Sword of Persia

Sword of Persia
Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2010-03-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0857724169

Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty. His reign was filled with bloodshed, betrayal and horror. Yet, Nader Shah is central to Iran's early modern history. From a shepherd boy, he rose to liberate his country from foreign occupation, and make himself Shah. He took eighteenth century Iran in a trajectory from political collapse and partition to become the dominant power in the region, briefly opening the prospect of a modernising state that could have resisted colonial intervention in Asia. He recovered all the territory lost by his predecessors, including Herat and Kandahar, and went on to conquer Moghul Delhi, plundering the enormous treasures of India. Nader commanded the most powerful military force in Asia, if not the world. He repeatedly defeated the armies of Ottoman Turkey, the preeminent State of Islam, overran most of what is now Iraq and threatened to take Baghdad on several occasions. But from the zenith of his success he declined into illness, insane avarice and horrific savagery, committing terrible atrocities against the Persian people, his friends, and even his family, until he finally died as violently as he had lived. The "Sword of Persia" recreates the story of a remarkable, ruthless man, capable of both charm and brutality. It is a rich narrative, full of dramatic incident, including much new research into original Iranian and other material, which will prove indispensable to historians and students. The book includes many contemporary illustrations, and maps.

The Sword of Persia

The Sword of Persia
Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Generals
ISBN: 9780755612291

List of Maps and Illustrations vii -- Acknowledgments ix -- Note on Transliteration xi -- Preface xv -- Prologue Zenith 1 -- Chapter One The Fall of the Safavid Dynasty 17 -- Chapter Two Tahmasp Qoli Khan 57 -- Chapter Three War with the Afghans 75 -- Chapter Four War with the Ottomans 99 -- Chapter Five Coup d'État 117 -- Chapter Six Nader Shah 137 -- Chapter Seven To the Gates of Delhi 175 -- Chapter Eight The Ruin of Persia 211 -- Chapter Nine Towers of Skulls 243 -- Chapter Ten Full Circle 275 Notes 287 Select -- Bibliography 329 -- Index 339.

Sword of Persia

Sword of Persia
Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2010-03-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857733478

Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty. His reign was filled with bloodshed, betrayal and horror. Yet, Nader Shah is central to Iran's early modern history. From a shepherd boy, he rose to liberate his country from foreign occupation, and make himself Shah. He took eighteenth century Iran in a trajectory from political collapse and partition to become the dominant power in the region, briefly opening the prospect of a modernising state that could have resisted colonial intervention in Asia. He recovered all the territory lost by his predecessors, including Herat and Kandahar, and went on to conquer Moghul Delhi, plundering the enormous treasures of India. Nader commanded the most powerful military force in Asia, if not the world. He repeatedly defeated the armies of Ottoman Turkey, the preeminent State of Islam, overran most of what is now Iraq and threatened to take Baghdad on several occasions. But from the zenith of his success he declined into illness, insane avarice and horrific savagery, committing terrible atrocities against the Persian people, his friends, and even his family, until he finally died as violently as he had lived. The "Sword of Persia" recreates the story of a remarkable, ruthless man, capable of both charm and brutality. It is a rich narrative, full of dramatic incident, including much new research into original Iranian and other material, which will prove indispensable to historians and students. The book includes many contemporary illustrations, and maps.

Persian Fire

Persian Fire
Author: Tom Holland
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2007-06-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307386988

A "fresh...thrilling" (The Guardian) account of the Graeco-Persian Wars. In the fifth century B.C., a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland’s brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history.

The Armies of Ancient Persia

The Armies of Ancient Persia
Author: Kaveh Farrokh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Armies
ISBN: 9781848848450

Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of Western powers. It was the most formidable rival to the Roman empire for centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanians, was overwhelmed by the Islamic conquests in the seventh century AD. Yet, the armies of ancient Persia have received relatively little detailed attention, certainly in comparison to those of Rome. This work is the firsst of three volumes that will form the most comprehensive study of ancient Persian armies available. The Sassanians, the native Iranian dynasty that ousted their Parthian overlords in AD 226, developed a highly sophisticated army that was able for centuries to hold off all comers. They continued the Parthians' famous winning combination of swift horse archers with heavily-armored cataphract cavalry, also making much use of war elephants, but Kaveh Farrokh interestingly demonstrates that their oft-maligned infantry has been much underestimated. The author, born in Athens, Greece, and expert in ancient Persian languages and military history, has been researching the military history and technology of Persia for a quarter of a century. He draws on the latest research and new archaeological evidence, focusing on the organization, equipment and tactics of the armies that dominated the ancient Middle East for so long.

