23 October 1722
In 1722, Afghan Hotaki forces besieged and captured Isfahan, the Safavid capital. The fall of the city marked the collapse of effective Safavid authority over Iran. What had been a centralized Shia monarchy shifted into a fragmented landscape of regional power centres, foreign interventions, and competing claimants to legitimacy.
Background
By the early eighteenth century, the Safavid state was weakened by court factionalism, declining military effectiveness, fiscal strain, and challenges along its eastern frontier. Local grievances in Kandahar against Safavid governance created space for the rise of the Hotaki leadership under Mirwais and later Mahmud. As Safavid capacity eroded, tribal and provincial actors gained leverage while the central administration in Isfahan struggled to maintain supply, pay troops, and respond coherently to multiple threats. The Afghan advance exploited these systemic weaknesses rather than a single decisive military imbalance.
Key Moment
The key turning point was the fall of Isfahan after a protracted siege by Afghan forces under Mahmud Hotaki. With the capital encircled, supplies exhausted, and no effective relief army assembled, the Safavid administration capitulated. The loss of the political and administrative centre effectively ended Safavid rule as a functioning imperial system, even though isolated loyalist forces and successor claimants persisted.
Legacy
The collapse of the Safavid order initiated a period of fragmentation in Iran. Regional powers, including Afghan rulers, Ottoman forces, and local dynasts in different provinces, competed for territory and authority. The episode exposed vulnerabilities in an overextended imperial structure and highlighted the importance of military reform, fiscal resilience, and regional integration. This period of disruption set the stage for later consolidation efforts under Nader Shah and eventually the Qajar dynasty, and it remains a reference point in Iranian memory for state breakdown and external intervention.