HEAD: Rulers, Governance, and Elites
These slave soldiers, often of non-Persian origin, were trained to serve loyally in the Safavid military and bureaucracy.
What are ghulams?
This battle forced the Safavids to adopt gunpowder weaponry after suffering a humiliating defeat.
What is the Battle of Chaldiran?
This branch of Islam was imposed as the state religion by Shah Ismail I.
What is Twelver Shi’ism?
This class sat at the top of Safavid society, holding both political and spiritual power.
Who are the Shah and nobility?
He introduced the ghulam system to centralize power and diminish tribal influence.
Who is Shah Abbas I?
After Chaldiran, the Safavids built this corps of musketeers to modernize their army.
What is the tofangchi corps?
The Shah’s claim to divine status was justified by asserting descent from this figure.
Who is the Prophet Muhammad?
This religious class had the authority to issue fatwas and manage religious institutions.
Who are the Ulema?
This tribal military elite initially helped establish the Safavid state but later became a threat to central power.
Who were the Qizilbash?
This mobile gunpowder weapon mounted on camels allowed military flexibility in Iran's harsh terrain.
What is the zamburak?
This artistic and literary epic served as propaganda glorifying the Shah and linking him to Persian heroic traditions.
What is the Shāhnāmah Shāh Ismaʿīl?
Although at the bottom of the hierarchy, individuals from this class could rise through military or marriage alliances.
Who are slaves or servants?
Ghulams gained power precisely because they lacked this type of local allegiance.
What is tribal or familial loyalty?
Gunpowder weapons enabled this new style of warfare, combining infantry, artillery, and cavalry.
What are combined arms tactics?
This architectural project in Isfahan was not just religious but a political statement of Safavid legitimacy.
What is the Naqsh-e Jahan Square?
This majority group sustained the empire economically through agriculture but had little political power.
Who are the peasants?
The Safavid use of ghulams as bureaucrats and commanders directly undercut the authority of these hereditary elite groups.
Who were the tribal amirs or military aristocracy?
The centralization of firearms production helped reinforce the Shah’s power by denying this resource to potentially rebellious factions.
What is gunpowder monopoly?
Safavid promotion of Shi’ism deepened this theological-political conflict with the Ottomans, shaping centuries of Islamic history.
What is the Sunni-Shi’a divide?
Revenue in the Safavid Empire was often generated through this system, where governors or elites collected income from local populations.
What is tribute collection or tax farming?