Qualla: Siege of Isfahan https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Siege of Isfahan https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan Siege of Isfahan: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ The man who brought down the Safavid Empire started as a prisoner in its capital. Mir Wais Hotak, a Pashtun tribal leader from Kandahar, was sent to Isfahan in chains by the Georgian governor Gurgin Khan, who considered him a nuisance. But Hotak used his captivity to study the court, win the confidence of Shah Sultan Hussayn, and secure his own release. He returned to Kandahar, turned the Shah against Gurgin Khan, then returned to Kandahar and had him assassinated. The rebellion that followed would send his son Mahmud marching toward Isfahan with 18,000 soldiers in 1722, beginning an eight-month siege that ended one of Persia's most storied dynasties.

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Isfahan: An Empire Hollowed from Within https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ The Safavid dynasty had ruled Persia since 1501, building Isfahan into one of the world's great cities. By the early 18th century, however, the empire was rotting from the top. Successive shahs showed little interest in governing. Royal intrigues consumed the court. The Qizilbash...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-an-empire-hollowed-from-within.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Isfahan: Eighteen Thousand Against Forty Thousand https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ On March 8, 1722, the Afghan and Persian armies met at the Battle of Gulnabad, just outside Isfahan. Mahmud Hotak commanded roughly 18,000 troops. The Safavid army fielded around 40,000. Numbers should have decided the contest, but the Safavid forces were poorly led and badly coo...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-eighteen-thousand-against-forty-thousand.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Isfahan: Eight Months of Hunger https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ Inside the walls, Isfahan starved. The city that Shah Abbas I had rebuilt as the jewel of the Persian world, with its grand squares, its mosques clad in blue tile, its gardens fed by the Zayandeh River, became a trap. The population that had thrived under Safavid patronage now wa...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-eight-months-of-hunger.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Isfahan: A Continent Redrawn https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ The fall of Isfahan sent shockwaves far beyond Persia. Russia and the Ottoman Empire, sensing opportunity in Safavid weakness, moved to seize Persian territory. In 1724, the two powers signed the Treaty of Constantinople, dividing northern Iran between them. Russia's Peter the Gr...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-a-continent-redrawn.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Isfahan: The Restoration That Changed Everything https://qualla.com/siege-of-isfahan/ The Safavid story did not end entirely in 1722. Shah Sultan Hussayn's son, Tahmasp II, the prince who had escaped the siege, eventually found his general: Tahmasp Qoli Khan, a military commander of extraordinary ability who would later take the name Nader Shah. In 1729, their com...

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]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/j/u/9/siege-of-isfahan-wp/tju9-siege-of-isfahan-the-restoration-that-changed-everything.mp3 0:06 6 full