Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39)
| Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639 | |||||||||
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| Part of the Ottoman–Persian Wars | |||||||||
 Map of the Safavid state. The area of Mesopotamia, permanently lost to the Ottomans in 1639 is shaded. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Safavid Empire
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 Ottoman Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Shah Abbas I (up to 1629) Shah Safi (from 1629) Giorgi Saakadze
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Sultan Murad IV Hafız Ahmed Pasha Gazi Hüsrev Pasha
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The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639 was the last of a series of conflicts fought between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia, then the two major powers of the Near East, over control of Mesopotamia. After initial Persian success in recapturing Baghdad and most of modern Iraq, having lost it for several years, the war became a stalemate as the Persians were unable to press further into the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans themselves were distracted by wars in Europe and weakened by internal turmoil. Eventually, the Ottomans were able to recover Baghdad, and the signing of the Treaty of Zuhab ended the war in an Ottoman victory, with Mesopotamia, despite parts of it being briefly taken several times further on in history by the Persians notably by Nader Shah, it remained thenceforth in Ottoman hands until lost in the aftermath of World War I.
Starting in 1514, for over a century the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia were engaged in almost constant warfare over control of the South Caucasus and Mesopotamia. The two states were the greatest powers of West Asia, and the rivalry was further fueled by dogmatic differences: the Ottomans were Sunnis, while the Safavids were staunchly Shia Muslims of the Qizilbash sect, and seen as heretics by the Ottomans.
After the Battle of Chaldiran eliminated Safavid influence in Anatolia, during the war of 1532–55 the Ottomans conquered Arab Iraq, taking Baghdad in 1534 and securing recognition of their gains by the Treaty of Amasya in 1555. Peace lasted for two decades before another war began in 1578. The Persians were hard pressed, as the Ottoman advances were combined with an attack by the Shaybanids into Persian Khorasan. The war ended with the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590, with a clear Ottoman victory: the Ottomans occupied Georgia, Revan, and even the former Safavid capital, Tabriz.
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