Early Modern
Fall of Isfahan (1722): The Afghan Siege Ends Safavid Power
Shah Sultan Husayn abdicated in October 1722 and Mahmud Hotaki took the throne, ending effective Safavid rule and opening years of invasion and civil war.
Region
Middle East
Early Modern
Ibrahim Muteferrika and the First Ottoman Turkish Press
The first Ottoman press run by Muslims printed 17 titles in Turkish, Arabic and Persian between 1729 and the 1740s, mainly dictionaries, histories and geographies.
Early Modern
Patrona Halil Revolt (1730): The End of the Tulip Period
Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha was executed, Ahmed III abdicated in favour of Mahmud I, and Patrona Halil was himself killed in November 1730.
Early Modern
Nader Shah: The Afsharid Conqueror Who Sacked Delhi
Nader restored Iran's borders and founded the short-lived Afsharid dynasty, but his empire fragmented after his assassination in 1747.
Early Modern
Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Founding of Afghanistan (1747)
Ahmad Shah founded the Durrani Empire, the state from which modern Afghanistan developed, and made it the leading power between Persia and India.
Early Modern
Karim Khan Zand: The Ruler Who Governed Iran from Shiraz
Karim Khan reunited most of Iran after the Afsharid collapse and gave it about three decades of relative peace before the Qajars took power.
Early Modern
Battle of Chesma (1770): Russia Destroys the Ottoman Fleet
Decisive Russian victory; almost the entire Ottoman battle fleet in the Aegean was destroyed.
Early Modern
Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca (1774): Russia Gains the Black Sea
The Ottoman Empire lost its control of Crimea and the northern Black Sea coast, and Russia gained trade, navigation and diplomatic rights inside the empire.
Early Modern
Selim III and the Nizam-i Cedid: Ottoman Military Reform
Selim built a modern army of over 20,000 men but was deposed in 1807 by a Janissary-backed revolt and killed in 1808; his reforms were revived by Mahmud II.
Modern Era
Greek War of Independence (1821-1829): Freedom From the Ottomans
Greece won independence from the Ottoman Empire, recognised by the great powers in 1830 and established as a kingdom in 1832.
Modern Era
Battle of Navarino (1827): Last Great Battle of Sailing Ships
Decisive allied victory; most of the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet was destroyed, ensuring the survival of an independent Greece.
Modern Era
Crimean War (1853-1856): Britain, France and Russia at War
Russia was defeated; the Treaty of Paris (1856) neutralised the Black Sea and checked Russian expansion towards the Ottoman Empire.