Battle of Samarra (1733)

Nadir besieged Baghdad with a mighty army of 100,000 warriors. Having built siege towers and equipped trenches around the perimeter of the city walls, he placed Baghdad in the iron ring of the blockade, and the Turkish garrison led by Ahmad Pasha began to reflect on surrender. Already when the negotiations began, Ahmad Pasha received the news that Istanbul had sent a powerful army to help the city, led by the former Vizier Topal Osman Pasha of 80,000 soldiers (mostly well-trained Janissaries and Sipahs ) along with 80 cannons.

Topal Pasha turned out to be a completely different opponent than any other of those whom the nadir had to deal with, but Nadir by that time did not know defeats on the battlefield, so he might have come to believe in his own invincibility. Having left 12,000 soldiers near Baghdad to continue the siege, he set off north to Samarra , taking with him 70,000 soldiers and dozens of cannons.

Siege difficulties

Nadir previously tried to accelerate the fall of Baghdad by cutting off fresh water to the city. However, hopes for a quick surrender did not materialize, although, according to various estimates, about 60,000 civilians died during the blockade.

Persian artillery turned out to be powerless against powerful city walls: it included mainly maneuverable field tools, and heavy siege artillery was practically absent. The only hope for the capture of the city was based on the threat of hunger and a possible revolt of the townspeople against Ahmad Pasha, who, realizing that the loss of Baghdad would mean the loss of the entire Eyaleth , intended to hold on to the end.

Stomped Osman Pasha

Rod Topal Osman Pasha came from Anatolia , but he himself was born and raised on the Peloponnese . He entered the service of the Sultan in his youth, and at the age of 24 he rose to the rank of bailerbay . He was later sent to Egypt, but his ship was attacked en route, and Topal was brought to Malta as a prisoner. He was redeemed and released, later took part in the Prut campaign, and also played an important role in the war with Venice , for whose participation he was rewarded with the title of Pasha.

Stomp eventually rose to the rank of the great vizier of the Ottoman Empire, although he held this post for only six months and left it due to political intrigue. By that time he was appointed governor of Trebizond and Tiflis. Topal Osman Pasha went down in history as the most formidable rival of Nadir Shah, who was not inferior to him in cunning and experience.

Topal Pasha almost immediately showed his military talents. In order to provoke a reckless Persian attack, he noticeably weakened his rearguard, but significantly strengthened it during the night. Nadir, not knowing this, sent most of his cavalry to attack the Ottoman left flank, which seemed weak. But on this site, the Persians met powerful Turkish positions and were forced to retreat without giving Nadir advantages in the upcoming battle. Then Nadir decided to attack the Turks in the center in a frontal attack and ordered 50,000 soldiers to launch the attack. After an intense battle, the Turkish center was seriously squeezed, the Persians advanced to the center of the Turkish camp and even captured several enemy guns. At this stage, the attack of 2,000 Kurds put Topal Pasha warriors in a practically hopeless situation, but the Turkish general restored the situation on time, pulling up 20,000 soldiers from the reserve. In the counterattack that began, the Turks pushed the Persians back and repelled the lost guns.

The battle continued. Due to its favorable location, the Ottoman army had access to the water of the Tigris River, which was located behind its back, while the Persians began to suffer from a lack of water under the scorching sun of Mesopotamia. The wisdom of Topal Pasha when choosing positions was once again manifested when during the battle the rising wind carried dust and sand in the face of the Persians. Finally, these disasters of the Persian army were compounded by the betrayal of the Arab tribal contingent in the army of Nadir. All these factors together have become insurmountable even for battle-hardened Nadir warriors.

Even the reserve of 12,000 horsemen raised by Nadir was not able to stop the attack of the Janissaries. The Persian army began to disintegrate under the pressure of the Ottomans, and to raise morale, Nadir personally entered the battle: he pierced the lance of the Turkish cavalryman, but he himself was knocked out of the saddle. Rumors of his death dealt a mortal blow to the fighting spirit of the Persian army. The Persians fled, ending organized resistance, even the efforts of their commanders were not able to restore battle formations. Nadir was defeated for the first and last time in his military career.

The Persians lost almost half of their entire army, including all artillery, a significant part of it fell into the hands of the Turks. 30,000 Persians were killed or wounded, 3,500 were captured (500 of them were executed). The Ottomans, however, also paid a harsh price for the victory, losing a quarter of their army. Nevertheless, the victory put an end to the siege of Baghdad: Ahmad Pasha and his people, inspired by the news of Topal Pasha's triumph in the north, escaped from the city walls and attacked the besiegers, taking them to flight. July 24, 1733 Topal Osman Pasha solemnly entered Baghdad.

• Michael Axworthy, The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant Hardcover 348 pages (26 July 2006) Publisher: IB Tauris Language: English ISBN 1-85043-706-8
• Moghtader, Gholam-Hussein (2008). The Great Batlles of Nader Shah, Donyaye Ketab
• Ghafouri, Ali (2008). History of Iran's wars: from the Medes to now, Etela'at Publishing