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around encouraging his men to further efforts and partook in the fighting personally, managing to skewer an
Ottoman cavalryman with a lance but was himself thrown from his horse in the violent scuffle. Rumours spread through the Persian ranks of Nader's demise, dealing a death blow to the morale of an already exhausted army. As organized resistance began to fade after an unrelenting 9 hour engagement the Persians withdrew south and could not be rallied despite the best efforts of their leaders. Nader had for the first and last time in his monumental career of conquest been defeated. The two great leaders had battled their men with unbelievable ferocity, but Topal Pasha had managed, if only just, to carry the day by winning a costly yet still glorious and decisive victory.
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greater in number than initially thought and had deployed artillery. Nader decided on bringing forth a bulk of his army consisting of some 50,000 men and break the
Ottomans using a frontal assault. After an intense collision of troops the Ottoman centre was pushed all the way back to the edge of their tents and encampments with some of their guns falling into Persian hands. At this juncture the flight of 2,000 Kurds in the Ottoman army put Topal Osman's men in a near-impossible situation but he restored the situation by providing an extra 20,000 soldiers from his reserve which succeeded in pushing the Persian back and even recapturing the guns lost earlier.
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battle raged on well into the blistering heat of the
Mesopotamian afternoon with no immediate source to provide much needed succour. The strength of Topal Pasha's positioning also showed another great advantage as at this point the wind started to blow south kicking up dust and sand into the faces of the Persians which was now coupled by a further misfortune - a betrayal by an Arab tribal contingent in Nader's army - all culminating in a critical state of affairs which could prove too much, even for the battle-hardened troops of Nader.
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battle. The victory, however heavy the price accompanying it might have been, brought an end to the siege of
Baghdad as Ahmad Pasha and his men - their morale being buoyed by news of Topal Pasha's illustrious triumph to the north - burst out of the city gates to cut down as many of the besiegers as they could and putting the rest to flight. On July 24, 1733 Topal Osman Pasha marched his men into Baghdad in triumph.
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The
Persian artillery proved unequal to the task of puncturing the city's stalwart fortifications as it mostly consisted of field artillery- Nader's army at this point lacked any significant siege guns. The only hope for the city's capture was a prolonged starvation of its inhabitants which was going
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Nader had also started to divert much of the water streaming into
Baghdad in the hope of applying further pressure to the inhabitants, who would in turn conceivably pressure Ahmad Pasha to hand over control of the city and put an end to their privations. This however failed to materialise although an
1053:
Topal eventually rose to the rank of grand vizier of the
Ottoman Empire, though he held this title for only six months before being dismissed due to political wrangling in the capital. By the time he was appointed 'saraskar' of the Ottoman army sent to face Nader he was the seventy-year-old governor
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under
Istanbul's control. The armed contest between the two colossi was very hard fought with a total of roughly 50,000 men becoming casualties by the end of the fighting that left the Persians decimated and the Ottoman victors badly shaken. Other than its importance in deciding the fate of Baghdad,
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Nader had besieged
Baghdad with a mighty force of 100,000 fighting men. Constructing towers and trenches all around the city they had placed Baghdad in an iron ring forcing Ahmad Pasha to consider surrender. As negotiations began, Ahmad Pasha was brought news that the greatest general of the empire
54:
Topal Pasha brings forth his reserve line of 20,000 men and restores the situation by driving the
Persians back. A brutally intense fight develops with the momentum of the battle swinging like a pendulum in both directions until the Persian army's morale collapses leaving the Ottomans as the clear
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lost almost half their entire force including all of their artillery pieces many of which fell into Ottoman hands: 30,000 killed & wounded with a further 3,500 captured (500 of them being executed in cold blood). The Ottomans however were also badly mauled losing a quarter of their men in the
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The battle continued with both armies continually gaining and losing ground from one another till noon. Due to the wise positioning of the Ottoman army in this campaign by Topal Pasha his men had access to water from the Tigris river behind them while the Persians grew increasingly thirsty as the
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Not even the commitment of a 12,000 strong reserve of Abdali cavalry could break the janissaries, merely adding to the mayhem as they were also swept up in the vortex of bloody carnage that had now become the battle of Samarra. As the army began to disintegrate under so much pressure, Nader rode
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Topal proved his worth almost immediately. To provoke a bellicose attack by Nader he weakened his advance and rear guards visibly but during the night reinforced them significantly. Nader sent a large body of his cavalry to assault the Ottoman left but this was beaten back as the Ottomans were
1007:
Topal Osman would prove a radically different opponent than any other Nader had faced, yet Nader by now had been victorious so many times that he had perhaps come to believe himself invincible. Leaving 12,000 men behind to enforce the siege he marched north towards
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and former Vizier Topal Osman Pasha had been appointed commander-in-chief of an army of 80,000 men mostly high quality janissaries and sipahi from Istanbul along with 80 guns was marching from the north to relieve Baghdad.
