February 24, 1739. The Persian leader Nader Shah wins a decisive victory in India at the Battle of Karnal. The fallout from the battle shatters the Mughal Empire, leaving the sub-continent vulnerable to later domination by colonial powers.You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.comHistory Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: Who was Nadir Shah and what was his early life like?
It's the morning of August 6, 1708, in the province of Khorasan in northeast Persia. Clutching a bow at his side, 10-year-old Nadir Kohli scurries up a hill in the footsteps of his father. Reaching the top first, his father holds out a hand in warning, and Nadir freezes. His father points silently down the other side of the hill.
Less than 100 feet away, a wolf feasts on the entrails of a fat-tailed sheep. Nadir looks over at his father, and his father nods. This is the animal they've been hunting. For days, this wolf has been picking off the family's flock of sheep one by one. Now they've finally found the predator, and Nadir's father wants him to take the shot.
It's Nadir's birthday, and now that he's 10 years old, his father thinks he's old enough for the responsibility. With his bow and arrow in his hands, Nadir slowly and silently rises to his feet. One wrong move, and the animal could flee. Taking a final, calming breath, Nadir takes aim and lets loose. The wolf flinches in pain before slumping to the ground.
Nadir smiles with relief as his father jumps to his feet to congratulate him. It's a clean shot right through the heart. Nadir Kohli's father has always been certain that his boy is special. When Nadir was young, his father was told by a fortune teller that his son was destined for greatness, that one day he would not just be a king, but a king of kings.
Nadir's father does not live long enough to see it, but the soothsayer will be proved right. Nadir will be a king and then an emperor, and almost all of Asia will be at his command after he wins a stunning victory at the Battle of Karnal on February 24th, 1739. You're listening ad-free on Wondery+.
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It's 1722 in the province of Khorasan in northeast Persia, 14 years after Nadir Kohli killed his first wolf. Now 24 years old, Nadir perches on a high mountain bluff and peers down into the valley below. An army is on the march. The shimmering column of men and metal kicks up a cloud of dust as it snakes its way through the valley, heading west.
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Chapter 2: How did Nadir Shah rise to power in Persia?
Nadir turns to the man next to him and barks a short command. They need to hide before they're spotted. Nadir is now far more than just the son of a shepherd. His doting father died when Nadir was 13 years old, leaving him with the responsibility of caring for his mother and his siblings. To support his family, the teenage Nadir joined a gang of bandits.
But despite his young age, he was stronger and smarter than the other thieves in the gang, and it wasn't too long before he took charge. Under his leadership, the gang has grown into an army of 2,000 men, and Nadir is now recognized as a powerful warlord in the region. Persia, though, is in turmoil.
The army Nadir watches from the hills is a group of Afghan rebels from the east, and they are marching toward the Persian capital. Nadir watches and makes careful note of the rebels' strength, but he does nothing to intervene. He doesn't have the men to stop such a mighty army, not yet.
The Afghan rebels continue their march to the Persian capital and soon overthrow the ruling Shah there to seize the throne for themselves. But this power struggle has left Persia weakened, and that vulnerability is soon exploited by the country's enemies. Armies invade from Russia in the north and the Ottoman Empire in the west.
Chapter 3: What strategies did Nadir Shah use to defeat the Afghan rebels?
Mid the chaos, Tomas, the son of the deposed Shah, escapes the clutches of the Afghans and flees to Khorasan. There, he begs Nadir for help. Nadir has no great love for Tomas, but he doesn't have much sympathy for the Afghan rebels either. And he knows that if he can help Tomas win back the throne, then he will be a powerful figure in the new regime. So he agrees to join forces.
But the Afghan rebels are a formidable enemy. Predominantly fighting on horseback, they have a highly mobile and effective army that has defeated all threats to their rule so far. But Nader has a plan. Gunpowder has been used in combat in Asia since at least the 11th century.
But the use of muskets and cannon on the battlefield is still rare, with widespread belief that there is more honor in fighting with swords. Nadir, however, cares more about victory than honor. He invests heavily in the latest artillery and muskets and carefully trains his soldiers how to use the weapons properly.
