Michael Axworthy
Biographic Data
| ID | 4486702 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Axworthy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Axworthy |
| SIGNATURE | AXWORTHY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Crisis, Collapse, Militarism and Civil War
Eighteenth-century Iran is of central significance to the modern history of the country, but as a field of study it has been neglected. It was a century of revolt, war, political disorder, anarchy and lawlessness, disruption of trade, economic collapse, famine, emigration, and general misery. It has been estimated that the population of the country fell from around 9 million at the beginning of the century to perhaps 6 million at the end. In the …
Of Mullas, Manuscripts, and Migration
This chapter considers the general historiographical position, and questions the traditional take on it by assessing whether the picture of decline and collapse can be consistent with the significance of different trends of thought among the clerical community in Iran in the 18th century, as indicated by the relative popularity of significant texts, demonstrated by the numbers of those texts in manuscript collections.
Iran
Since the beginning of recorded history, Iran/Persia has been one of the most important world civilizations. Iran remains a distinct civilization today despite its status as a major Islamic state with broad regional influence and its deep integration into the global economy through its vast energy reserves. Yet the close attention paid to Iran in recent decades stems from the impact of the 1979 revolution, which unleashed ideological shock waves …
Iran
Ancient and Islamic Iran
What do we know about the Indo-European peoples and the origins of Iran? What we know begins with the fact that the Persian language (known to Iranians in their own tongue as Farsi) along with English and most other European languages, as well as Sanskrit,...
Nader Shah and Persian Naval Expansion in the Persian Gulf, 1700–1747
The purpose of this article is to relate a remarkable episode involving Nader Shah's navy and to connect it directly to the wider aims and projects of his regime (notably his ambitions in India), and the central events of his reign. In this way his Persian Gulf policy may emerge not as the oddity it might at first appear, but rather as a consistent element in a coherent larger whole
L. Louër, Transnational Shia Politics
Sword of Persia
The Sword of Persia
In his odd review of my book The Sword of Persia, Thomas Welsford made some criticisms of its account of the life of Nader Shah and cast some doubt on the book's originality. I felt I should comment upon one or two points. Part of the way the book addresses its subject is to develop from known facts to speculate about Nader's attitudes and thoughts. Welsford dislikes this, but I would suggest that these speculations are a natural extension of the…
The Army of Nader Shah
This article looks at the origins of the army of Nader Shah (reigned 1736–1747) and the nature of the Persian armies in the Safavid period before considering in more detail the composition and structure of the army at its peak in the early 1740s. It suggests, building on work by Rudi Matthee, that it was only under Nader's tutelage that Persia fully embraced gunpowder weapons and that this initiated a Military Revolution (not just a revolution in…
The Sword of Persia Nader Shah
Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, took eighteenth-century Iran from political collapse to become the dominant power in the region, recovering Herat and Kandahar, conquering Moghul Delhi, plundering the enormous treasures of India, repeatedly defeating Ottoman Turkey, and overrunning most of what is now Iraq. But suspicion and avarice led him to persecute the Persian people as savagely as any foreign conqueror had done. This book recr…
Basile Vatatzes and his History of Nāder Šāh
Romania in the Second World War, 1939-1945
The Army of Nader Shah
This article looks at the origins of the army of Nader Shah (reigned 1736–1747) and the nature of the Persian armies in the Safavid period before considering in more detail the composition and structure of the army at its peak in the early 1740s. It suggests, building on work by Rudi Matthee, that it was only under Nader's tutelage that Persia fully embraced gunpowder weapons and that this initiated a Military Revolution (not just a revolution in…
Romania in the Second World War, 1939-1945
The Sword of Persia Nader Shah
Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, took eighteenth-century Iran from political collapse to become the dominant power in the region, recovering Herat and Kandahar, conquering Moghul Delhi, plundering the enormous treasures of India, repeatedly defeating Ottoman Turkey, and overrunning most of what is now Iraq. But suspicion and avarice led him to persecute the Persian people as savagely as any foreign conqueror had done. This book recr…
Basile Vatatzes and his History of Nāder Šāh
The Army of Nader Shah
This article looks at the origins of the army of Nader Shah (reigned 1736–1747) and the nature of the Persian armies in the Safavid period before considering in more detail the composition and structure of the army at its peak in the early 1740s. It suggests, building on work by Rudi Matthee, that it was only under Nader's tutelage that Persia fully embraced gunpowder weapons and that this initiated a Military Revolution (not just a revolution in…
The Sword of Persia
In his odd review of my book The Sword of Persia, Thomas Welsford made some criticisms of its account of the life of Nader Shah and cast some doubt on the book's originality. I felt I should comment upon one or two points. Part of the way the book addresses its subject is to develop from known facts to speculate about Nader's attitudes and thoughts. Welsford dislikes this, but I would suggest that these speculations are a natural extension of the…
L. Louër, Transnational Shia Politics
Sword of Persia
Nader Shah and Persian Naval Expansion in the Persian Gulf, 1700–1747
The purpose of this article is to relate a remarkable episode involving Nader Shah's navy and to connect it directly to the wider aims and projects of his regime (notably his ambitions in India), and the central events of his reign. In this way his Persian Gulf policy may emerge not as the oddity it might at first appear, but rather as a consistent element in a coherent larger whole
Iran
Since the beginning of recorded history, Iran/Persia has been one of the most important world civilizations. Iran remains a distinct civilization today despite its status as a major Islamic state with broad regional influence and its deep integration into the global economy through its vast energy reserves. Yet the close attention paid to Iran in recent decades stems from the impact of the 1979 revolution, which unleashed ideological shock waves …
Iran
Ancient and Islamic Iran
What do we know about the Indo-European peoples and the origins of Iran? What we know begins with the fact that the Persian language (known to Iranians in their own tongue as Farsi) along with English and most other European languages, as well as Sanskrit,...
Crisis, Collapse, Militarism and Civil War
Eighteenth-century Iran is of central significance to the modern history of the country, but as a field of study it has been neglected. It was a century of revolt, war, political disorder, anarchy and lawlessness, disruption of trade, economic collapse, famine, emigration, and general misery. It has been estimated that the population of the country fell from around 9 million at the beginning of the century to perhaps 6 million at the end. In the …
Of Mullas, Manuscripts, and Migration
This chapter considers the general historiographical position, and questions the traditional take on it by assessing whether the picture of decline and collapse can be consistent with the significance of different trends of thought among the clerical community in Iran in the 18th century, as indicated by the relative popularity of significant texts, demonstrated by the numbers of those texts in manuscript collections.
History (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Eurasian Exchange Networks (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Islamic Studies and History (5 works) · Classics (4 works) · History (4 works) · Persian (4 works)