The Naderian Wars are a series of conflicts fought in the early to mid-eighteenth century throughout Central Eurasia primarily by the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah.

The Naderian wars originate from the overthrow of the Persian Safavid dynasty by the Hotaki Afghans.

In the ensuing collapse and fragmentation of the empire after the capture of the Persian capital of Isfahan by the Afghans, a claimant to the Safavid throne, Tahmasp II, had accepted into his service one Nader (who was no more than a petty warlord in Khorasan)

After having subdued north-west Iran as well as neutralising the Abdali Afghans to the east as well as turning Tahmasp II into a vassal, Nader had marched against the Hotaki Afghans in occupation of the rest of the country.

In a series of incredible victories the Afghans were decimated and Tahmasp II had returned to the throne as a restored Safavid monarch.

In the aftermath of the Safavid restoration, Nader campaigns in the western and northern reaches of the empire to regain territory lost to the Ottomans and Russians.

After a bitter war lasting five years, Nader manages to restore the western frontier of Persia as well as reimpose Persian suzerainty over most of the Caucasus.

The legitimacy which his astonishing military achievements have brought him allow a bloodless coup against the Safavid monarchy in which he has the unanimous support of the Persian ruling elite.

Nader Shah's first campaign as the monarch of the newly established Afsharid dynasty is the subjugation of Afghanistan in its entirety.

The result of the annexation of Afghanistan by Nader's empire is that he now has a direct path to the invasion of Mughal India.

In one of his most extraordinary campaigns he crosses the Khyber pass with only ten thousand men and subsequently descends down into the Mughal heartland, where he engages the Mughal army and, despite being outnumbered six to one, crushes his foes in little over three hours.

After making the Mughal emperor his vassal, he marches to Delhi, looting the city and massacring i population after they revolt against his occupation.

Nader's return to the empire signals new wars in the central Asian regions.

Nader expands Persian hegemony in central Asia to such an extent that their reach surpasses even the old Persian empires of the Sassanids.

At this juncture, however, Nader is beset by ever worsening mental health as he slowly deteriorates into insanity and paranoia.

His subsequent campaigns against the Lezgis in the northernmost reaches of the Caucasus prove to be less successful and his siege of Baghdad is lifted prematurely due to an uncharacteristic lethargy in Nader's generalship.

As Nader continuea ruinous policies against the inhabitants of the empire and brutal suppressions of dissent, he alienatea many of his subordinates and close associates. He has his heir's eyes gouged out in a fit of delusional paranoia and declares many of his loyal subjects as traitors and rebels, forcing them to erupt in rebellion against him.

Nader's last years are characterized by wandering his own empire in a series of barbaric campaigns in which rebellions are put down in the most brutal and cruel manner.

One of his very last major battles is a battle against the Ottomans near Kars, where he annihilates the Ottoman army sent against him, prompting Istanbul to seek terms of peace.

He is finally assassinated by a faction of his officers in his own tent.

The death of Nader spells the beginning of an extremely troubled and bloody chapter in Iranian history, in which continuous civil war engulfs the nation for over half a century before the establishment of the Qajar dynasty under Agha-Mohammad Khan Qajar.