So when the battle comes, it is a clash between different fighting philosophies as much as different armies. The Afghans are fast-moving and ferocious. In contrast, Nadir's men are cautious and controlled, firing and moving as units in highly disciplined ranks. Their greater organization eventually pays off with victory over the men on horseback.
Following this defeat of the Afghan rebels, Tamas takes back the Persian throne. And as reward for his support, he appoints Nadir as governor of the eastern provinces and offers him the hand of his sister in marriage. Just as he hoped, Nadir is now one of the most powerful men in the land.
He follows up his military success against the Afghans by leading armies to reclaim Persian lands in the west and north. These territories were seized by Persia's enemies during the Afghan rebellion. But now Persia wants them back, and quickly, Nader wins a string of victories and steadily reclaims the land that was lost.
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Chapter 4: How did Nadir Shah expand the Persian Empire?
But his successes on the battlefield makes the new Shah, Tamas, increasingly wary of Nadir. For his part, Nadir considers the new Shah a weak man and quickly grows frustrated with his rule. So that in 1732, he runs out of patience and rises up against Temasp. He installs Temasp's infant son as the new Shah, but no one is in any doubt about where the true power lies in Persia.
But even having to pull puppet strings is soon too much for Nadir. Just a few years later, he sends the boy king into exile and claims the throne for himself. As the unchallenged Shah of Persia, Nader will look beyond the borders of his kingdom for fresh conquests, and soon his gaze will turn to India and the great wealth of the mighty Mughal Empire.
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Chapter 5: What led to the Battle of Karnal?
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It's February 24th, 1739, at the Parisian encampment near Karnal in northern India, three years after Nadir Kohli became Nadir Shah, ruler of Persia. In his tent, 41-year-old Nadir Shah looks over a table of maps and charts as he and three of his most senior commanders make their plans for a coming battle.
Since he seized the throne, Nadir Shah has been devoted to one task, expanding the Persian Empire. He's already retaken the lands previously lost to the Ottomans and the Russians, and he's conquered the last strongholds held by the Afghan rebels who once threatened all of Persia. Now he's come to India.
But when Nadir Shah first crossed the border, he told representatives of the Mughal Empire that rules here that he was simply pursuing the last Afghan rebels who had fled into India. But his true objective soon became clear, as his men ransacked and pillaged their way south. Nadir Shah had launched a war of conquest, believing that India's vast wealth is there for the taking.
But in response, the Mughal emperor, Mohammad Shah, raised a vast army and marched north to face him. But his army was so big that it couldn't move quickly, and it traveled just 70 miles from Delhi by the time the advancing Persians intercepted it. Now, Nadir and his generals finalized their plans for battle. On paper, the Persians are no match for the Mughal army.
The Mughals are in a strong position. Encamped across a river, they outnumber the invaders by as many as six to one. But poor odds have never stopped Nadir before. He wants to divide the Mughal forces and lure the enemy into battle at a time and place of his choosing. And luckily for Nadir, he knows that the Mughals are already divided.
Commanders in charge of different parts of the army have little trust in each other, and Muhammad Shah is not strong enough a leader to manage his generals' differences. Hoping to take advantage of this acrimony, Nadir I orders a few cavalry units forward. They launch an attack on an isolated Mughal baggage train.
This prompts an immediate response from the general in charge, and the Persian cavalry beats a hasty retreat, but it's all a ruse. Nadir wants a portion of the Mughal army to cross the river and follow his cavalry, and the Mughals oblige. As one Mughal general leads his men forward, back in their camp, indecision reigns.
Muhammad Shah wants to throw the bulk of his men forward in support of his general's attack, but the other commanders are not convinced. Eventually, it's decided that just another 8,000 men will be pushed forward to reinforce the attack across the river. But they fail to join up with the original thrust, which by now has raced ahead in pursuit of the Persian cavalry luring the Mughals into a trap.
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