2007/11/16 by Michael Axworthy
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Islamic Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1080/00210860701667720
openalex publication_date 2007/11/16 · crossref created 2007/11/16 · crossref issued 2007/12/01 · crossref published 2007/12/01 · crossref published-print 2007/12/01 · crossref published-online 2022/01/01 · crossref deposited 2022/01/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This article looks at the origins of the army of Nader Shah (reigned 1736–1747) and the nature of the Persian armies in the Safavid period before considering in more detail the composition and structure of the army at its peak in the early 1740s. It suggests, building on work by Rudi Matthee, that it was only under Nader's tutelage that Persia fully embraced gunpowder weapons and that this initiated a Military Revolution (not just a revolution in technology, but in drill, discipline, and army size as well as ethos) that, but for Nader's untimely death, could have brought about the wider social and economic changes that Geoffrey Parker and others have associated with the Military Revolution in Europe.