7/22/2019 Mahmud Hotaki

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mahmud-hotaki 1/4

Mahmud Hotaki 1

Mahmud Hotaki

Shah Mahmud Hotaki

Emir of Afghanistan/Shah of Iran

Sketch work of Mir Mahmud Shah

Reign Hotaki Empire: 1717 €

1725

Coronation 1717 and 1722

Full name Mir Mahmud Shah Hotak 

Titles Shah, Padshah, Mir, Sultan

Born 1697

Died April 22, 1725

Place of death Isfahan

Predecessor Abdul Aziz Hotak 

Successor Ashraf Hotaki

Dynasty Hotaki dynasty

Father Mirwais Khan Hotak 

Religious beliefs Sunni Islam

Shah Mahmud Hotaki, (Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Arabic: €•‚ƒ„ …ƒ†‡ ˆ ‰Š‹ ), also known as Mahmud Ghilzai

(1697?  • April 22, 1725), was an Afghan ruler of the Hotaki dynasty who defeated and overthrew the Safavid

dynasty to become the king of Persia from 1722 until his death in 1725.[1]

He was the eldest son of Mirwais Hotak, the chief of the Ghilzai-Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan, who had made the

Kandahar region independent from Persian rule in 1709.[2]

When Mirwais died in 1715, he was succeeded by his

brother, Abdul Aziz, but the Ghilzai Afghans persuaded Mahmud to seize power for himself and in 1717 he

overthrew and killed his uncle.[3]

7/22/2019 Mahmud Hotaki

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mahmud-hotaki 2/4

Mahmud Hotaki 2

Mahmud takes the throne of Persia

The Abdali Pashtuns inhabited the region of 

Khorasan while the Ghilzais controlled the

Kandahar region (Candahar ) to the southeast.

In 1720, Mahmud and the Ghilzais defeated the rival ethnic Afghan

tribe of the Abdalis. However, Mahmud had designs on the Persian

empire itself. He had already launched an expedition against Kerman

in 1719 and in 1721 he besieged the city again. Failing in this attempt

and in another siege on Yazd, in early 1722, Mahmud turned his

attention to the shah's capital Isfahan, after first defeating the Persians

at the Battle of Gulnabad. Rather than biding his time within the city

and resisting a siege in which the small Afghan army was unlikely to

succeed, Sultan Husayn marched out to meet Mahmud's force at

Golnabad. Here, on March 8, the Persian royal army was thoroughly

routed and fled back to Isfahan in disarray. The shah was urged to

escape to the provinces to raise more troops but he decided to remain

in the capital which was now encircled by the Afghans. Mahmud's siege of Isfahan lasted from March to October,

1722. Lacking artillery, he was forced to resort to a long blockade in the hope of starving the Persians into

submission. Sultan Husayn's command during the siege displayed his customary lack of decisiveness and the loyalty

of his provincial governors wavered in the face of such incompetence. Starvation and disease finally forced Isfahan

into submission (it is estimated that 80,000 of its inhabitants died during the siege). On October 23, Sultan Husayn

abdicated and acknowledged Mahmud as the new shah of Persia.[4]

Mahmud's reign as shah

In the early days of his rule, Mahmud displayed benevolence, treating the captured royal family well and bringing in

food supplies to the starving capital. But he was confronted with a rival claimant to the throne when Hosein's son,

Tahmasp declared himself shah in November. Mahmud sent an army against Tahmasp's base, Qazvin. Tahmasp

escaped and the Afghans took the city but, shocked at the treatment they received at the hands of the conquering

army, the population rose up against them in January 1723. The revolt was a success and Mahmud was worried

about the reaction when the surviving Afghans returned to Isfahan to bring news of the defeat. Fearing a revolt by his

subjects, Mahmud invited his Persian ministers and nobles to a meeting under false pretences and had them

slaughtered. He also executed up to 3,000 of the Persian royal guards. At the same time, the Ottomans and the

Russians took advantage of the chaos in Persia to seize land for themselves, limiting the amount of territory under

Mahmud's control.[5]

