Editing History of Iran (section)

===Nader Shah and his successors===
{{Main|Afsharid dynasty|Zand dynasty}}
[[File:NaderShahPainting.png|thumb|[[Nader Shah]]]]
[[File:Afsharid Iran 1741.png|thumb|left|The Afsharid Empire at its greatest extent in 1741–1745 under [[Nader Shah]]]]
Iran's territorial integrity was restored by a native Iranian [[Turkic people|Turkic]] [[Afsharid|Afshar]] warlord from Khorasan, [[Nader Shah]]. He defeated and banished the Afghans, [[Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35)|defeated the Ottomans]], [[Restoration of Tahmasp II to the Safavid throne|reinstalled the Safavids on the throne]], and negotiated Russian withdrawal from Iran's Caucasian territories, with the [[Treaty of Resht]] and [[Treaty of Ganja]]. By 1736, Nader had become so powerful he was able to depose the Safavids and have himself crowned shah. Nader was one of the last great conquerors of Asia and briefly presided over what was probably the most powerful military force in the world.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Axworthy |first1=Michael |author1-link=Michael Axworthy |title=The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant |date=2006 |publisher=I.B.Tauris | page=xv| isbn=978-1850437062}}</ref> To financially support his wars against Iran's arch-rival, the [[Ottoman Empire]], he fixed his sights on the weak but rich [[Mughal Empire]] to the east. In 1739, accompanied by his loyal Caucasian subjects including [[Erekle II]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITnRAAAAMAAJ|title=The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658–1832
| page=142
|isbn=978-0-231-93710-8 |last1=Lang |first1=David Marshall |year=1957 |publisher=Columbia University Press
}}</ref><ref name="The Making of the Georgian Nation">{{Cite book|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riW0kKzat2sC&dq=erekle+appointed+king+of+kakheti+by+nader+shah&pg=PA55|title=The Making of the Georgian Nation, Second Edition|date=1994-10-22|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20915-3|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|55}} he [[Nader Shah's invasion of India|invaded Mughal India]], defeated a numerically superior Mughal army in [[Battle of Karnal|less than three hours]], and [[Sack of Delhi|completely sacked and looted Delhi]], bringing back immense wealth to Iran. On his way back, he also conquered all the Uzbek khanates – except for [[Kokand]] – and made the Uzbeks his vassals. He also firmly re-established Iranian rule over the entire Caucasus, Bahrain, as well as large parts of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Undefeated for years, his defeat in [[Nader's Dagestan campaign|Dagestan]], following guerrilla rebellions by the [[Lezgins]] and the assassination attempt on him near [[Mazandaran province|Mazandaran]] is often considered the turning point in Nader's impressive career. To his frustration, the Dagestanis resorted to guerrilla warfare, and Nader with his conventional army could make little headway against them.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_tSnygvbIC&pg=PA739|title=A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East
| page=739
| series= 6 volumes |date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-672-5|language=en}}</ref> At the [[Battle of Andalal]] and the Battle of Avaria, Nader's army was crushingly defeated and he lost half of his entire force, as well forcing him to flee for the mountains.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cAYhAQAAMAAJ
|year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7734-3194-2
| first = Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich | last= Abdulatipov 
 | title = Russia and the Caucasus: On the Arduous Path to Unity 
| publisher= Edwin Mellen Press
| page=15
 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2023|reason=self-published source}} Though Nader managed to take most of [[Dagestan]] during his campaign, the effective guerrilla warfare as deployed by the Lezgins, but also the [[Avar people (Caucasus)|Avars]] and [[Gazikumukh Khanate|Laks]] made the Iranian re-conquest of the particular [[North Caucasus|North Caucasian]] region this time a short lived one; several years later, Nader [[Nader's Dagestan campaign|was forced to withdraw]]. Around the same time, the assassination attempt was made on him near Mazandaran which accelerated the course of history; he slowly grew ill and megalomaniac, blinding his sons whom he suspected of the assassination attempts, and showing increasing cruelty against his subjects and officers. In his later years this eventually provoked multiple revolts and, ultimately, Nader's assassination in 1747.<ref>Axworthy ''Iran: Empire of the Mind'' (Penguin, 2008) pp. 152–167</ref>

Nader Shah's death was followed by a [[Division of the Afsharid Empire|period of anarchy in Iran as rival army commanders fought for power]]. Nader's own family, the Afsharids, were soon reduced to holding on to a small domain in Khorasan. Many of the Caucasian territories broke away in various [[Khanates of the Caucasus|Caucasian khanates]]. Ottomans regained lost territories in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. [[Oman]] and the Uzbek khanates of [[Bukhara]] and [[Khiva]] regained independence. [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], one of Nader's officers, founded an independent state which eventually became modern Afghanistan. [[Erekle II]] and [[Teimuraz II of Kakheti|Teimuraz II]], who, in 1744, had been made the kings of [[Kingdom of Kakheti|Kakheti]] and [[Kingdom of Kartli|Kartli]] respectively by Nader himself for their loyal service,<ref name="The Making of the Georgian Nation" />{{rp|55}} capitalized on the eruption of instability, and declared ''de facto'' independence. Erekle II assumed control over Kartli after Teimuraz II's death, thus unifying the two as the [[Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti]], becoming the first Georgian ruler in three centuries to preside over a politically unified eastern Georgia,<ref>{{citation
| first = Keith | last = Hitchins
| year = 2012 | orig-date=1998
| url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/erekle-ii
| title= Erekle II
| encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Iranica
| volume=VIII/5
| pages = 541–542
| editor-last= Yarshater | editor-first= Ehsan
|isbn=978-0-7100-9090-4
}}</ref> and due to the frantic turn of events in mainland Iran he would be able to remain ''de facto'' autonomous through the [[Zand dynasty|Zand]] period.{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=328}} From his capital [[Shiraz]], [[Karim Khan Zand|Karim Khan]] of the [[Zand dynasty]] ruled "an island of relative calm and peace in an otherwise bloody and destructive period,"<ref>Axworthy p.168</ref> however the extent of Zand power was confined to contemporary Iran and parts of the Caucasus. Karim Khan's death in 1779 led to yet another civil war in which the [[Qajar dynasty]] eventually triumphed and became kings of Iran. During the civil war, Iran permanently lost [[Basra]] in 1779 to the Ottomans, which had been captured during the [[Ottoman–Persian War (1775–76)]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMkUAAAAIAAJ|title=British Interests in the Persian Gulf|first=ʻAbd al-Amīr Muḥammad|last=Amīn|date=1 January 1967|publisher=Brill Archive|access-date=10 August 2016|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219023233/https://books.google.com/books?id=lMkUAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Bahrain]] to [[Al Khalifa family]] after [[1782–83 unrest in Bahrain|Bani Utbah invasion]] in 1783.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}