Shah Ismail I
In 1520, the Safavid Empire was a large, relatively new power in the Near East. The Safavid dynasty, founded and still ruled by Ismail I Safavi, was located in Persia, its lands formerly controlled by by various Turkic tribes and, most notably, the Timurid Empire. The peoples of Safavid Persia had only one thing in common between them: Shi'a Islam. Persia was the only state in the world that followed it, aside from their vassal Mus'asha
On January 1st, 1520, Shah Ismail I dispatched tax collectors to many provinces in the empire, including Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Tabaristan, Hamadan, Elbruz, Lut, Armenia, Kirkuk, and Iraq. Persia was still a poor nation, and the meager yearly census tax simply was not enough to keep her afloat. Most of it was stolen by corrupt local bailiffs, anyway.
Shah Ismail, while still a good leader and competent general, was currently but a shadow of his former self. He had just lost a humiliating war with the Ottoman Empire, who wanted to prevent the spread of Shi'a into its territory. At the end of the war, the Sultan had stolen a wife of his and held her for ransom. Not just any wife, mind, but his favorite. Persia refused to pay of course, and now he would never see his wife again.
January 24th saw another move of Turkish aggression, this time against Al-Djazir. The Sultan offered it 'protection', and made it nothing more than a tributary state to the Ottoman Empire. Shortly later, Ismail declared himself supreme commander of the Army, the first in a line of planned reforms to centralize the Empire. He hoped a strong centralized state would better be able to defend itself against its enemies. On February 15th, his first move saw the Army divided into two groups. One stationed itself near the Turkish border, while the other went with Ismail to the border with the Mongol Khanates.
Suleyman I became Ottoman Sultan in September, and the Shah decided this might be a chance to become friends with the Turks, and turn the Persian armies against India for conquest. Assuming, of couse, they could defeat the Mughals. Suleyman's first act as Sultan was to demand the Keys of Hungary, secring the Muslim position in the Balkans once and for all. The Hungarian ambassador was delayed by the government as the pathetic Christians searched for allies. In January 1521, Ismail wrote a letter to Suleyman in support of Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, and in return was gifted with 200 ingots of gold from the Sultan. Ismail used the money to begin cleansing Armenia of heretics.
Other than the increase in Safavid-Ottoman relations, the only other event of note in 1521 was the conclusion of a war in India, where Sindh became a vassal of Baluchistan.
In Janury 1522, the Shah received a vission from Allah. He saw Tblisi burning, and the banner of Islam flying from its citadel. This was surely a sign that Allah wanted him to launch a Jihad against the Christians of Kakheti. He sent his Eastern armies northwards to prepare.
The Christian nation of Kakheti
In April, his troops began marching across the borders of Persia, and fought several simple battles against the outnumbered Christians. In May, Cuha Sultan, a prominant general in Tabriz, had a son. Much was the rejoicing across the Empire, and it was doubly so when the siege of Tblisi began in June.
The siege of Tblisi begins
On April 3rd, 1523, the walls of Tblisi collapsed and the King of Kakheti was beheaded. It became a part of the Empire on the 9th.
The new addition to the Empire
Many maps were obtained from the Christians, most notably regarding the Christian nation of England. It was previously beleived to be a small Duchy centered in a town called Kalay. The new maps revealed that it was, in fact, an island kingdom. And the town was called Calais!
Maps obtained from the Christians
On April 14th, two more tax collectors were dispatched to the Meched and Berman provinces. In August, a fireball was sighted in the southern skies. November 13th brought a Christian crusade against the small African tribe of Mombasa. Surely this was what Allah had warned of with his fire.
1524 brought about another letter to the Turks, telling them the Shah's ideas for Shi'ite-Sunni cooperation. Unfortunately, he never lived to see his plan implemented. A plague struck in May, and on the 24th, Shah Ismail I Safavi succumbed to disease. He was succeded by his son Thamasp I.
