145
- ^ Farrokh, Kaveh. "The Military Campaigns of Shah Abbas I in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (1603-1618)". Studies on Iran and the Caucasus (Studies in Honour of Prof. Garnik S. Asatrian; Edited by U. Bläsing, V. Arakelova & M. Weinreich). Leiden: Brill: 2.
The Safavid army had to fight a series of battles in Georgia (1613-1623) which led to a new Ottoman war (1616). The Safavid army defeated the Ottoman offensives in Yerevan and Ardabil (1616-1618) obliging the Ottomans to negotiate a new peace treaty which affirmed all of Shah Abbas' conquests since 1603.
- ^ The Bukharans A Dynastic, Diplomatic, and Commercial History, 1550-1702 Audrey Burton 1997 p.144-145
- ^ History of Shah 'Abbas the Great (Tārīkh-e ‘Ālamārā-ye ‘Abbāsī) by Eskandar Beg Monshi; Roger M. Savory, translator Vol.2 p1129
- ^ a b Mikaberidze 2011, p. 699.
- ^ Blow 2009, pp. 106–107.
- ^ a b c Blow 2009, p. 107.
Sources
edit- Blow, David (2009). Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-989-8. LCCN 2009464064.
- Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598843361.