Battle of Murche-Khort
| Safavid Ghilzai War | |||||||||
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| Part of the Nader's Campaigns | |||||||||
 Painting of the battle illustrating the initial phases, with Nader leading his armies on horseback. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Safavid Loyalists
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Supported by:  Ottoman Empire(Guns & Artillerymen) |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Nader | Ashraf Hotaki | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 20,000-30,000 |
60,000
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| minimal | 7-8,000 killed in the opening stages | ||||||||
Supported by:
60,000
The Battle of Murche-Khort was the last decisive engagement of Nader's campaign to restore Tahmasp II to the Persian throne. Ashraf had failed to arrest Nader's advance onto Isfahan at Khwar pass where his ambush was discovered, surrounded and ambushed itself. The battle was fought in an uncharacteristic manner by the Afghans who to some extent sought to replicate their foes tactical systems which had so badly devastated their armies up to this point. Victory opened a clear road south towards Isfahan and the return of Safavid rule for a few brief years before Nader himself would overthrow it.
Ashraf's arrival in Isfahan heralded a massacre of over 3,000 Persian & clergymen carried out in the cold (and correct) calculation that his catastrophic defeat at Mihmandoost would encourage an uprising in Isfahan as soon as he were to ride out of the city with his army to meet Nader's forces which were bearing down on Isfahan.
Removing any potential leaders of revolt in Isfahan ensured that he would not be caught between the Persian army in the north and a resurgent Isfahan in the south. This purge was carried out with particular brutality, looting and destroying much of the Bazaar in a fire, though the extremity of the measure would count as another of the atrocities perpetrated by the Afghans during their brief and bloody rule in Persia with a damning verdict from historians ever since helping to create the image in the eyes of posterity of Afghan rule in Iran as a mere case of savage barbarians ransacking a civilization.
After Nader's crushing victories against the Ghilzai Afghans in northern Persia he wrote letters to the Ottomans requesting the immediate withdrawal from historic Safavid lands which they had acquired from Ashraf by the treaty of Hamadan. Realizing the threat of a resurgent Persia on their eastern border the Ottomans responded to Ashraf's requests for help, sending him both guns and artillerymen. On October 31, 1729, having augmented his army's fire power substantially with Ottoman aid Ashraf marched out of an Isfahan even more destitute than at the time of Mahmud's siege.
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Wikipedia