Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:47, 13 August 2020

Hotak Empire
1709–1738
Flag
Hotak Empire at its peak (1722–1729)
Capital	Kandahar Isfahan
Common languages	Pashto and Persian (poetry)
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Absolute monarchy
Emir
• 1709–1715	Mirwais Hotak
• 1715–1717	Abdul Aziz Hotak
• 1717–1725	Mahmud Hotak
• 1725–1730	Ashraf Hotak
• 1725–1738	Hussain Hotak
Historical era	Early modern period
• Revolt by Mirwais Hotak	21 April 1709
• Siege of Kandahar	24 March 1738
Preceded by Succeeded by Safavid Iran Mughal Empire Afsharid dynasty

The Hotak dynasty (Template:Lang-ps) was an Afghan monarchy of the Ghilji Pashtuns, established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak after leading a successful revolution against their declining Persian Safavid overlords in the region of Loy Kandahar ("Greater Kandahar") in what is now southern Afghanistan. It lasted until 1738 when the founder of the Afsharid dynasty, Nader Shah Afshar, defeated Hussain Hotak during the long siege of Kandahar, and started the reestablishment of Iranian suzerainty over all regions lost decades before against the Iranian archrival, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire. At its peak, the Hotak dynasty ruled briefly over an area which is now Afghanistan, Iran, western Pakistan, and some parts of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

In 1715, Mirwais died of a natural cause and his brother Abdul Aziz succeeded to the monarchy. He was quickly followed by Mahmud who ruled the empire at its largest extent for a mere three years. Following the 1729 Battle of Damghan, where Ashraf Hotak was roundly defeated by Nader Shah, Ashraf was banished to what is now southern Afghanistan with Hotak rule being confined to it. Hussain Hotak became the last ruler until he was also defeated in 1738.

Rise to power

Loy Kandahar was ruled by the Shi'a Safavids as their far easternmost territory from the 16th century until the early 18th century, while the native Afghan tribes living in the area were Sunni Muslims. Immediately to the east began the Sunni Mughul Empire, who occasionally fought wars with the powerful Safavids over the territory of southern Afghanistan. The area to the north, was controlled by the Khanate of Bukhara at the same time.

By the late 17th century, the Iranian Safavids, like their arch rival the Ottoman Turks, had been starting to heavily decline due to misrule, sectarian strife, and foreign interests. In 1704, the Safavid Shah Husayn appointed his Georgian subject and king of Kartli George XI (Gurgīn Khān), who had converted to Islam like many other Georgians under Ottoman or Persian rule, as the commander-in-chief of the easternmost provinces of the Safavid Empire, in what is now Afghanistan. His first task was to quell the uprisings in the region. Gurgin began imprisoning and executing Afghans, especially those suspected of organizing rebellions, successfully crushing the rebellions. One of those arrested and imprisoned was Mirwais who belonged to an influential Hotak family in the Kandahar region. Mirwais was sent as a prisoner to the Persian court in Isfahan but the charges against him were dismissed by Shah Husayn, so he was sent back to his native land as a free man.

In April 1709, Mirwais, protected by the Ghaznavid Nasher Khans, and along with his followers revolted against the Safavid rule at Kandahar. The uprising began when Gurgīn Khān and his escort were killed during a feast that was organized by Mirwais at his farmhouse outside the city. It is reported that drinking of wine was involved. Next, Mirwais ordered the killings of the remaining Persian military officials in the region. The Afghans then defeated a twice as large Persian army that had been dispatched from Isfahan (capital of the Safavids), one which included Qizilbash and Georgian/Circassian troops.

Several half-hearted attempts to subdue the rebellious city having failed, the Persian Government despatched Khusraw Khán, nephew of the late Gurgín Khán, with an army of 30,000 men to effect its subjugation, but in spite of an initial success, which led the Afgháns to offer to surrender on terms, his uncompromising attitude impelled them to make a fresh desperate effort, resulting in the complete defeat of the Persian army (of whom only some 700 escaped) and the death of their general. Two years later, in A.D. 1713, another Persian army commanded by Rustam Khán was also defeated by the rebels, who thus secured possession of the whole Loy Kandahar region.

