This is a small article on little known armies and is included to encourage gamers to research armies, nations and wars that are outside the Euro-centric scope of most wargaming. Some of the sources for this dynasty includes:

David Morgan, Medieval Persia, 1040-1797, Longman Publications, UK, 1988

Abolala Soudavar, The Early Safavids And Their Cultural Interactions With Surrounding States, A well documented article which I located at a website. It focuses on the exchange of knowledge and culture that occurred between warring states either as conquest loot or as part of treaty tribute.

The Safawid dynasty was built around the revisionist religious views of the Shi’ite branch of Islam. The core of the Safawid army was initially Shi’ite believers but as the empire expanded many Sunni believers joined the ranks of the army. The bulk of the Safawid armies consisted of various Turcomen tribes. Many of the Turcoman were fanatic supporters known as the Qizilbash. Qizilbash were identified by their red turbans which contained a special twelve-sided baton protruding from it.

While wars were normally fought for political reasons, Sunni leaders dominated the three main enemies of the Safawids. The Safawids fought the Ottomans to the West, the Uzbeg dominated Khanates to the north and the Mughul Indians to the southeast. Each of these enemies had a specific objective to which their campaign efforts were directed.

The Uzbeks wanted to control the Oxus River valley and Khorasan. The Mughuls campaigns were focused on maintaining their territory around Qanduhar and Afganistan. The Ottomans presented the greatest threat and were capable of attacking the Safawids economically, religious retoric and militarily. They were able to conduct a calculated series of expansions. Initially they wanted to secure all land in eastern Anatolia. Next they desired to control Tabriz and the Azerbayjan area. Finally they needed to conquer Baghdad in order to dominate the Mesopotamia region. Of the three Safawid adversaries the Ottomans were the most successful in obtaining their goals.

Prior to 1600, the Safawid army organization followed the classic feudal form associated with the Timurids and other nomadic conquerors. The shah maintained a small personal guard whose pay or land allocation came from the personal holdings of the shah. The shah would also field a limited number of mercenaries. The bulk of the forces came from allies or vassal lords who were required to field a certain number of warriors based on the size of their holdings. These lords in turn would require a levy to be provided by lessor lords (beys) living in their lands. As a result the size of the army under the control of the Safawid shah would be diminished if attempting to quell an internal revolt or is a campaign against an outside opponent was going badly.

The army troops were dominated by mounted warriors equipped in traditional nomadic horse culture style of bow, lance, sword, and shield . Most of the horsemen were wore no armor. However their were numerous small formations of heavily armored retainers fielded as bodyguards for the various amirs and beys. Most of the foot troops were composed of Persians from the urban areas. These were a minority of the troops and were armed with a spear or bow. Firearms and cannon were few in number. These troops could easily match the similarily armed Uzbeks and Mughuls but were at a disadvantage against the better armed and drilled Ottomans.

The Safawid reorganization of 1600 as conducted by Abbas the Great. In order to match the skilled full time soldiers of the Ottoman armies, the Safawids formed a full time, standing, force. The core of this force comprised of Ghulum, slave soldiers, from the Caucus area. They continued to be organized in the traditional cavalry manner with lance and bow plus being heavily armored. The Qullar (Ghulum) force numbered 10,000 men plus a 3,000 man unit was added to the Shah’s guard force. The regular army also included the Tupchos, artillery, with 500 guns of various calibers and enough men to crew them. The final element of the new regular army included 12,000 musketmen, matchlocks, who were mainly ethnic Persians. As a result in 1600 the Safawid Shah could field an army of 35,000 regular troops, over 50,000 Qizilbash feudal and additional levy troops in case of an invasion. This huge force under the Shah’s direct control enabled him to respond better to an enemy sortie or an internal revolt.

The most successful of the Safawid included the Ismail I, Tamasb I and Abbas I. Ismail was the founder and began his conquests at the age of twelve in 1501. He was undefeated in many of his early campaigns. His first major defeat occurred in 1514. Having lost his undefeated semi-devine status, he spent most of his remaining years consolidating power and quelling revolt within his own territory. Tamasb, like Ismail, came to power in 1524 at a very young age.

He was only thirteen and was able to win a major campaign against the Uzbeks by the time he was fourteen. Again like ismail, he was successful against the Uzbeks and Mughuls but failed to push back the Ottoman frontier. Abbas did not come to power until the end of the century in 15??. He recognized the need to reorganize the army. He needed not only better trained and equipped troops but he also needed them to be more loyal to him rather than another noble. This loyalty was vital in order to provide the shah with enough troops to fight internal revolts and respond as quickly as needed to outside threats. Abbas succeeded in his reorganization efforts and his new force won numerous victories against his enemies including the dreaded Ottomans. Abbas expanded the Persian borders to further than ever before and rightfully earned the title of Abbas the Great. Unfortunately the successors of Abbas were unable to match his ability and the Safawid Empire began a continuous spiral of decline.

The Safawid Dynasty of Persia Powerhouse of Central Asia

Introduction and Bibliography
Selected Chronology of Safawid Persian Battles 1488-1747