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 90 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, taking heavy losses in the final siege, and the signing of the Treaty of Zuhab ended the war in an Ottoman victory. Roughly speaking, the treaty restored the borders of 1555, with the Safavids keeping Dagestan, eastern Georgia, Eastern Armenia, and the present-day Azerbaijan Republic, while western Georgia and Western Armenia decisively came under Ottoman rule. The eastern part of Samtskhe (Meskheti) was irrevocably lost to the Ottomans as well as Mesopotamia. Despite parts of Mesopotamia were briefly retaken by the Iranians later on in history, notably during the reigns of Nader Shah (1736-1747) and Karim Khan Zand (1751-1779), it remained thenceforth in Ottoman hands until 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.
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