Mahmud I
At this time in Constantinople, Patrona Halil, a mob rebellion had produced a change in leadership bringing Mahmud I to power. Sultan Mahmud I appointed a half-Venetian statesman to command in the east at the head of an army which would prove Tahmasp's undoing. Aiming to cloak the Caucasus under Persian hegemony as in the time of his forefathers Tahmasp aimed to conquer Armenia, Georgia and Daghestan from the Turks. An army of 18,000 was led into Armenia were Tahmasp found himself scoring a victory over an Ottoman army near Yerevan.