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to be an incredibly exacting quest as Baghdad was a huge city with a governor fully aware that the loss of his Eyalat would mean the permanent loss of power as he would almost certainly not be compensated with another.
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Topal Osman hailed from Anatolia originally although he was born and raised in the Peloponesse peninsula of Morea. He entered the service of the sultan as a youth and by the age of 24 had risen to the rank of
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of the Trebizond & Tiflis Eyalats. He would be remembered as Nader's most formidable opponent, his equal in both cunning and experience, Topal Osman was to show Nader no man is invincible.
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Nader, frustrated by this failure, forms up the core of his army and unleashes an overpowering onslaught on the main Ottoman line pushing the Turks back to very near their encampments
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Nader fails to gain an advantage on the Ottoman left due to Topal Pasha's hidden reinforcements which arrived secretly the night before
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estimated sixty thousand civilians and non military persons lost their lives due to the ruthless implementation of the blockade.
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the battle is also significant as Nader's only battlefield defeat although he would avenge this defeat at the hands of
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where he particularly distinguished himself, so much so that he was rewarded with the title of Pasha.
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The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from tribal warrior to conquering tyrant
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The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from tribal warrior to conquering tyrant
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The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from tribal warrior to conquering tyrant
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The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from tribal warrior to conquering tyrant
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The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from tribal warrior to conquering tyrant
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Axworthy, Michael, "Iran: Empire of the Mind", Penguin Books, 2007. p156
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decisively beaten, as well as playing a major role in
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was the key engagement between the two great generals
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is lifted and Ottoman Iraq remains under Turkish rule
243:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
1012:taking with him 70,000 men and dozens of guns.
999:Siege of Baghdad and the arrival of Topal Pasha
21:
1233:History of Iran's wars: from the Medes to now
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8:
1108:Military of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia
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848:
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424:
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294:
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18:
274:Learn how and when to remove this message
16:Part of the Ottoman-Persian war (1730-35)
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7:
1269:Battles involving the Ottoman Empire
1289:Battles of the OttomanâPersian Wars
14:
1217:Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008).
1161:Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein(2008).
749:Rebellion of Sheikh Ahmad Madani
220:
131:
119:
35:
1249:OttomanâPersian War (1730â1735)
1219:The Great Batlles of Nader Shah
1163:The Great Batlles of Nader Shah
332:Western Persia campaign of 1730
319:OttomanâPersian War (1730â1735)
1274:Battles involving Safavid Iran
29:OttomanâPersian War of 1730â35
1:
1113:OttomanâPersian War (1730â35)
921:Occupation of Basra 1697â1701
361:Nader's Mesopotamian Campaign
824:Garmsirat Revolts of 1746-47
1279:Military history of Samarra
1305:
1259:1733 in the Ottoman Empire
829:Zafaranlu Uprising of 1747
819:Muscat Uprising of 1746-47
743:Rebellions & Civil War
349:Tahmasp's Ottoman campaign
1224:Axworthy, Michael(2009).
1200:Axworthy, Michael(2009).
1187:Axworthy, Michael(2009).
1174:Axworthy, Michael(2009).
881:
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34:
26:
1118:Caucasus Campaign (1735)
995:where Topal was killed.
