Danger Bird
gravity's angel
XIV. The Encircling War, Part III - The Empire Endures
The Afsharid Dynasty
The reign of Nader Shah was not as glorious as the battles he had won as a general. The worldwide epidemic of the Scandanavian plague spread from the north to the south and did not abate there until his death in 1748, over the course of 17 years reducing some towns to mere hamlets, leaving sectors of cities unpopulated, and having a particularly devastating impact on the garrisons of cities, as the men manning the gates were first in contact with visitors - clean and unclean alike. The planned campaigns in the southwest, against the Turks and Arabs, could not be realised. The regiments there could do nothing but struggle to survive off the land, and rumours told that the villages in the arid Arabian territory to the south were far less sanitary. Only in the area of knowledge were any benefits to be had: Portuguese scholars stranded by the plague in Armuza began teaching of a new means of inquiry, the scientific method, in Armuza University, and Chinese Liberalism was taught by Russian teachers trapped by quarantine in Samarkand.
Academic exchanges during the years of the Scandanvian plague
In 1748, the year that the plague was finally eradicated from Persian lands, Nader's grandson Sharukh Shah Afshar took the throne. The population in the city and countryside was healthy and rebounding, and optimism returned to the commercial sector, as displayed with the founding, six years later, of a major trading company in Armuza.
The Armuza Trading Company
With a surfeit of young able-bodied men in the cities, and the development of rifling in 1751, regiments could be filled with new recruits and both infantry and cavalry outfitted with the new firearms, and by 1757 the army was ready to resume its campaigns in the south. The army began incursions to control the border areas with Arabia.
The army in the Arabian borderlands
Persia's prestige had not suffered during the plague, partly because the epidemics had been worse elsewhere, and partly because of the traditions of the Persian civilisation (except under the reigns of some short-lived rulers, Persia had taken a cautious approach to the waging of wars and had laid priority on the development of its cities and countryside). In the mid-18th century, Persia was second only in technological development to the Mongols, who had inherited Chinese learning and traditions, and many in the bureaucracy were anticipating world leadership in one or two generations.
Persia's technological development with respect to other nations
In the diplomatic realm, as well, Persia was now in a leading role, in spite of its wars. In 1766, Persia had transformed Beijing from and occupied city in flames to a reluctant but thriving regional centre, with a sizable Persianified population, and had enough influence in the Apostolic Palace to elect its candidate to Resident. Thus, ironically, Persia was now the hidden power behind the leader of the Taoist community, with with it had fought bitterly for the last millennium.
The Persian candidate becomes Apostolic Palace Resident
As well, the cities of central Persia were renowned around the world for their sophistication.
At the same time, however, the authority of the government in Parsa was growing more tenuous in the far-flung regions of the empire. Nader Shah's liberal reforms were praised by some as an enlightened example to the world, but others, especially the police and Interior Ministry, saw them as foolishly and dangerously naïve. Especially in the conquered Chinese cities and in ethnically-German Köln, the threat of instability and even secession was real, as local political and religious figures understood the government's laissez-faire attitude as a sign of weakness.
But in the capital, at least, there was respect for the ideals of Nader Shah, and upon the death of his heir (Sharukh Shah) in 1760, the nobles in parliament decided to exercise fully the authority they had been given in Nader Shah's constitution, and elected to the throne to one of their own, a competent general named Karim Khan Zand. Also in keeping with the representative government Nader had envisioned, but which had never been fully realised, the new leader refused to be named Shah, and instead took the title Vakil e-Ra'aayaa (Advocate of the People of the Fields). He also strove, in his first years, to improve the international standing of the Persian Republic, by entering into trading agreements (of questionable worth) with the few Great Powers that were not in a state of war with Persia.
Trade agreement with Spain
By 1766, the Interior Mininstry's estimates of the stability of the republic were truly alarming.
A report from the Ministry of the Interior
Rejecting the pleas of some of his advisors, Karim Khan was not moved to alter the constitution of reign in the freedoms already granted by his predecessor. Instead, he repeatedly stated that he trusted that the Persian cities, fertile ground for economic activity and the pursuit of religion and science alike, would give rise to great thinkers who would unify and invigorate the nation.
