Shah Abbas Meets Shirley Brothers

June, 19, 1598 A.D.:
Shah Abbas Meets Shirley Brothers

By: Mir M.Hosseini

English fortune hunters, the Shirley brothers met with Shah Abbas of Safavi dynasty in Qazvin, Iran's capital. Shah Abbas was seeking to modernize the army and decided to use the modern know-how. After signing a peace treaty with the Ottomans in 1589, he went to war with Uzbeks who had occupied Khorasan. Meanwhile he had reformed the structure of the army; instead of Kizilbash chiefs, he created a cavalry of Georgians and Armenians alongside Persians forming the infantry. He gathered the Turks royal to the king under the name Shahseven countering Kizilbash influence. After a great battle near Herat in 1597, Mashhad was liberated and Uzbeks were forced back to the other side of Jeyhoon. In 1599, a major army reform took place with introduction of rifles and cannons. 3 years later, he launched his first campaign against the Ottomans in 1602. His great offensive ended with regaining Baghdad in 1605 and the Ottomans had to give up Kurdistan and Shirvan in 1611. Meanwhile he sent his best General Allahverdi Khan to Bahrain which cleared the Persian Gulf from the Portuguese invasion in a short time. Then he diverted most trade from Hormoz to the newly built Bandar Abbas port flourishing commerce with British, Dutch and French merchants. These victories were gained at the cost of British access into the royal court that later became cause of much of modern time misery of the country.

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KEY TERMS:Allah , Allahverdi , Allahverdi Khan , Armenia , Armenian , Baghdad , Bahrain , Bandar Abbas , British , Dutch , French , Georgia , Herat , Hormoz , Iran , Jeyhoon , Khan , Khorasan , Kizilbash , Kurdistan , Mashhad , Ottoman , Persia , Persian , Persian Gulf , Qazvin , Safavi , Shah , Shah Abbas , Shahseven , Shirley , Shirvan , Tur , Turk , Uzbek

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