Shah 'Abbas, the third son of Soltan Mohammad Shah, had come to the throne at a critical moment in the fortunes of the Safavid dynasty, faced with two immediate tasks: to reassert the authority of the monarchy and to expel Ottoman and Uzbek troops from Persian soil.

Under his weak-willed father, the country had been riven with discord between the different factions of the Qizilbash army, who had killed Abbas' mother and elder brother.

In October 1587, one of the Qizilbash leaders, Murshid Qoli Khan, had overthrown Shah Mohammed in a coup and placed the sixteen-year-old Abbas on the throne.

Meanwhile, Iran's enemies, the Ottoman Empire and the Uzbeks, have exploited this political chaos to seize territory for themselves.

The Ottomans win successes at ...