Parsa two decades after the plague
Also, news of the success of the armies in the south was lifting morale. The destruction of the Turkish city of Gaza was in revenge for the Turks' aggression of the last century, and also the first step in a plan to establish control over Monopotamia, also known as Iruk, the ancient lands of Babylonia. In the peace treaty, Turkey capitulated and agreed to direct its forces now against Persia's enemies. Persia, however, also gained another war, as the Turks had been fighting the French on their western flank.
The Battle of Gaza
The peace with Turkey
By the end of the 1760s, suffering of the plague was mainly forgotten, Persia's armies were again victorious, and cities were engines of development and innovation. They were also more beautiful than they had ever been, exemplified by the reconstructed buildings in Parsa's central square designed by the architect Nain Singh from Lahore. The mood of the nation was again rising, so dramatically that historians mark 1769 as the start of a golden age of Persian civilisation - the Zand era.
Nain Singh and the start of a Persian golden age
Persia became, in the following years, a happier and more stable republic, and yet a rather lonely one. There were few visitors to the grand boulevards and squares of Parsa or the bustling harbour and serene temples of Armuza, and most of those that did come were from the Russian, German, and Turkish satrapies. The bureaucracy began to yearn for improved relations with the world at large, so that Persia could enjoy the praise of nations rather than only witness their fear.
Karim Khan Zand, on his deathbed in a seaside house near Armuza, had the same outlook. Persia's navy had suffered several setbacks against the Japanese navy in previous years, and Karim Khan is said to have often gestured to the sea and spoken to his friends, "The sea is peace. Let us be at peace also." His aides interpreted this as a directive to send for a Japanese envoy, and on their own initiative sent for a Mongolian envoy as well, and these met with Karim Khan and settled the terms for peace.
The peace with Japan and Mongolia, brokered personally by Karim Khan Zand
The aides to the Vakil did not, however, permit anyone to imagine that their ruler's words were to be applied to the Arabs. The war to the south was one to which they were eagerly committed.
The Afsharid Dynasty
Nader Shah 1736-1748
Sharukh Shah Afsar 1748-1760
The Zand DynastySharukh Shah Afsar 1748-1760
Karim Khan Zand 1760-1779
The reign of Nader Shah was not as glorious as the battles he had won as a general. The worldwide epidemic of the Scandanavian plague spread from the north to the south and did not abate there until his death in 1748, over the course of 17 years reducing some towns to mere hamlets, leaving sectors of cities unpopulated, and having a particularly devastating impact on the garrisons of cities, as the men manning the gates were first in contact with visitors - clean and unclean alike. The planned campaigns in the southwest, against the Turks and Arabs, could not be realised. The regiments there could do nothing but struggle to survive off the land, and rumours told that the villages in the arid Arabian territory to the south were far less sanitary. Only in the area of knowledge were any benefits to be had: Portuguese scholars stranded by the plague in Armuza began teaching of a new means of inquiry, the scientific method, in Armuza University, and Chinese Liberalism was taught by Russian teachers trapped by quarantine in Samarkand.
Academic exchanges during the years of the Scandanvian plague
Spoiler :
In 1748, the year that the plague was finally eradicated from Persian lands, Nader's grandson Sharukh Shah Afshar took the throne. The population in the city and countryside was healthy and rebounding, and optimism returned to the commercial sector, as displayed with the founding, six years later, of a major trading company in Armuza.
The Armuza Trading Company
With a surfeit of young able-bodied men in the cities, and the development of rifling in 1751, regiments could be filled with new recruits and both infantry and cavalry outfitted with the new firearms, and by 1757 the army was ready to resume its campaigns in the south. The army began incursions to control the border areas with Arabia.
The army in the Arabian borderlands
Persia's prestige had not suffered during the plague, partly because the epidemics had been worse elsewhere, and partly because of the traditions of the Persian civilisation (except under the reigns of some short-lived rulers, Persia had taken a cautious approach to the waging of wars and had laid priority on the development of its cities and countryside). In the mid-18th century, Persia was second only in technological development to the Mongols, who had inherited Chinese learning and traditions, and many in the bureaucracy were anticipating world leadership in one or two generations.
