Abbas II (Persian: عباس دوم, romanized: ʿAbbās II; born Soltan Mohammad Mirza; 30 August 1632 – 26 October 1666) was the seventh Shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1642 to 1666. As the eldest son of Safi and his Circassian wife, Anna Khanum, he inherited the throne when he was nine, and had to rely on a regency led by Saru Taqi, the erstwhile grand vizier of his father, to govern in his place. During the regency, Abbas received formal kingly education that, until then, he had been denied. In 1645, at age fifteen, he was able to remove Saru Taqi from power, and after purging the bureaucracy ranks, asserted his authority over his court and began his absolute rule.
Abbas II's reign was marked by peace and progress. He intentionally avoided a war with the Ottoman Empire and his relations with the Uzbeks in the east were friendly. He enhanced his reputation as a military commander by leading his army during the war with the Mughal Empire and successfully recovering the city of Kandahar. At his behest, Rostom Khan, the King of Kartli and a Safavid vassal, invaded the Kingdom of Kakheti in 1648 and sent the rebellious monarch Teimuraz I into exile. In 1651, Teimuraz tried to reclaim his lost crown with the support of the Russia Tsardom, but the Russians were defeated by Abbas' army in a short conflict fought between 1651 and 1653. The war's major event was the destruction of the Russian fortress on the Iranian side of the Terek river. Abbas also suppressed a rebellion led by the Georgians between 1659 and 1660, in which he acknowledged Vakhtang V as the king of Kartli, but had the rebel leaders executed.
From the middle years of his reign onwards, Abbas was occupied with a financial decline which would plague the realm until the end of the Safavid dynasty. In order to increase revenues, in 1654 Abbas appointed Mohammad Beg, a distinguished economist. However, he was unable to overcome the economic decline. Mohammad Beg's efforts often damaged the treasury. He took bribes from the Dutch East India Company and assigned his family members into various positions. In 1661, Mohammad Beg was replaced by Mirza Mohammad Karaki, a weak and ineffective administrator. He was excluded from the shah's private affairs in the inner palace, to the point that he was ignorant about the existence of Sam Mirza, the future Suleiman and the next Safavid shah of Iran.
Abbas II died on 25 September 1666, aged thirty-four. Described by modern historians as the last strong king of the Safavid dynasty, he stood out from his father and his successors by being persistently concerned for state affairs. A king known for his sense of justice, Western historians and observers often portrayed him as a magnanimous and tolerant monarch who ruled a kingdom which was free of rebellions and relatively safe to travel within. Some historians have criticised him for acts of cruelty similar to his father and forcing conversion upon the Iranian Jews, but most have noted his tolerance towards Christians. After the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722, he is remembered as a forceful ruler who temporarily reversed the decline of the Safavid state and created a period of prosperity, stability and peace that with his death ended once and for all.
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AbbasII (Persian: عباس دوم, romanized: ʿAbbāsII; born Soltan Mohammad Mirza; 30 August 1632 – 26 October 1666) was the seventh Shah of Safavid Iran,...
AbbasII may refer to: AbbasIIofPersia (1632–1666), Shah of Iran (r. 1642–1666) AbbasIIof Egypt (1874–1944), last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan (r. 1892–1914)...
and blinded. Floor, Willem (2005), A Note on The Grand Vizierate in Seventeenth Century Persia, Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 435–481, JSTOR 43382107 v t e...
Abbas I (Persian: عباس یکم, romanized: ʿAbbās; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (Persian: عباس بزرگ, romanized: ʿAbbās-e...
wife. In 1615, Abbas had Mohammed Baqer killed, fearing he was plotting against his life. Over the next few years, the suspicious Abbas killed or blinded...
Shah Abbas is the name of: Abbas I ofPersia (1571–1629), Shah (ruler) of Iran, at apex of the Safavid dynasty AbbasIIofPersia (1633–16), Shah (ruler)...
Look up Abbas or abbas in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Abbas may refer to: Abbas (name), list of people with the name, including: Abbas ibn Ali (645–680)...
Abbas III (Persian: شاه عباس سوم, romanized: ʿAbbās; January 1732 – February 1740) was a son of Shah Tahmasp II and Shahpari Begum of the Safavid dynasty...
second daughter: married Sayyid Nizamuddin Ahmad, a maternal nephew ofAbbasIIofPersia. Badshah Bibi: married Abul Hasan Qutb Shah. Abul Hasan Qutb Shah...
20th List of years in Iran List of Islamic years Cities in Iran: Timeline of Bandar Abbas Timeline of Hamadan Timeline of Isfahan Timeline of Kerman Timeline...
the North Frisian island of Föhr (d. 1706) Ōkubo Tadatomo, Japanese daimyō (d. 1712) December 31 – AbbasIIofPersia, Shah of Iran (d. 1666) Bárbara Coronel...
1638 from the Safavids, prompting the retaliation of the Persians led by their ruler AbbasIIofPersia, who recaptured it in 1649. The Mughal armies were...
reign ofAbbasII. Although the building is attributed to the Ilkhanate, the inscription on top of its gate attributes it to AbbasIIofPersia, and cites...
that a group of poor people became professional tinkers of crystal water pipes. During the time ofAbbasIIofPersia (r. 1642–1666), use of the water pipe...
of Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands Queen Regent Anna Khanum, mother ofAbbasIIofPersia Queen Regent Helen of Greece, mother of King Michael I of Romania...
Fawzia Jahanbani Suleiman I ofPersia Teresia Sampsonia Yusuf Agha Pari Khan Khanum Sultan-Agha Khanum AbbasIIofPersia Shamkhal Sultan Nakihat Khanum...
Many members of the Safavid nobility and élite had Circassian ancestry and Circassian dignitaries, such as the kings AbbasIIofPersia (reigned 1642–1666)...
Suleiman of Persia (Safi II). His contemporary kings are: Abbas the Great (reign 1588–1629) Safi ofPersia (reign 1629–1642) AbbasIIofPersia (reign 1642–1666)...
in Kerman, Persia to Haji Yusuf, and received his education in Tabriz. For his great intelligence, he was sent by Shah AbbasIIofPersia to Rome to study...
favor of his son, Abbas III; both were murdered at Sabzevar in 1740 by Nader Shah's eldest son Reza-qoli Mirza. Tahmasp's campaign of 1731 Ottoman–Persian...
diplomatic recognition from the Safavids to bolster the legitimacy of his rule. AbbasIIofPersia sent an embassy in 1661. Aurangzeb received the ambassador...
the North Frisian island of Föhr (d. 1706) Ōkubo Tadatomo, Japanese daimyō (d. 1712) December 31 – AbbasIIofPersia, Shah of Iran (d. 1666) Bárbara Coronel...
noted as an early modernizer ofPersia's armed forces and institutions, and for his death before his father, Fath Ali Shah. Abbas was an intelligent prince...
fomented by (or on behalf of) Mohammad's son, Abbas. Ali Quli Khan Shamlu, the lala ofAbbas and Ismail II's man in Herat proclaimed Abbas shah there April 1581...
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