Ottoman-Safavid War (1578-1590)

The Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-1590 was one of many wars between the neighbouring rivals, the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire. The Ottomans declared war in 1577-1578 to exploit the instability at the Safavid court that followed the death of Shah Tahmasp I, and an appeal from the Uzbeks and pressure from the Ottoman clergy added to the push for war. The Ottomans, helped at times by their vassal the Crimean Khanate, took Georgian and Shirvan territory quickly, and after a period of roughly balanced fighting the turning point came with the Battle of Torches in May 1583 and the killing of the Safavid generals Mirza Salman Jaberi and Hamza Mirza. The Ottomans took Tabriz in 1585. The war ended on 21 March 1590 with the Treaty of Constantinople, by which Shah Abbas I ceded Azerbaijan, Karabagh, Ganja, Dagestan and Qarajadagh, and parts of Georgia, Luristan and Kurdistan, to the Ottomans.