Battle of Damghan (1729)
| Battle of Damghan | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Nader's Campaigns | |||||||||
Painting of Battle of Damghan, illustrating Persian decisive artillery fire against the Afghans. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Safavid Empire | Hotak Emirate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Nader Lotf Ali Khan Tahmasp Khan Jalayer Fath Ali Khan Kayani Latif Khan |
Ashraf Hotak Mohammad Seidal Nasrullah Khan Zebardust Khan | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 25,000 | 25,000–50,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 3,000 or 4,000 | 12,000 killed | ||||||||
The Battle of Damghan (Persian: نبرد دامغان) or Battle of Mehmandoost (Persian: نبرد مهماندوست) was fought on 29 September to 5 October 1729, near the city of Damghan. It resulted in an overwhelming victory for Nader and the Safavid cause he had taken up. Although it by itself did not end Ashraf's rule in Iran, it was a significant triumph which led to further successes in the following engagements of the campaign to restore Tahmasp II to the throne. The battle was followed by another one in Murcheh-Khort, a village near Isfahan. Nader's forces were victorious in both battles, which led him to remove the Ghilzai Afghan dynasty from their short stay on the Persian throne. The Hotakis were forced back to their territory in what is now southern Afghanistan.
The Battle of Damghan proved the supremacy of Nader's artillery-dependent military system compared to the old, exclusively cavalry-based system utilised by the Afghans. Despite losing this battle, Hotak tried to come back in the Battle of Murcheh-Khort, relying on guns and artillerymen from the Ottomans. But in the Battle of Murcheh-Khort Ashraf Hotak lost to the superior army of Nader. Hotak was killed in 1730, and Nader succeeded in overthrowing the Hotak dynasty in 1738.