the history and historiography of 18th century Iran /
Michael Axworthy.
New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
2018.
1 online resource
Includes bibliographical references and index.
What's in a name? : periodization and 18th century Iran / Gene Garthwaite -- Historiographical notes on the eighteenth century in Iranian history : chaos and decline, imperial dreams, or regional specificity? / Rudi Matthee -- The awkwardness of Nader Shah / Michael Axworthy -- Reflections on Iran and the Ottomans after Nader Shah / Ernest Tucker -- Whatever happened to the School of Isfahan? Studying Hikmat in the 18th century / Sajjad Rizvi -- Of mullas, migration and manuscripts : aspects of Shi︢i community life in the in the 18th century / Andrew Newman -- The economy of Afsharid Iran : a dismal story / Willem Floor -- Reflections on tribal resurgence / Willem Floor -- Quiet encroachment : Iran-Russia relations in the 18th century based on archival documents / Goodarz Rashtiani -- Persia 1700-1750 : some views from Central and Southern Europe / Giorgio Rota -- Nader Shah, the Delhi loot, and the eighteenth-century exotics of empire / Sussan Babaie.
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The eighteenth century was a crucial era in modern Iranian history, but the scholarship on the epoch is extremely limited. Among the reasons for this is the fact that it was largely a terrible period, plagued by war, economic collapse, governmental breakdown, and general misery. It has been estimated that the population of the country fell from around 9 million in 1700 to perhaps 6 million in 1899. Indeed, in the 1720s it seemed likely that Iran would disappear altogether, partitioned between her neighbors. Within a few years, the country surged back to regional pre-eminence under the rule of military genius Nader Shah, but lapsed again into civil war after his untimely death in 1747. The subsequent civil wars lasted almost until the end of the century except for a couple of brief interludes of relative calm. After decades of violence and economic dislocation, the end of the century saw the crowning of Agha Mohammad Shah, the first of the Qajar dynasty that lasted until 1925.