Hotak dynasty

The Hotak Empire (Pashto: د هوتکيانو ټولواکمني; Persian: امپراتوری هوتکیان) also known as the Hotaki Empire was an Afghan dynasty founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled parts of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful rebellion against the declining Persian Safavid empire in the region of Loy Kandahar ("Greater Kandahar") in what is now southern Afghanistan.

In 1715, Mirwais died of natural causes and his brother Abdul Aziz succeeded him. He did not reign long as he was killed by his nephew Mahmud, who overthrew the Safavid Shah and established his own rule over Iran. Mahmud in turn was succeeded by his cousin Ashraf following a palace coup in 1725. Ashraf also did not retain his throne for long, as the Iranian conqueror Nader-Qoli Beg (later Shah), under the resurgent Safavid banner, defeated him at the Battle of Damghan in 1729. Ashraf Hotak was banished to what is now southern Afghanistan, limiting Hotak rule to a vestige of their once large empire. Hotak rule came to an end in 1738, when Nader Shah defeated Ashraf's successor Hussain Hotak after the lengthy siege of Kandahar. Subsequently, Nader Shah began re-establishing Iranian suzerainty over regions lost to Iran's archrivals, the Ottoman and Russian Empires, decades earlier.