Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–90)

Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590
Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars
Date 1578–1590 Location Mesopotamia (Iraq), Caucasus (North and South Caucasus) Result Decisive Ottoman victory, Treaty of Istanbul (1590)
Belligerents
Safavid Empire Kingdom of Kartli	Ottoman Empire Crimean Khanate
Commanders and leaders
Mohammed Khodabanda Shah Abbas I Imam-Quli Khan Undiladze Mirza Salman Jabiri (assassinated in the later stages of the war) Hamza Mirza (assassinated in the later stages of the war)	Sultan Murad III Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha Sinan Pasha Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha Adil Giray Khan †

Safavid Empire

 Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) was one of the many wars between the neighboring arch rivals of Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

Starting with several years prior to the war and up to including most of the war itself, the Safavids were experiencing significant domestic issues and rivalling noble factions within the court since the death of Shah Tahmasp I. The Ottomans, who would receive large amounts of forces and coordinations from the vassal Crimean Khanate during several stages of the war, decided to declare war in 1577-1578, utilizing the chaos. The war, despite swift Ottoman victories in the first few years, eventually turned being geo-politically and military relatively stale for several years with both parties losing and winning smaller battles till around 1580. It eventually had a turning point following the Battle of Torches on May 7–11, 1583 and the assassination of the Safavid generals Mirza Salman Jabiri and Hamza Mirza. Following these turns of events and internal chaos in the Safavid state, the Ottomans headed towards the eventual victory in 1590.

At the Sublime Porte, Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was constantly urging for another war, but was overridden by the Sultan. The sultan however, pushed by the pro-war activists, decided to start the attack. Following Shah Tahmasp I's death, the central government in Qazvin had not been stable yet. The sultan saw it as a unique opportunity to conquer once again the territories that had been conquered by Suleiman the Magnificent over Safavid Iran decades earlier, but was not able to hold them for long. The sentiment for war was once again fueled by the fact that the Uzbeks had made an appeal to the Ottomans to make a combined attack from two fronts, as well as the Ottoman clergy that pushed the sultan to step us as the rightful defender of the Sunni's in the Safavid Empire. The latter pleaded that the sultan should seize the opportunity of Safavid weakness in order to bring a complete end to Shiism in Persia and its territories. When the Uzbeks started to attack the Safavids their far eastern territories comprising Khorasan, the Ottomans started the attack, effectively starting the war.

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