Mohammad Nadir Shah

File:Stamp of Afghanistan - 1961 - Colnect 670465 - Mohammed Nadir Shah 1883-1933 King of Afghanistan.jpeg

File:Mohammed Nadir Shah.jpg

Nadir Khan was born on 9 April 1883 in Dehradun, British India, in the Musahiban branch of the Royal dynasty of Afghanistan (of the Mohammadzai section of Barakzai Pashtuns). His father was Mohammad Yusuf Khan, and his mother was Sharaf Sultana Hukumat Begum (a Durrani{{Cite book |last=Shah |first=Iqbal Ali |title=The Tragedy of Amanullah |year=1933 |pages=256}}). His paternal grandfather was Yahya Khan, and his great grandfather was Sultan Mohammad Khan Telayee, the brother of Dost Mohammad Khan. Nadir's ancestors were exiled to British India by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan after the Emir realized their aspiration for power. Abdur Rahman advised his incumbent Crown Prince Habibullah not to allow the "Al-Yahya" family to enter the country under any terms or conditions. In 1901, Abdul Rahman died, and Habibullah was crowned emir. In 1912, Nadir assisted in helping the Afghan government defeat the Khost rebellion.{{Cite book|title=AFGHANISTAN, BRITAIN AND RUSSIA 1905 – 21|last=Hale|first=W.|year=1966|pages=16, 17, 18}} Unlike his father, Amir Habibullah had many weaknesses, including philandery. During an official visit to British India, Amir Habibullah married one of Nader's sisters when the Nader family moved to Afghanistan. Nader became the minister of war during Amanullah while concealing his ambitions to become the King. Nader and his brothers played an important role in destabilizing the Amani government, and they started to support Habibullāh Kalakāni.

{{Further|Afghan Civil War (1928–1929)}}

After growing up in India, Nadir Khan first went to Afghanistan when his grandfather Mohammad Yahya was authorized to return from exile by the British and Abdur Rahman Khan.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Schinasi |first=May |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|title=MOḤAMMAD NĀDER SHAH |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mohammad-nader-shah-king-of-afghanistan |edition= Online|publisher= Columbia University |date=7 April 2008 |location= United States}} He later became a general under King Amanullah Khan and led the Royal Afghan Army in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. After the war, Nadir Khan was made Minister of War and from early 1924 to 1926 he was Afghan Ambassador to France.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4_jAAAAMAAJ|title=Kabul under siege: Fayz Muhammad's account of the 1929 Uprising|last1=Muḥammad|first1=Fayz̤|last2=McChesney|first2=R. D.|date=1999|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|isbn=9781558761544|pages=87|language=en}}

Shortly after a rebellion by some Pashtun tribesmen and Tajik forces of Habibullāh Kalakāni against the monarchy, Nadir Khan was exiled due to disagreements with King Amanullah. After the overthrow of Amanullah Khan's monarchy by Habibullah Kalakani, he returned to Afghanistan with his army of Mangal, Mahsud and Wazir tribe members and took most of Afghanistan. He had enlisted the support of the British to raise an army and remove Habibullah Kalakani from power.{{Cite book |last=Rouland |first=Michael |title=Great Game to 9/11: a Concise History of Afghanistan's International Relations |date=September 1, 2019 |publisher=Independently published |isbn=9781689862295 |pages=23 |language=English}} By 13 October 1929, forces loyal to Nadir had captured Kabul and subsequently sacked the city,{{cite encyclopedia |last=Balland |first=D. |editor=Ehsan Yarshater |editor-link=Ehsan Yarshater |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|title= AFGHĀNISTĀN|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan |edition= Online|publisher= Columbia University|location= United States}} and he arrived in the city on the 15th. He captured Kalakani. He executed him by firing squad on the west wall of the Arg on 1 November 1929, along with Kalakani's brother and 9 other members of Kalakani's inner circle.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJpXJXOno9IC|title=Kabul Under Siege: Fayz Muhammad's Account of the 1929 Uprising|last1=Muḥammad|first1=Fayz̤|last2=Hazārah|first2=Fayz̤ Muḥammad Kātib|date=1999|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|isbn=9781558761551|pages=276|language=en}}

{{Further|List of heads of state of Afghanistan#Monarchs}}

As Shah of Afghanistan, Nadir Khan quickly abolished most of Amanullah Khan's reforms, but despite his efforts to rebuild an army that had just been engaged in suppressing a rebellion, the forces remained weak{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}} while the religious and tribal leaders grew strong. Nadir faced many insurrections, including the Koh Daman revolt (29 November – 30 June), the Shinwari rebellion (February 1930), operations against Ibrahim Beg (November 1930 – April 1931), the Ghilzai threat (1931), the Darre Khel revolt (November 1932), and disturbances in Khost.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAHna6aqtX4C&q=Shinwari+rebellion&pg=PA58|title=Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan|last=Adamec|first=Ludwig W.|date=2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810878150|pages=58|language=en}} The same year, a Soviet force crossed the border in pursuit of an Uzbek leader whose forces had been harassing the Soviets from his sanctuary in Afghanistan. He was driven back to the Soviet side by the Afghan army in April 1930, and by the end of 1931, most uprisings had been subdued.

