Cold Open

It’s the morning of August 6th, 1709, in the province of Khorasan, in north-east Persia.

Clutching a bow at his side, 10-year-old Nader Qoli scurries up a hill in the footsteps of his father. Reaching the top first, his father holds out a hand in warning, and Nader freezes.

His father points silently down the other side of the hill. Less than a hundred feet away, a wolf feasts on the entrails of a fat-tailed sheep. Nader 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 Nader’s father wants him to take the shot. It’s Nader’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, Nader slowly, and silently, rises to his feet. One wrong move and the animal could flee.

Taking a final calming breath, Nader takes aim… and lets loose.

The wolf flinches in pain before slumping to the ground. Nader smiles with relief as his father jumps to his feet to congratulate him. It’s a clean shot, right through the heart.

Nader Qoli’s father has always been certain that his boy is special. When Nader 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. Nader’s father does not live long enough to see it, but the soothsayer will be proved right. Nader 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.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is February 24th, 1739: The Battle of Karnal.

Act One: The Making of a Shah

It’s 1722, in the province of Khorasan, in north-east Persia, 14 years after Nader Qoli killed his first wolf.

Now 24 years old, Nader 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.

Nader turns to the man next to him and barks a short command. They need to hide before they are spotted.

Nader is now far more than just the son of a shepherd. His doting father died when Nader was 13 years old, leaving him with the responsibility of caring for his mother and his siblings. To support his family, the teenage Nader 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 long before he took charge.

Under his leadership, the gang has grown into an army of 2000 men, and Nader is now recognized as a powerful warlord in the region. Persia, though, is in turmoil. The army Nader watches from the hills is a group of Afghan rebels from the east, and they are marching toward the Persian capital.

Nader 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. Amid the chaos, Tahmasp, the son of the deposed Shah, escapes the clutches of the Afghans and flees to Khorason. There, he begs Nader for help. Nader has no great love for Tahmasp. But he doesn’t have much sympathy for the Afghan rebels either. And he knows that if he can help Tahmasp 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.

Nader, 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, Nader’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, Tahmasp takes back the Persian throne. And as reward for his support, he appoints Nader as governor of the eastern provinces and offers him the hand of his sister in marriage. Just as he hoped, Nader 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. But his success on the battlefield makes the new Shah, Tahmasp, increasingly wary of Nader. For his part, Nader 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 Tahmasp. He installs Tahmasp’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 string is soon too much for Nader. 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.

Act Two: The Battle of Karnal

It’s February 24th, 1739, at the Persian encampment near Karnal in Northern India, three years after Nader Qoli became Nadir Shah, ruler of Persia.

In his tent, 41-year-old Nader Shah looks over a table of maps and charts, as he and three of his most senior commanders make their plans for the coming battle.

Since he seized the throne, Nader 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 Nader 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. Nader 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, Nader and his generals finalize 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 Nader before. He wants to divide the Moghul forces and lure the enemy into battle at a time and place of his choosing.

And luckily for Nader, he knows that the Mughals are already divided. Commanders in charge of different parts of the army have little trust in each other, and Mohammad Shah is not strong enough a leader to manage his generals’ differences.

Hoping to take advantage of this acrimony, Nader first 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. Nader 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. Mohammad 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. When the retreating horsemen reach the safety of their main battle lines, the Persian infantry unleashes a volley of musket and cannon fire that devastates the pursuing Mughal forces.

Meanwhile, Nader dispatches some of his best troops to meet the 8,000 Mughal reinforcements still coming up behind. Once again, Nader’s plan is to lure them into an ambush. And once again, the Mughals fall right into the trap, marching straight into a chokepoint in a small village where Nader himself waits with artillery. The results of the ambush are devastating.

The Mughal war elephants suffer especially badly. Although terrifying when they’re on the charge, elephants prove an easy target for Persian artillery. And in the face of overwhelming cannon fire, the creatures scatter in terror and their riders crash to the ground as all of discipline in the Mughal lines disintegrates. Confusion and despair spread through the ranks, and thousands are killed in the chaos.

From the safety of his camp on the other side of the river, the Mughal leader Mohammad Shah can hear the barrage of Persian gunfire, and the screams of elephants. With many of his best troops lost and morale among the survivors collapsing, it’s clear to him that the battle is lost.

Nader Shah’s triumph at Karnal will soon lead him to march on Delhi to claim the Indian capital for the Persian Empire. But this battle will have more than just an immediate impact on the region. The defeat of the Mughal Empire will fragment the entire Indian subcontinent—and leave it vulnerable to invaders from much further afield.

Act Three: The Fall of an Empire

It’s March 20th, 1739, in Delhi, capital of the Mughal Empire, almost a month after the Battle of Karnal.

Nader Shah rides through the palace gates at the head of his triumphant Persian army. Among his entourage are a hundred captured war elephants, as well as a far more valuable prize: the Mughal leader himself, Mohammad Shah.

Following his defeat at Karnal, Mohammad Shah had no choice but to negotiate with the Persians. Nader spared his life, but the once mighty Mughals are now just a vassal state of the Persian Empire.

Nader Shah now rules over a domain that stretches 2,000 miles from the Black Sea to the heart of India. This latest addition to his empire is the wealthiest yet, and Nader wastes no time in seizing its riches. After he is installed in the palace, he immediately sends out his troops to begin the looting.

But the people of India resist their new Persian ruler. Rioting soon breaks out in Delhi in opposition to the regime. Nader slaughters those who rise up against him. But the violence convinces him that there is no future for the Persians in India. He decides to leave the country—and take its vast wealth with him.

So two months after arriving in Delhi, he loads up his treasure onto thousands of camels, horses, and elephants and leads his army of conquerors out of India. But despite arriving back in his homeland a conqueror, Nader will prove an increasingly unpopular leader. He will grow paranoid and cruel, and in 1747, eight years after his triumph in India, he will be assassinated by his own troops.

The Mughal Empire doesn't fear much better, they never recover from Nader Shah’s invasion. Left humiliated and weakened, the country fractures into warring factions, and eventually, Europeans will take advantage of this power vacuum. The British will come, and India will be subjugated under their colonial rule for more than a century.

But not even the British Empire will expand its reach over Asia as far as Nader Shah did—the shepherd who became a king of kings and master of a continent after he won victory at the Battle of Karnal on February 24th, 1739.

Outro

Next on History Daily. February 25th, 1964. A young Muhammad Ali defeats Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Supervising Sound Designer Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.