| Battle of Marv | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Persian-Uzbek Wars | |||||||||
 Fresco "Battle of Merv between shah Ismail I and the Uzbek khan Muhammad Shaybani in 1510" in a Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan.. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Safavids | Khanate of Bukhara | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Shah Ismail I |
 Shaybani Khan † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 17,000 [3] | 28,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| few[citation needed] | 10,000[4] | ||||||||
| |||||
The Battle of Merv (or Marv) occurred on 2 December 1510 and ended with a decisive victory for the Safavid dynasty over the Uzbek invasion of Khorasan . The result was Safavids regaining control of the Khorasan (north-eastern and east of present Iran, southern parts of present day Turkmenistan, and western and northern Afghanistan).
Background[]
After the Shaybani Uzbeks began to rise to power in Transoxiana around 1495, Muhammad Shaybani Khan was waiting for a chance to annex the territory of the Timurids in Herat, which eventually occurred when the forces of the Uzbek Khan occupied the city and its environs in 1507. Shah Ismail started his campaign in Azerbaijan in 1502, and had re-unified all of Iran by 1509. Badi al-zaman, Husayn Bayqarah's son and heir, sought asylum at Ismail's court and induced him to launch a campaign in the east.[citation needed]
Battle[]
Shah Ismail reached Khorasan with great speed; Shaybani Khan retreated to Merv castle to await reinforcement from Uzbek tribes. The Safavid army then pretended to retreat, encouraging the Uzbeks to leave the castle in pursuit, only to be ambushed and destroyed by the Qizilbash ("Red Heads") troops of Shah Ismail once they were too far from the castle to regain its safety. The Safavid forces were reportedly heavily outnumbered by the army of Shaybani Khan, who was caught and killed trying to escape the battle. Shah Ismail had his body parts sent to various areas of the empire for display, while famously having his skull coated in gold and made into a jeweled drinking goblet.[citation needed] The primary outcomes of the battle were renewed Safavid control of Khorasan and the conversion of many of the regions' inhabitants to Shah Ismail's favored religion, Shia Islam.[3]
See also[]
- Shi'a-Sunni relations
- Battle of Ghazdewan
References[]
- ↑ SAVORY, ROGER. "ESMĀʿĪL I ṢAFAWĪ". Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/esmail-i-safawi. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑ Savory, Roger, Iran Under the Safavids, (Cambridge University Press, 1980), 35.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ismāʿīl I at Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ Savory, Roger, Iran Under the Safavids, Cambridge University Press, 2008,ISBN 0-521-04251-8,page 36.
The original article can be found at Battle of Marv and the edit history here.