X. Iran and international relations in the 16-19 centuries

1.Brief content of the lecture

1.Iran during the Safavids

The Safavid dynasty (1501-1722) restored the power of Iran within geographical boundaries attained by former Iranian empires. Shia Islam had become a state religion.

Political life.

Shah Ismail tried to make a balance among various elements of the state: Kurds, Arabs, Turkish, Baluchis, to unite the tribes. For administration Persian bureaucrats with a tradition in tax collecting were used, for the army - the Turkish fighting traditions.

Foreign policy.

The main danger for the Safavids was the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans had territorial claims in Eastern Anatolia, Iraq and Caucasus. In 1524 Ottoman sultan Selim I defeated the Safavids forces and occupied Tabriz, the capital of Iran. In 1533 the Ottoman sultan Suleiman occupied Baghdad and southern Iraq. The Ottomans also continued to challenge the Safavids for control of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus until the Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin in 1639 established frontiers both in Iraq and in Caucasus that remained unchanged in the late XX century.

Shah Abbas (1587-1629) reestablished Iranian control over Iraq, Georgia, and parts of the Caucasus. Abbas founded centralized state. In 1602 he expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain and Hormoz. He significantly enhanced government revenues by establishing a state monopoly over the silk trade and encouraged internal and external trade by safeguarding the roads and welcoming British, Dutch and other traders to Iran.

*Reasons of decline at the second half of the XVII c.:

At the beginning of the XVIII c. Iran was conquered by the Afghan tribes.

Nadir Shah Afshar (1729-1747) expelled the Afghans and reunited the country. He forced the Ottoman Turks out of Mesopotamia and induced the Russians to give up Iranian territories they had occupied. He conquered Afghanistan, invaded northern India and captured Delhi. He extended his rule into western Turkistan and became the Middle East’s most powerful ruler. After his death, the great military machine collapsed and his empire quickly disintegrated

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1387