The Battle of Sharur occurred in August 1501. It ended with a decisive victory for the Safavid army. After this victory, the way of the Safavids to

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

was opened. Alvand Mirza disappeared from the political scene.

Background

Ismail Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

defeated Shirvanshah Farrukh Yasar in the Battle of Jabani in 1500 and captured Baku in the spring of 1501. While besieging the Gulustan fortress, he heard the news that AQ Qoyunlu Alvand Mirza had gathered troops and moved to fight him. Although Alvand advised him to stay in

Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

and became its ruler.

Battle

Two armies met in the plain of Sharur. Ismail had an army of 7,000 and Alvand Mirza had an army more than 10,000. According to

Roger Savory Roger Mervyn Savory (27 January 1925 – 17 February 2022) was a British-born Professor Emeritus at the University of TorontoRoger Savory, "Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations"- University of Toronto/ref> who was an Iranologist and specialist on ...

, the number of Alvand's army was 4 times more than the number of Ismail's army. Ismail won by showing great commanding ability. Seeing that his army was disbanded, Alvand Mirza fled to Erzincan. Ismail also killed in a one-on-one battle with the famous commander of the Aq Qoyunlus, Karachagay khan. Although Ismail was only 14 years old in that battle.

Aftermath

After victory, Ismail went to Tabriz. After entering

, he proclaimed himself shah and founded the Safavid Empire. With this battle, Ismail captured Azerbaijan. Thus, he accumulated the rich resources needed to expand his state.

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , title=The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire , year=1999 , publisher=University of Utah Press , editor-last= , last=Woods, first=John E. , authorlink=John E. Woods (historian) , chapter= , isbn=978-0874805659 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eh0XAQAAIAAJ, edition=Revised and Expanded 1501 in Asia Sharur Sharur History of Tabriz 16th century in Azerbaijan