His failure to impose his rule across Persia made Mahmud depressed and suspicious. He was also concerned about

the loyalty of his own men, since many Afghans preferred his cousin Ashraf Khan. In February 1725, believing a

rumour that one of Sultan Husayn's sons, Safi Mirza, had escaped, Mahmud ordered the execution of all the otherSafavid princes who were in his hands, with the exception of Sultan Husayn himself. When Sultan Husayn tried to

stop the massacre, he was wounded, but his action led to Mahmud sparing the lives of two of his young children.[6]

7/22/2019 Mahmud Hotaki

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mahmud-hotaki 3/4

Mahmud Hotaki 3

Death

Mahmud began to succumb to insanity as well as physical deterioration. On April 22, 1725, a group of Afghan

officers freed Ashraf Khan from the prison where he had been confined by Mahmud and launched a palace

revolution which placed Ashraf on the throne. Mahmud died three days later, either from his illness  € at it was

claimed at the time € or murder by suffocation.

...Thereafter his disorder rapidly increased, until he himself was murdered on April 22 by his cousin Ashraf,

who was thereupon proclaimed king. M€r Ma•m‚d was at the time of his death only twenty-seven years of 

age, and is described as "middle-sized and clumsy; his neck was so short that his head seemed to grow to his

shoulders; he had a broad face and flat nose, and his beard was thin and of a red colour; his looks were wild

and his countenance austere and disagreeable; his eyes, which were blue and a little squinting, were generally

downcast, like a man absorbed in deep thought."[7]

 •Edward G. Browne, 1924

References

[1] "AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES (A.D. 1722 € 

1922)" (http:/  

 /  

persian. 

packhum.org/  persian/  pf?file=90001014&  ct=29). Edward Granville Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 29. . Retrieved 2010-09-24.

[2] Dupree, Mir Wais Hotak (1709 € 1715) (http:/   /  www. afghanan.  net/  afghanistan/  mirwais. htm)

[3][3] Axworthy p.38

[4] Axworthy pp.39 € 55

[5] Axworthy pp.64 € 65

[6] Axworthy pp.65 € 67

[7] "AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES (A.D. 1722 € 1922)" (http:/   /  persian. packhum.

org/  persian/  pf?file=90001014&  ct=31). Edward Granville Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 31. . Retrieved 2010-09-24.

Sources

„ Michael Axworthy, The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant Hardcover 348pages (26 July 2006) Publisher: I.B. Tauris (http:/   /  www. ibtauris.com/  ibtauris/  display.

asp?K=510000000117668& cid=ibtauris& sf_01=CAUTHOR& st_01=Michael+ Axworthy& sf_02=CTITLE&

sf_03=KEYWORD& sf_04=VX_ISBN;=& m=1& dc=1) Language: English ISBN 1-85043-706-8

External links

„ An outline of the History of Persia during the last two centuries (1722 € 1922), The Afghan Invasion (1722 € 1730)

(http:/   /  persian. packhum. org/  persian/  pf?file=90001014& ct=29)

„ Encyclop…dia Britannica Online € Last Afghan empire (http:/   /  www. britannica. com/  EBchecked/  topic/  7798/ 

Afghanistan/  21392/  Last-Afghan-empire)

7/22/2019 Mahmud Hotaki

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mahmud-hotaki 4/4

Article Sources and Contributors 4

Article Sources and ContributorsMahmud Hotaki  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=505454063 Contributors: 07fan, Alansohn, AlimNaz, ArianaBKandyHar, Babakexorramdin, Balmung0731, Baronnet,

BlackZeroes, Carlossuarez46, Charliecow7, Closedmouth, DrKiernan, Folantin, Fram, Kigali1, KureCewlik81, Languagehat, Magioladitis, Mirrori1, Nick, Nick Number, NisarKand,

NorthernPashtun, PanjshirPashtun, RavinBill, SchreiberBike, Shubna, Spock44, Takabeg, Thismightbezach, Varlaam, Woohookitty, Zakksez, 22 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:SHAH-MAHMUD-HOTAK.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:SHAH-MAHMUD-HOTAK.jpg  License: unknown Contributors: Maulvi Abdurab Ahadi

File:Map of Afghanistan during the Safavid and Moghul Empire.jpg  Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Map_of_Afghanistan_during_the_Safavid_and_Moghul_Empire.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: Bowen, Emanuel, d. 1767.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/