The Awkwardness of Nader Shah

This chapter considers the problematic nature of Nader Shah’s reign. Until the early 19th century Nader was a well-known figure in Europe, but memory of his exploits faded thereafter, and in Western historiography today the events of his reign are still often sidelined, ignored, or described inaccurately—whether because the brutality of his period is distasteful, because ‘Great Man’ history is out of fashion, because his military and political achievements do not fit with a view of Iran in the eighteenth century as weak and backward, or for other reasons. I have presented arguments elsewhere that his period of rule initiated developments akin to Europe’s state-building Military Revolution. This chapter addresses counterarguments made against my suggestions, developing the original arguments for Nader Shah as an innovative, forward-looking figure, at least in part. Although Iran’s Military Revolution died with Nader, and the country eventually succumbed to European domination, his reign suggests that other outcomes were possible.