Persia Under the Safavids ••• 153old grandson of Junayd, Isma'il, who eluded his pursuers during a house-
to-house search of Ardabil and escaped to another part of Persia. During
the summer of 1500 young Isma'il and his kizilbash followers began a re¬
volt in Anatolia against their oppressors. Turkish Shi'i tribal warriors came
in droves, and in early 1501 the White Sheep Turcomans were decisively
defeated.
Rise of Safavid Power
The Safavid state began in Azerbaijan when Isma'il, now thirteen, entered
Tabriz, proclaimed himself shah, and declared that Twelve-Imam Shi'ism
would become the state's sole religion. This stance amounted to a declara¬
tion of war against the Ottoman Empire, which was Sunni and not se¬
curely in control of the Anatolian Turks, who leaned toward Shi'ism. In
fact, just about every Muslim dynasty in 1501 was Sunni, which made the
Safavids quite distinctive. It was hard for them even to find books ex¬
pounding the fundamentals of Shi'i Islam, and they had to import their
ulama from what is now southern Lebanon. Nevertheless, Isma'il aspired
to conquer the whole Muslim world for Shi'ism, supported by his faithful
kizilbash warriors. Even though most Turkish nomads and Persian peas¬
ants under Safavid rule were Sunni, Isma'il was determined to unite the
country politically and religiously. Within a decade the Safavids, though
Turkish by race, had taken control of all Persia. It took longer to win over
the local inhabitants to Shi'ism, especially in the eastern provinces; but,
once converted, the Persians came to view their sect as a badge of national
identity. Likewise, they thought of the Safavids as a Persian dynasty. In¬
deed, the Safavid era was one of the most glorious for the history of Per¬
sian art and political power.
But the Safavids could not match the might of the Ottoman Empire. You
may remember that in the Battle of Chaldiran (1514), the janissaries with
their firearms defeated the kizilbash fighting on horseback. The Ottomans
entered Tabriz but left after a week, for the janissaries would spend the win¬
ter only in Istanbul. The Safavids lost some of their lands in Anatolia and
Armenia, but Persia was saved from Ottoman rule. However, the fanatical
loyalty of the kizilbash to Isma'il was shaken by the Chaldiran defeat, and
the impetus to spread Safavid rule to other lands under Sunni Islam was
lost. So shaken was Isma'il that he spent the last decade of his life hunting
and drinking. Why did the Safavids lag behind the Ottomans in adopting
gunpowder weapons? Like the Mamluks, the kizilbash knew about them
but viewed them as unmanly and awkward to carry on horseback. The
Safavids' other foes, the Central Asian Uzbeks, did not use firearms either.