نشریه مطالعات تاریخی جنگ
سال پنجم شماره 3 (پاییز 1400)

Rostam Khan, as a Georgian slave, was one of the most influential figures in the military history of Safavid Iran. Thanks to his intelligence and ingenuity, he achieved the highest military position, namely Sepahsalari in the Safavid era and Sufi-like and devotedly defended the borders of the North West and West of Iran. The present study, taking a descriptive and analytical approach, seeks to explain the basic question of the picture Safavid sources depict of Rostam Khan's military action against the Ottomans in the areas of Van, Harsin, Hillah, and Yerevan. The main hypothesis of the research is that the available evidence shows a two-way relationship between Rostam Khan's knowledge of military skills and geographical location of the region, as well as his correct understanding of the intensity of Ottoman hostility to Safavids and their coveted things in Georgia. The findings, while confirming this claim, show that the historical presence of Rostam Khan and his victories in the mentioned wars helped to strengthen the security of the northwestern borders of Iran until the fall of the Safavid government. Moreover, the Ottomans were forced to give up the lands of Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Treaty of Zahab, and their military movements stopped in that area until the beginning of the Afghan invasion of Isfahan.

The Almoravids as one of the most important Islamic states in the fifth century AH (the eleventh AD), after consolidating power and establishing legitimacy, ruled Maghreb and Andalusia. They first formed the movement in the Sahara and then succeeded to establish a government by careful planning and changing the military organization. On the one hand, supremacy over the various Maghreb tribes and domination over them, and the presence in Andalusia and jihad against the Christians, on the other hand, led to the formation of the Almoravids political power. Therefore, the analysis of the role of the evolutions and organization of the Almoravids in the establishment of their rule has been considerably important. Accordingly, the present study with a descriptive-analytical approach and by emphasizing the sources about and of this period tried to investigate the causes of the formation of the military power of the Almoravids and the changes they made in the military organization. The findings indicate that the Almoravids initially exploited the Maghreb's capacity for hegemony of power and established their sovereignty. Then they reformed the structure of the army and advanced to Andalusia for jihad. At this stage, they developed and innovated the army, and planned for various battles.

The wars of the pre-Islamic era, known as Ayyām al-ʿArab, to some extent reflect the pre-Islamic sociocultural mechanism of the tribal system of the Arabian Peninsula. The present research article aimed to study the kinds of symbols and codes the pre-Islamic Arabs used in their wars and the meaning of those symbols and codes in the social, behavioral, and communicative system of the Arab society. The hypothesis of this study can be stated in this way that studying the concepts of symbols and codes of Ayyām al-ʿArab as behavioral manifestations and patterns rising from the jahali culture can reveal perspectives from the subjective and objective worlds of Arabs. Accordingly, using the historical method, primary sources, and some recent research, we tried to analyze the pre-Islamic wars from the perspective of semiotics and its dominant traditions. The findings show that the symbols and traditions are the result of geographical, social, and cultural environment of the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, and the jahali Arabs were strongly committed to them as moral and social values.

The Arab socio-political system depended on the tribe through which the Umayyads formed the Umayyad rule. Thus, the Kalb tribe by claiming the supremacy of the Yemeni tribes, the vast population and territory became the most loyal fanatical tribe of the Umayyads, and with their presence in the political arena and sacrifice in the Battle of Siffin, they became the basis for inheriting this dynasty. In addition, their military and cultural assistance to Yazid I marked the expansion of the Umayyad rule. Therefore, the present study tries to describe and analyze the Kalb tribe's reaction in the face of the ideological insurrections and political-economic challenges of the Umayyad government and the role this tribe played in suppressing the anti-Umayyad movements. The research findings show that the most important field of role-playing of the Kalbiyya was the military performance influenced by their ideological support, traditions and tribal interests because they were part of the Umayyad armies. The suppression of ideological as well as political-economic movements, conflicts with followers of religions, rival tribes and political groups opposed to the Umayyads within the Islamic Caliphate were the special features of the Kalb tribe during this period, so that they had an effective presence in military campaigns outside the Levant and in the most remote areas. The culmination of their participation can be considered a believable struggle with the economic protests of the Dhimmis in Egypt and far from the center of the caliphate, the revolt of the followers of Zayd ibn Ali, the uprising of the people of Medina and the rebellions of the Kharijites and Zubayres throughout the Umayyad Empire.

Guerrilla fight in the twentieth century was considered as an important strategy for some political groups and organizations across different countries like China, Cuba, Algeria, Brazil, and Iran. Guerrilla fight is directly linked to a geographical place. Therefore, cities and villages are regarded as the main places for the operation of partisan battles. In Iran, some groups adopting an armed policy and guerrilla strategy embarked on combatting the Pahlavi Regime, among which the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG) can be considered as the initiator of this action in practice. The present research aimed to identify the factors making Iranian People’s Fedia Guerrilas choose cities as their places of priority for the guerrilla warfare and the results of their performance in their urban guerrilla warfare against Pahlavi Regime. The findings of this study using a descriptive-analytical approach and based on documents and library texts show that the following four major factors made the OIPFG centralize its activities in the urban areas: the failure in Siah’kal operation, physical-spatial features of cities, the centrality of the Pooyan-Ahmadzadeh group in the OIPFG, and the emulation of successful patterns of urban guerrilla warfare in other countries. Furthermore, the performance of the OIPFG shows that after their failure in Siah’kal and the transfer of their activities to the cities, guerrilla battles gained more success in four ways of assaults, sabotage, revolutionary executions and armed propaganda.

The issue of succession in the Ilkhanate era, under the influence of the authority and the influence of the Mongol military rulers and aristocracy, became a socio-political crisis. Reflection on the influence of the Mongol rulers on the issue of succession and the process of turning it into a socio-political crisis show that the increasing role of the Mongol military rulers in the issue of succession is a result of the socio-political and economic-military realities of this period. Accordingly, the greater our distance from the founding of the Ilkhans to their Muslim period, the smaller the role of the Mongol emirs and aristocracy in the issue of succession, and instead the role of the Iranian bureaucracy in the succession crisis increases. This study thus aimed to investigate and explain the same pattern and the various components involved in its formation and continuation. The hypothesis of this research is that from the establishment of the patriarchal government until the coming to power of Ghazan, military commanders played an important and irreplaceable role in the issue of succession. However, with the coming to power of Ghazan, the conversion of the Ilkhans to Islam, and the rise to power of the Iranian bureaucrats, the role of military commanders in the issue of succession diminished. The results of this study also show that the influence of the Mongol princes in turning the issue of succession into a crisis depended on complex and multiple factors, and with the change in the type of Mongol politics and government in Iran, the pattern of military princes' involvement in the issue of succession also changed.