229:This article includes a
1284:Campaigns of Nader Shah
1016:Difficulties at Baghdad
927:Campaigns of Nader Shah
814:Sistan Uprising of 1746
684:Battle of Chenab (1739)
449:Campaigns of Nader Shah
258:more precise citations.
172:few score cannon &
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982:being lifted, keeping
799:Fars Rebellion of 1744
789:Khoy Revolt of 1743-46
692:Central Asian Campaign
144:Commanders and leaders
1235:, Etela'at Publishing
1231:Ghafouri, Ali(2008).
1204:,p. 183. I. B. Tauris
1191:,p. 183. I. B. Tauris
1178:,p. 180. I. B. Tauris
1165:,p. 56. Donyaye Ketab
1152:,p. 180. I. B. Tauris
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993:Battle of Agh-Darband
809:Kerman Revolt of 1746
764:Kartli Revolt of 1736
754:Bakhtiyari Rebellions
713:Persian Gulf Campaign
609:Mesopotamian Campaign
580:West Persian Campaign
204:all the cannon &
193:Casualties and losses
55:yet bloodied victors.
1040:Pruth River Campaign
944:Subsequent conflicts
885:OttomanâSafavid Wars
873:OttomanâPersian Wars
804:Qajar revolt of 1744
774:Balkh Revolt of 1741
461:Fall of the Safavids
1048:the war with Venice
978:, which led to the
784:Revolt of Sam Mirza
539:Safavid restoration
527:2nd Afghan Campaign
510:1st Afghan Campaign
1078:
720:Second Ottoman War
597:Tahmasp's Campaign
474:Battle of Gulnabad
231:list of references
1254:Conflicts in 1733
1146:Axworthy, Michael
1058:Battle of Samarra
976:Topal Osman Pasha
968:Battle of Samarra
963:
962:
837:
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769:Derajat Rebellion
759:Rebellion of 1733
706:Battle of Andalal
699:Dagestan Campaign
631:Caucasus Campaign
573:First Ottoman War
486:Khorasan Campaign
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383:Caucasus Campaign
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155:Topal Osman Pasha
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980:siege of Baghdad
955:War of 1821â1823
950:War of 1775â1776
938:War of 1743â1746
933:War of 1730â1735
916:War of 1623â1639
911:War of 1616â1618
906:War of 1603â1612
901:War of 1578â1590
896:War of 1532â1555
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679:Sindh Expedition
669:Battle of Karnal
614:Siege of Baghdad
504:Afghan Campaigns
479:Siege of Isfahan
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1074:artillerymen
1071:Ottoman Army
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1042:, which saw
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984:Ottoman Iraq
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250:Please help
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202:500 executed
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113:Belligerents
51:
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27:Part of the
1029:Topal Osman
989:Topal Pasha
779:Kish mutiny
664:Khyber Pass
464: [
256:introducing
95:Territorial
1243:Categories
1124:References
972:Nader Shah
551:Khwar pass
520:Herat 1729
264:March 2024
1089:Aftermath
1036:Beylerbey
891:Chaldiran
648:YeghevÄrd
403:YeghevÄrd
206:zamburaks
186:60 cannon
174:zamburaks
1148:(2009).
1102:See also
1095:Persians
585:Nahavand
532:Qandahar
498:Sabzevar
393:Shamakhi
337:Nahavand
161:Strength
72:Location
1212:Sources
1010:Samarra
991:at the
619:Samarra
602:Yerevan
590:Malayer
566:Zarghan
561:Isfahan
546:Damghan
398:Tbilisi
371:Samarra
366:Baghdad
354:Yerevan
342:Malayer
252:improve
97:changes
90:victory
88:Ottoman
624:Kirkuk
493:Sangan
376:Kirkuk
210:20,000
198:30,000
181:80,000
167:70,000
84:Result
636:Ganja
468:]
388:Ganja
237:, or
150:Nader
1093:The
974:and
966:The
100:The
64:Date
1245::
466:fa
241:,
233:,
1076:.
863:e
856:t
849:v
439:e
432:t
425:v
309:e
302:t
295:v
277:)
271:(
266:)
262:(
248:.
52:3
47:2
42:1
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