Battle of Malayer
| Western Persia campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35) and Naderian Wars | |||||||||
 Western Persia, Kermanshah Province |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Safavid Empire
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 Ottoman Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Nader | Osman Pasha Suleiman Pasha |
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| Strength | |||||||||
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30,000
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45,000+
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| unknown |
heavy
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30,000
45,000+
heavy
Nader's campaign of 1730 was his first against perhaps his most formidable of adversaries, namely the Ottomans, where he proved triumphant in conquest. The great successes of his expedition, however, were rendered null when Shah Tahmasp II decided to take personal command of the theatre in Nader's absence, forcing a furious Nader to return and rectify the situation after forcing Tahmasp's abdication in favour of his infant son Abbas III.
The Ottomans had entered the western regions of the country in the early 1720s when the Hotaki invasion of Mahmud I was launched against the Safavid state. In a decisive engagement near Gulnabad, Mahmud Hotaki managed a surprising victory against a far greater (though severely divided) Persian army. The route of the imperial army allowed him to march on the capital Isfahan which he captured after a 6-month siege that caused unheard misery and loss of life in the city. During the chaos of the Safavid overthrow, the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire seized on this opportunity to annex as much land as they could with Ottoman Turkey taking western Persia and dividing the Caucasus up with the Russians.
Soon the Hotaki conquerors installed a new leader as king through a coup de'tat in which Mahmud I was replaced with a capable cousin of his; Ashraf. Ashraf marched west to put a halt to any further expansion by the Ottomans and to the surprise of many defeated them. The diplomatic outcome however was very much reconciliatory as the Ottomans promised recognition of Ashraf as the legitimate Shah of Persia in exchange for Ashraf's acknowledgement of Ottoman rule in their new territories in the Caucasus and western Persia.
As Nader and Ashraf came head-to-head in a conflict that would decide the fate of the country, the Ottomans wisely supported Ashraf against the Safavid loyalists as a resurgent Persia under an ambitious and talented general who would be flushed with the success of conquest would not bode well for the Ottomans hold on their newly acquired provinces. Despite support from the Turks, Nader still managed to completely destroy Ashraf's forces in numerous engagements which led to re-establishing the Safavid state under the nominal rule of Tahmasp II. Istanbul's fears had been realised as Nader would certainly turn to liberating the lost territories of the empire. The Ottomans however had been present in the west of the country for close to a decade and would prove a very formidable challenge to any efforts at their expulsion from what now formed the eastern boundaries of their empire.
On March 9, 1730, the Persian army exited Shiraz and in a leisurely manner celebrated the new year (Nowruz), after which Nader commenced a rapid forced march westward in the hope of catching the Ottomans off balance. Reaching Ottoman-occupied town of Nahavand via Luristan, Nader put the Turks here to flight towards Hamadan, where, recovering from their initial shock and panic, they regrouped and presented themselves in the valley of Malayer to give battle in the hope of ending the Persian advance on Hamadan.
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Wikipedia