Persia's technological development with respect to other nations
Spoiler :
In the diplomatic realm, as well, Persia was now in a leading role, in spite of its wars. In 1766, Persia had transformed Beijing from and occupied city in flames to a reluctant but thriving regional centre, with a sizable Persianified population, and had enough influence in the Apostolic Palace to elect its candidate to Resident. Thus, ironically, Persia was now the hidden power behind the leader of the Taoist community, with with it had fought bitterly for the last millennium.
The Persian candidate becomes Apostolic Palace Resident
As well, the cities of central Persia were renowned around the world for their sophistication.
Spoiler :
At the same time, however, the authority of the government in Parsa was growing more tenuous in the far-flung regions of the empire. Nader Shah's liberal reforms were praised by some as an enlightened example to the world, but others, especially the police and Interior Ministry, saw them as foolishly and dangerously naïve. Especially in the conquered Chinese cities and in ethnically-German Köln, the threat of instability and even secession was real, as local political and religious figures understood the government's laissez-faire attitude as a sign of weakness.
But in the capital, at least, there was respect for the ideals of Nader Shah, and upon the death of his heir (Sharukh Shah) in 1760, the nobles in parliament decided to exercise fully the authority they had been given in Nader Shah's constitution, and elected to the throne to one of their own, a competent general named Karim Khan Zand. Also in keeping with the representative government Nader had envisioned, but which had never been fully realised, the new leader refused to be named Shah, and instead took the title Vakil e-Ra'aayaa (Advocate of the People of the Fields). He also strove, in his first years, to improve the international standing of the Persian Republic, by entering into trading agreements (of questionable worth) with the few Great Powers that were not in a state of war with Persia.
Trade agreement with Spain
Spoiler :
By 1766, the Interior Mininstry's estimates of the stability of the republic were truly alarming.
A report from the Ministry of the Interior
Spoiler :
Rejecting the pleas of some of his advisors, Karim Khan was not moved to alter the constitution of reign in the freedoms already granted by his predecessor. Instead, he repeatedly stated that he trusted that the Persian cities, fertile ground for economic activity and the pursuit of religion and science alike, would give rise to great thinkers who would unify and invigorate the nation.
Parsa two decades after the plague
Spoiler :
Also, news of the success of the armies in the south was lifting morale. The destruction of the Turkish city of Gaza was in revenge for the Turks' aggression of the last century, and also the first step in a plan to establish control over Monopotamia, also known as Iruk, the ancient lands of Babylonia. In the peace treaty, Turkey capitulated and agreed to direct its forces now against Persia's enemies. Persia, however, also gained another war, as the Turks had been fighting the French on their western flank.
The Battle of Gaza
The peace with Turkey
Spoiler :
By the end of the 1760s, suffering of the plague was mainly forgotten, Persia's armies were again victorious, and cities were engines of development and innovation. They were also more beautiful than they had ever been, exemplified by the reconstructed buildings in Parsa's central square designed by the architect Nain Singh from Lahore. The mood of the nation was again rising, so dramatically that historians mark 1769 as the start of a golden age of Persian civilisation - the Zand era.
Nain Singh and the start of a Persian golden age
Persia became, in the following years, a happier and more stable republic, and yet a rather lonely one. There were few visitors to the grand boulevards and squares of Parsa or the bustling harbour and serene temples of Armuza, and most of those that did come were from the Russian, German, and Turkish satrapies. The bureaucracy began to yearn for improved relations with the world at large, so that Persia could enjoy the praise of nations rather than only witness their fear.
Karim Khan Zand, on his deathbed in a seaside house near Armuza, had the same outlook. Persia's navy had suffered several setbacks against the Japanese navy in previous years, and Karim Khan is said to have often gestured to the sea and spoken to his friends, "The sea is peace. Let us be at peace also." His aides interpreted this as a directive to send for a Japanese envoy, and on their own initiative sent for a Mongolian envoy as well, and these met with Karim Khan and settled the terms for peace.
The peace with Japan and Mongolia, brokered personally by Karim Khan Zand
The aides to the Vakil did not, however, permit anyone to imagine that their ruler's words were to be applied to the Arabs. The war to the south was one to which they were eagerly committed.