— Edward G. Browne, 1924

Refusing the title of king, Mirwais was called "Prince of Qandahár and General of the national troops" by his Afghan countrymen. He died peacefully in November 1715 from natural causes and was succeeded by his brother Abdul Aziz; the latter was murdered later by Mirwais' son Mahmud. In 1720, Mahmud's Afghan forces crossed the deserts of Sistan and captured Kerman. His plan was to conquer the Persian capital, Isfahan. After defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Gulnabad on March 8, 1722, he proceeded to and besieged Isfahan for 6 months, after which it fell. On October 23, 1722, Sultan Husayn abdicated and acknowledged Mahmud as the new Shah of Persia.

The majority of the Persian people, however, rejected the Afghan regime as usurpers from the start. For the next seven years until 1729, the Hotaks were the de facto rulers of most of Persia, and the southern and eastern areas of Afghanistan still remained under their control until 1738.

The Hotak dynasty was a troubled and violent one from the very start as internecine conflict made it difficult to establish permanent control. The dynasty lived under great turmoil due to bloody succession feuds that made their hold on power tenuous, and after the massacre of thousands of civilians in Isfahan – including more than three thousand religious scholars, nobles, and members of the Safavid family – the Hotak dynasty was eventually removed from power in Persia.

On 8 March 1722, at the Battle of Gulnabad, Shah Mahmud defeated a much larger Persian army and laid siege to Isfahan itself. After six months the people of Isfahan were reduced to eating rats and dogs.

— Jonathan L Lee, Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present (2018)

On the other hand, the Afghans had also been suppressed by the Iranian Safavid government represented by its governor Gurgin Khan before their uprising in 1709.

Decline

Ashraf Hotak, who took over the monarchy following Shah Mahmud's death in 1725, and his soldiers were crushingly defeated in the October 1729 Battle of Damghan by Nader Shah Afshar, an Iranian soldier of fortune from the Sunni Afshar tribe, and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty that replaced the Safavids in Persia. Nader Shah had driven out and banished the remaining Ghilji forces from Persia and began enlisting some the Abdali Afghans of Farah and Kandahar in his military. Nader Shah's forces (among them were Ahmad Shah Abdali and his 4,000 Abdali troops) conquered Kandahar in 1738. They besieged and destroyed the last Hotak seat of power, which was held by Hussain Hotak (or Shah Hussain). Nader Shah then built a new town nearby, named after himself, "Naderabad". The Abdalis were also restored to the general area of Kandahar, with the Ghilji's being pushed back to their former stronghold of Kalat-i Ghilji—an arrangement that lasts to the present day.

List of rulers

Part of a series on the
History of Afghanistan
The palace of the emir in 1839
Timeline
Ancient Indus Valley civilisation 2200–1800 BC Oxus civilization 2100–1800 BC Gandhara kingdom 1500–535 BC Median Empire 728–550 BC Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BC Macedonian Empire 330–312 BC Seleucid Empire 312–150 BC Maurya Empire 305–180 BC Greco-Bactrian kingdom 256–125 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Indo-Greek kingdom 180–90 BC Indo-Scythian kingdom 155–80? BC Kushan Empire 135 BC – 248 AD Indo-Parthian kingdom 20 BC – 50? AD Sasanian Empire 230–651 Kidarite kingdom 320–465 Rob Alchon Huns 380–560 Hephthalite Empire 410–557 Nezak Huns 484–711
Medieval Kabul Shahi 565–879 Principality of Chaghaniyan 7th–8th centuries Rashidun Caliphate 652–661 Tang China 660–669 Tibetan Empire 660–842 Umayyads 661–750 Zunbils 680–870 Lawik 750-977 Abbasids 750–821 Tahirids 821–873 Saffarids 863–900 Samanids 875–999 Ghaznavids 963–1187 Ghurids before 879–1215 Seljuks 1037–1194 Khwarezmids 1215–1231 Mongol Invasion 1219–1226 Chagatai Khanate 1226–1245 Qarlughids 1224–1266 Ilkhanate 1256–1335 Kartids 1245–1381 Timurids 1370–1507 Arghuns 1520–1591
Modern Mughals 1501–1738 Safavids 1510–1709 Kunduz Khanate  ?–1859 Hotak dynasty 1709–1738 Sadozai Sultanate 1716–1732 Afsharid Iran 1738–1747 Durrani Empire 1747–1823 Maimana Khanate 1747–1892 Herat 1793–1863 Principality of Qandahar 1818–1855 Emirate 1823–1926 Saqqawist Emirate 1929 Kingdom 1926–1973 Daoud coup 1973 Republic 1973–1978 Saur Revolution 1978 Democratic Republic 1978–1992 Tanai coup attempt 1990 Islamic State 1992–1996 Islamic Emirate 1996–2001 US invasion 2001 Islamic State (reinstated) 2001 Interim/Transitional Administration 2001–2004 Islamic Republic (politics) 2004–2021 Islamic Emirate (reinstated) since 2021
Related historical regions Arachosia Aria Ariana Bactria Gandhara Iran Kabulistan Kafiristan Khorasan Kushanshahr Paropamisadae Sistan Zabulistan
Related topics Political history Political violence Culture Economic history Name Afghan (ethnonym) List of years List of heads of state Wars List of wars Hinduism history Hindu and Buddhist heritage Jewish history Muslim conquests
Category Afghanistan portal
v t e

