Military of Safavid Iran
Its origins date back to 1500, when Ismail decided to come out of hiding from Lahijan, a city in Gilan, northern Iran.
By summer, Ismail had already gathered 7,000 followers, mostly Turkmens from Asia Minor, whom he had rallied together in Erzincan, while the rest were Iranians, mainly from northern Iran.
[2] Numerous contemporary independent Venetian sources report that, as early as 1499, Ismail had Christian cavalry at his disposal.
[2] According to a contemporary Venetian merchant, a certain Morati Augurioto, who returned to Venice from Tabriz in 1503, the majority of the Safavid troops in the city were of Georgian origin.
All three aforementioned high-ranking military officials, considered to be "pillars of the state", were also recorded as being part of the janqi by the end of the Safavid period.
In the early days of the Safavid Empire, the holders of the office were usually Qizilbash lords of Turkoman stock.
However, from the early 17th century onwards, the post became pretty much dominated by non-Qizilbash, especially gholams of Georgian origin.
Another feature that became almost characteristic for the office was that, from the seventeenth century onwards, it was combined with that of the governorship of the Azerbaijan Province.
[9] Until the early seventeenth century, the sepahsalar(-e Iran) / amir ol-omara was equal in rank to the qurchi-bashi.
[8] For example, Rostam Beg (later "khan") simultaneously held the positions of sepahsalar / amir ol-omara, tofangchi-aghasi, and divanbegi (chancellor, chief justice).
[8] According to Mirza Naqi Nasiri, a high-ranking court official, the sepahsalar had supreme command of the army in time of war.
[8] Towards the end of the Safavid era the holder of the function was one of the council amirs, and, together with the qollar-aghasi, the two most important military officials after the qurchi-bashi.
[11] According to the Iranologist Willem Floor, this was the first time mentioned in historical records, that a sepahsalar was given such an item, distinct for a field marshal.
[12] The qurchi-bashi functioned in the same way to the qurchis, as the local lords to the Qizilbash tayefeh or il (i.e. tribal unit, clan).
[12] During periods of weak central authority, the post was immediately taken by individuals from the leading Turkoman Qizilbash tribes, i.e. the Shamlu or Tekkelu.
[15] The qollar-aghasi (also spelled qullar-aqasi) was the commander of the empire's élite gholam (military slave) corps.
[16] The first qollar-aghasi of Safi's reign was Khosrow Mirza of the Bagrationi dynasty, who later served as vali (viceroy) of Kartli, and was given the name of Rostam Khan.
[16] By the end of the Safavid era, the qollar-aghasi and the sepahsalar / amir ol-omara were the most important military officials in the empire, after the qurchi-bashi.
[20] In 1660, reportedly, his salary amounted 2,000 tomans per year, and formally, he was equal to the commander of the musketeer corps (tofangchi-aghasi).
The tofangchi-aghasi was assisted by numerous officers, i.e. minbashis, yuzbashis, dahbashis, as well as an administrative staff (i.e. vizier, mostoufi), who dealt with the muster rolls.
[25] Apart from the tofangchis, he also held supreme command over the jarchibashis, rikas (staff bearers armed with pole axes), and tabardars of the musketeer corps.
It was not until partway through the rule of Nader Shah (1736-1747), founder of the Afsharid dynasty, that the majority of an Iranian empire's troops would be equipped with firearms for the first time.
The largest tribes of the Qizilbash were the Ustajlu, the Rumlu, the Shamlu, the Zul Qadr, the Tekkelu, the Afshar and the Qajar—all Turkmens.
[31] During the reign of Ismail, the Qizilbash almost saw him as a divine person, and regarded him as the representative of the hidden Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi.
[33][34] The fifth Safavid shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629), made the gholam corps much stronger in order to counterbalance the power and influence of the Qizilbash.
[38] According to Babaev, the gholam unit was created by Abbas I after the assassination of powerful Qizilbash figure Murshid-Quli Khan in 1588/9.
[41] As mentioned by the Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1600 onwards, the Safavid statesman Allahverdi Khan, in conjunction with Sir Robert Sherley, undertook the reorganization of the army, which meant among other things dramatically increasing the number of gholams from 4,000 to 25,000.
[43] It was during the vizierate of Saru Taqi (1633-1645) under Abbas I that the gholams reached their zenith of power, occupying all the important offices of the Safavid state.
