Military of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia

Afsharid Military
Nader Shah's battle standard
Active	1736-1747 (national military) 1747-1796 (dynastic military only)
Country	Imperial Persia
Allegiance	Shahanshah (King of Kings)
Branch	Armed forces
Type	Land forces, navy
Size	375,000 at its peak
Garrison/HQ	Mashhad
Patron	Shahanshah of the Persian Empire
Engagements	Nader's Campaigns
Commanders
Notable commanders	Nader Shah, Ebrahim Khan Afshar, Tahmasp Khan Jalayer, Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar, Adil Shah, Nasrollah Qoli Khan Afshar, Fath-Ali Khan Afshar, Heraclius II of Georgia

The military forces of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia had their origins in the relatively obscure yet bloody inter-factional violence in Khorasan during the collapse of the Safavid state. The small band of warriors under local warlord Nader Qoli of the Turkomen Afshar tribe in north-east Iran were no more than a few hundred men. Yet at the height of Nader's power as the king of kings, Shahanshah, he commanded an army of 375,000 fighting men which constituted the single most powerful military force of its time, led by one of the most talented and successful military leaders of history.

After the assassination of Nader Shah at the hands of a faction of his officers in 1747, Nader's powerful army fractured as the Afsharid state collapsed and the country plunged into decades of civil war. Although there were numerous Afsharid pretenders to the throne, (amongst many other), who attempted to regain control of the entire country, Persia remained a fractured political entity in turmoil until the campaigns of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in towards the very end of the eighteenth century reunified the nation.

The infantry arm in the majority of Persian armies both in antiquity (Achaemenid, Arsacid, Sassanid) as well as modern history (Seljukid, Safavid) were considered a secondary force rather than an arm equal in importance to the cavalry. Additionally firearm infantry were never a fully developed corps in the Persian army with the exception of Shah Abbas the great's reforms which did bring forth a modernised matchlock wielding body of soldiers into the Persian army.

The entire infantry corps had a standardised uniform of blue tunics and red trousers with a tall hat referred to as kolāh-e Nāderi, (کلاهِ نادری).

Nader's early campaigns against the Abdali Afghans of western Afghanistan which fielded superior cavalry compelled Nader to seek a tactical solution geared around an infantry solution. The development of this system of having strong firearm infantry to provide a stable pivot around which to position artillery and manoeuvre cavalry allowed Nader to defeat the Abdali horsemen.

The Tofangchi (تفنگچی) were the regular musket armed infantry of the army and had been an increasingly large part of the Persian armies since the time of the Safavids. The Tofangchi also carried a melee weapon such as either a long dagger (Khanjar) or a curved Persian sword (shamshir). Generally the Tofangchi were equipped with lighter muskets than the elite Jazāyerchi.

The Jazāyerchi (جزایرچی) were the elite of Nader's infantry musketeers. The Jazāyer (جزایر), a flintlock musket, used by these infantrymen was of a much heavier calibre than their European counterparts and consequently had a greater range as well as improved accuracy (the average European musket weighed around 5 kilograms and fired a shot only 18 millimetres in diameter, whereas the Jazāyer weighed almost 18 kilograms and fired a shot 24 millimetres in diameter).