Name	Picture	Reign started	Reign ended
Mirwais Hotak Woles Mashar		1709	1715
Abdul Aziz Hotak Emir		1715	1717
Mahmud Hotak Shah		1717	1725
Ashraf Hotak Shah		1725	1729
Hussain Hotak Emir		1729	1738

See also

• Durrani dynasty
• Safavid dynasty
• Delhi Sultanate

Notes

1. Shah Hussain Hotak wrote poetry in Pashto and Persian.

References

1. ^ Bausani 1971, p. 63.
2. ^ Malleson, George Bruce (1878). History of Afghanistan, from the Earliest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878. London: Elibron.com. p. 227. ISBN 1402172788. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
3. Ewans, Martin; Sir Martin Ewans (2002). Afghanistan: a short history of its people and politics. New York: Perennial. p. 30. ISBN 0060505087. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
4. "AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES (A.D. 1722-1922)". Edward Granville Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 33. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
5. Romano, Amy (2003). A Historical Atlas of Afghanistan. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 28. ISBN 9780823938636. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
6. Nadir Shah and the Afsharid Legacy, The Cambridge history of Iran: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic, Ed. Peter Avery, William Bayne Fisher, Gavin Hambly and Charles Melville, (Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 11.
7. ^ Otfinoski, Steven Bruce (2004). Afghanistan. Infobase Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 9780816050567. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
8. Runion, Meredith L. The History of Afghanistan. p. 63.
9. ^ "AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES (A.D. 1722-1922)". Edward Granville Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 29. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
10. ^ "Last Afghan empire". Louis Dupree, Nancy Hatch Dupree and others. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
11. "Account of British Trade across the Caspian Sea". Jonas Hanway. Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
12. Axworthy pp.39-55
13. "AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA DURING THE LAST TWO CENTURIES (A.D. 1722-1922)". Edward Granville Browne. London: Packard Humanities Institute. p. 31. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
14. Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present, page 78
15. "AFGHANISTAN x. Political History". D. Balland. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-09-24.

Sources

• Bausani, Alessandro (1971). "Pashto Language and Literature". Mahfil. Vol. 7, No. 1/2 (Spring - Summer). Asian Studies Center: 55–69. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica Online - Last Afghan empire

v t e Monarchs of Afghanistan
Hotak Empire	Mirwais Hotak Abdul Aziz Hotak Mahmud Hotak Ashraf Hotak Hussain Hotak
Durrani Empire	Ahmad Shah Durrani Timur Shah Durrani Zaman Shah Durrani Mahmud Shah Durrani Shah Shujah Durrani Ali Shah Durrani Ayub Shah Durrani
Barakzai Emirate	Sultan Mohammad Khan Dost Mohammad Khan Akbar Khan Sher Ali Khan Mohammad Afzal Khan Mohammad Azam Khan Mohammad Yaqub Khan Ayub Khan Abdur Rahman Khan Habibullah Khan Jehandad Khan Nasrullah Khan
Barakzai Kingdom	Amanullah Khan Abd-al Karim Inayatullah Khan
Saqqawist Emirate (unrecognized)	Habibullāh Kalakāni
Barakzai Kingdom (restored)	Mohammad Nadir Shah Mohammad Zahir Shah Salemai
‡ Localized rebel monarchs

• Dynasties of Afghanistan
• History of Pakistan
• Former monarchies of South Asia
• Former monarchies of Central Asia
• Pashtun dynasties
• Sunni dynasties
• 1720s in Iran
• Early Modern history of Iran
• States and territories established in 1709
• States and territories established in 1738
• 1709 establishments in Asia
• 1730s disestablishments in Asia
• Former countries in the Middle East
• Former countries in South Asia
• Former countries in Central Asia
• 18th century in Afghanistan
• 18th century in Iran