In the Shadow of the Sword

In the Shadow of the Sword
Author: Tom Holland
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 614
Release: 2012-05-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0385531362

The acclaimed author of Rubicon and other superb works of popular history now produces a thrillingly panoramic (and incredibly timely) account of the rise of Islam. No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion—except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day—not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.

Shah Abbas

Shah Abbas
Author: David Blow
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-04-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 085771676X

Shah Abbas (1571-1629) was shah of Iran from 1588 (when he assumed power by deposing his father, whom he later murdered) until his death in 1629. He is of critical importance in the history of Iran, restoring the power of the Safavids through war and the strategic negotiation of peace. He is still acclaimed for his strong and decisive rule and the architectural achievements of his reign although he is also recognised as a tyrant, whose paranoia (probably justified) caused him to imprison and assassinate many of his own relatives including his own son, ultimately leaving the throne to his grandson.Remarkably, this is the first biography of Shah Abbas in English. "On a Persian Throne" combines rigorous scholarship with a popular style to produce the definitive, accessible and objective biography of this seminal figure in Iranian history.

Let the Swords Encircle Me

Let the Swords Encircle Me
Author: Scott Peterson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-09-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781416597285

NO OTHER COUNTRY SO DOMINATES THE HEADLINES: Iran is portrayed as a nuclear threat, a terrorist nation, a charter member of the Axis of Evil bent on the destruction of Israel. But behind those headlines—and the fierce rhetoric of Iran’s most hard-line leaders—is a proud nation with a 2,500-year history of Persian poetry, art, and passion. Based on more than thirty extended reporting trips to Iran, including the turbulent aftermath of the disputed June 2009 election, Scott Peterson’s portrait is the definitive guide to this enigmatic nation, from the roots of its incendiary internal struggles to the rise and slide of Iran’s earthshaking 1979 Islamic Revolution. This prize-winning American journalist with unparalleled experience in Iran takes us there, inside a country where an educated and young population is restlessly eager to take its place in the world; where martyrs of the "sacred" Iran-Iraq War are still mourned with tears of devotion; where the cultural and religious forces of light and darkness are locked in battle. Peterson brings stunningly alive the diversity within Iran—from the hard-liners who shout "Death to America" to the majority who comprise the most pro-American population in the Middle East. Let the Swords Encircle Me gives voice to Iranians themselves—the clerics and the reformers, the filmmakers and the journalists, the True Believers and their Westernized and profane brethren—to understand the complexities of Iran today. Through dedicated and in-depth reporting, Peterson shows how every word, image, and sensibility in Iran is often deliciously unexpected and counterintuitive. Ideology matters. So does "resistance." And azadi: freedom. Peterson deftly holds a mirror up to both sides of the U.S.-Iran conflict. Americans and Iranians, he writes, share a belief in their own exceptionalism and "manifest destiny" (which for Iran includes its nuclear ambitions) and frequent need of an "enemy" in political discourse. The same elements that have locked the United States and Iran in the most vicious of struggles—stretching back to the 1953 CIA coup in Tehran and the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage saga—are the same ones that could one day make Iran and the United States the most "natural" allies in the region. In this critical and personal account, Peterson illumines the latest episodes of Iran’s century-old quest for democracy and freedom. He explains how the Islamic Revolution—launched as a beacon of justice and resistance for Iranians and all the world’s Muslims—has not lived up to its ambitious promise. He shows how the violence of 2009 damaged the regime’s legitimacy and marks the start of an irreversible decline. Let the Swords Encircle Me takes us into the minds and hearts of Iranians today, and will be a crucial guide as Americans and Iranians attempt to overcome their bitter estrangement.

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia
Author: A. B. Sina
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2008-09-02
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1596432071

The past and future are woven together in this epic tale of a prince, an evil vizier, a princess, and a prophecy in ancient Persia.

A History of Iran

A History of Iran
Author: Michael Axworthy
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2016-05-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465098770

The definitive history of Iran, from the ancient Persian empires to today Iran is a land of contradictions. It is an Islamic republic, but one in which only 1.4 percent of the population attend Friday prayers. Iran's religious culture encompasses the most censorious and dogmatic Shi'a Muslim clerics in the world, yet its poetry insistently dwells on the joys of life: wine, beauty, sex. Iranian women are subject to one of the most restrictive dress codes in the Islamic world, but make up nearly 60 percent of the student population of the nation's universities. In A History of Iran, acclaimed historian Michael Axworthy chronicles the rich history of this complex nation from the Achaemenid Empire of sixth century BC to the revolution of 1979 to today, including a close look at Iran's ongoing attempts to become a nuclear power. A History of Iran offers general readers an essential guide to understanding this volatile nation, which is once again at the center of the world's attention.