Shah Walad Jalayirid (1518-1552) - part 6.
The armies that returned from India were already understrength, and now faced the task of subduing an enormous amount of revolts, while having no manpower ready to replenish any losses. They therefore resorted to the strategy earlier employed during Shah Walad's early years. Avoiding open combat with rebels, they instead simply followed them around, laying sieges to any fortresses that the rebel armies had occupied. Battles were only fought with the intention of preventing the number of rebel armies to rise, and were only engaged where the expected losses were minimal. While this was an excellent strategy for saving men, it was a very obvious signal that the Jalayirid state was unable to protect its cities and fortresses from being captured, and various factions tried use this to their advantage.
Another disadvantage was that in some instances, it allowed nationalists and patriots time to organize themselves; in one instance this led to the nation of Armenia declaring full independence.
The Armenians, in contrast to many other subjugated people in the Jalayirid nation, had revolted only quite late in the period of instability; only in March 1539 do we find the first mention of Armenian rebel activity.
The revolt quickly escalated, with more Armenians joining the rebel cause, their army swelling to around 15000 men.
It is a testament to Jalayirid weakness during this period that the loyalists had great trouble matching these numbers. For somewhat less than three years the rebels were allowed to do as they pleased. Only in early 1543, when the crisis was nearing its end, did the Jalayirids scrape together the forces necessary to deal with the rebels effectively; by March, they were in the process of retaking the various fortresses in the province. This went so slowly, however, that the parts of Armenia still under rebel control managed to organize themselves into an independent state.
The state existed between November 1543 and September 1544, and gained international recognition from such diverse nations as Mali, Austria, Algiers and Saruhan. However, none complained when the Jalayirids annexed the nation back into their country.
Apart from Armenia, especially Persia was hard to control for the Jalayirids: there, the rebels were the most numerous and the most persistent.
They never managed to gain significant organization, however, since the area they attempted to control was much larger and more vulnerable, and much more important, than Armenia. Sometimes, the rebels actually seemed to seek battle with the loyalists and in one famous instance managed to destroy an entire army in Makran.
All in all the crisis lasted for about nine years (1535-1544). During this time, several other events are of note, such as the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Sunni nation of Byzantium;
the short war (together with the Ottomans) against Serbia (ending in a white peace);
the death of the beloved natural scientist 'Abd al-Karim Sa'id (who made important contributions to the field of probability theory with his treatise “On the Probability of Revolts in the Various Provinces of the Jalayirid Nation”);
the raise to command of the mediocre general Isma'il Uways after both Yasir and Yusuf died early in during the crisis; the international recognition of various claims Shah Walad made on neighboring provinces of Georgia;
the war against Ryukyu together with the Ottoman allies;
and finally, and most importantly, the tragic death of Shah Walad's only son, the talented Qasim. The official cause of death was an “illness in the stomach,” but many historians have suggested that he was in fact murdered – Qasim made it no secret that he planned to extensively reform the government when he came to power.
Qasim's son Hasan (Shah Walad's grandson) was next in line of succession.