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(1688-1747). Often called the "Napoleon of Iran," the 18th-century bandit leader Nader
Shah created an empire that stretched from northern India to the Caucasus Mountains. Nader Qoli Beg was born in
Kobhan, Iran, on Oct. 22, 1688, into one of the Turkish tribes loyal to the Safavid shahs of Iran. In 1726, as
head of a group of bandits, he raised an army of 5,000 to help Shah Tahmasp II regain the throne the shah's father
had lost four years before. Success in battle brought the bandit power enough to restore the shah and then depose
him in favor of the shah's infant son. When the son died in 1736, Nader had himself proclaimed shah.
To consolidate his hold on Iran, he waged a relentless military campaign against the Mughal Empire of India to
the south and the Russians to the north. He defeated the main Mughal armies, entered Delhi, and returned to Iran
with the famous peacock throne and the even better-known Koh-i-noor diamond. He then led successful campaigns
against the Russians and the Ottoman Turks.
Nader Shah was a cruel and ruthless king whose harshness toward his subjects became more pronounced the longer
he was in power. The extravagant cost of his wars drained the treasury. His attempt to turn his subjects from the
Shi'ite to the Sunni form of Islam cost him what little popularity he had. He was assassinated in June 1747.
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