Nadir Khan named a ten-member cabinet consisting mostly of his family members. In September 1930, he called into session a loya jirga of 286, which confirmed his accession to the throne. In 1931, the King promulgated a new constitution. Despite its appearance as a constitutional monarchy, the document effectively instituted a Royal oligarchy, and popular participation was merely an illusion.{{cite book |last1=Dupree |first1=Louis |title=Afghanistan |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-577634-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistan0000dupr |access-date=11 October 2022}}{{rp|464}}

Although Nadir Khan placated religious factions with a constitutional emphasis on orthodox denominational principles, he also took steps to modernize Afghanistan in material ways, although far less obtrusively than Amanullah. He improved road construction, especially the Great North Road through the Hindu Kush, methods of communication, and helped establish Kabul University, Afghanistan's first university in 1931;Kabul University web page: History [http://www.ku.edu.af/index.php?module=cms&action=showfulltext&id=gen9Srv40Nme31_6314_1220327784§ionid=init_1 History] He forged commercial links with the same foreign powers that Amanullah had established diplomatic relations in the 1920s, and, under the leadership of several prominent entrepreneurs, he initiated a banking system and long-range economic planning. Although his efforts to improve the army did not bear fruit immediately, by the time of his death in 1933, Nadir Shah had created a 40,000-strong military force.

During his rule he advocated for laissez-faire economic reforms and opened up the economy for to private enterprises.http://ambijat.wdfiles.com/local--files/books-first-semester/rasana2045.pdf

On 8 November 1933, Nadir Khan was visiting a high school and was shot dead by Abdul Khaliq during a graduation ceremony.{{rp|475}} An ethnic Hazara, Abdul Khaliq, was immediately apprehended, tortured, and then executed by quartering along with most of his relatives including his father and uncle.{{Cite book|title=Istorii︠a︡ Vostoka : v shesti tomakh|date=1995–2008|publisher=Izdatelʹskai︠a︡ firma "Vostochnai︠a︡ lit-ra" RAN|others=Rybakov, R. B., Kapit︠s︡a, Mikhail Stepanovich., Рыбаков, Р. Б., Капица, Михаил Степанович., Institut vostokovedenii︠a︡ (Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡ nauk), Институт востоковедения (Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡ nauk)|isbn=5020181021|location=Moskva|oclc=38520460}}{{cite book | first=Meredith | last=Runion | title=The History of Afghanistan | publisher=Greenwood |date=October 2007 | page=93 | isbn=978-0-313-33798-7}} According to Hafizullah Emadi, "The government arrested Abdul Khaliq, his family, and friends, and used this opportunity to arrest other potential rivals and execute them on charges of plotting the assassination of King Nadir."{{cite book | first=Hafizullah | last=Emadi| title=Politics of the Dispossessed: Superpowers and Developments in the Middle East | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | year=2001 | page=24 | isbn=0-2759-7365-4}} His remains were buried in Kabul on Nader Khan Hill (Maranjan Hill).{{cite news |last1=Sadat |first1=Fariba |title=Tombstones Stolen, Graves Looted, on Nader Khan Hill |url=https://tolonews.com/arts-culture/tombstones-stolen-graves-looted-nader-khan-hill |work=TOLOnews |date=8 July 2020 |language=en}} Muhammad Iqbal wrote an elegy for him, which ends in the following words

سرشکِ دیدۂ نادر به داغِ لاله فشان

چنان که آتشِ او را دگر فرونه نشان!

Translation (English)

"The tears from Nader’s eye scatter upon the scar of the tulip,

So much so that his fire can never be extinguished again!"

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|1= 1. Muhammad Nadir Shah{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

|2= 2. Muhammad Yusuf Khan, Governor of Herat

|3= 3. Sharaf Sultana Hukumat Begum

|4= 4. Mohammad Yahya Khan, Governor of Kabul

|5= 5. Hamdan Sultana Begum

|6= 6. Ali Ahmad Mirza, Khan Bahadur

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|8= 8. Sultan Mohammad Khan "Telai", Governor of Kabul, Peshawar and Kohat

|9= 9. a Popalzai lady

|10= 10. Muhammad Akbar Khan

|11=

|12= 12.Ayub Shah Durrani

|13=

|16= 16. Payinda Khan Muhammadzai, Sarfraz Khan

|17= 17. an Alikozai lady

|20= 20. Dost Mohammad Khan

|21= 21. Mirmon Khadija Popalzai

|24= 24. Timur Shah Durrani

|25= 25. a Popalzai lady

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| royal name = Mohammed Nadir Shah of Afghanistan

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During his reign, His Majesty Mohammed Nadir Shah, King of Afghanistan.{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1934v02/d637|title=Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1934, Europe, Near East and Africa, Volume II – Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov}}

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{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Mohammed Nadir Khan}}

• [http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/yest/nadir.html Afghanistan Online: Biography – Mohammad Nadir Shah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126035336/http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/yest/nadir.html |date=26 January 2013 }}
• [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52590/Barakzay-dynasty#ref169918 Bārakzay dynasty] – Encyclopædia Britannica
• {{PM20|FID=pe/022336}}

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{{s-hou|Barakzai dynasty|10 April|1880|8 November|1933}}

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{{s-bef|before=Habibullāh Kalakāni|as=King and Emir of Afghanistan}}

{{s-ttl|title=King of Afghanistan|years=15 October 1929 – 8 November 1933}}

{{s-aft|after=Mohammad Zahir Shah}}

{{s-end}}

{{Monarchs of Afghanistan}}

{{Anglo-Afghan War}}

{{Pashtun nationalism}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad Nadir Shah}}

Category:1883 births

Category:1933 deaths

Category:20th-century Afghan monarchs

Category:20th-century Afghan politicians

Category:20th-century murdered monarchs

Category:Kings of Afghanistan

Category:Barakzai dynasty

Category:Ambassadors of Afghanistan to France

Category:Pashtun people

Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour

Category:1929 in Afghanistan

Category:1930s in Afghanistan

Category:Afghan Civil War (1928–1929)

Category:People from Dehradun