page_title: Military of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia
section_title: Jazāyerchi
hierarchical_section_title: Military of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia / Infantry / Jazāyerchi
caption_attribution_description: English: Firearm - Afsharid Empire فارسی: تفنگ‌های دوران افشاریان در موزه آرامگاه نادرشاه افشار
context_page_description: The military forces of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia had their origins in the relatively obscure yet bloody inter-factional violence in Khorasan during the collapse of the Safavid state. The small band of warriors under local warlord Nader Qoli of the Turkomen Afshar tribe in north-east Iran were no more than a few hundred men. Yet at the height of Nader's power as the king of kings, Shahanshah, he commanded an army of 375,000 fighting men which constituted the single most powerful military force of its time, led by one of the most talented and successful military leaders of history.
  After the assassination of Nader Shah at the hands of a faction of his officers in 1747, Nader's powerful army fractured as the Afsharid state collapsed and the country plunged into decades of civil war. Although there were numerous Afsharid pretenders to the throne, who attempted to regain control of the entire country, Persia remained a fractured political entity in turmoil until the campaigns of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in towards the very end of the eighteenth century reunified the nation.
context_section_description: The jazāyerchi (Persian: جزایرچی‎) were the elite of Nader's infantry musketeers. The Jazāyer (جزایر), a flintlock musket, used by these infantrymen was of a much heavier calibre than their European counterparts and consequently had a greater range as well as improved accuracy (the average European musket weighed around 5 kilograms and fired a shot only 18 millimetres in diameter, whereas the jazāyer weighed almost 18 kilograms and fired a shot 24 millimetres in diameter).
  Unlike European muskets however, the jazāyer was loaded using a horn rather than a paper cartridge meaning although the jazāyer had the advantages of range, force of impact and accuracy, it took longer to reload than the standard European muskets of the era. One of the earliest recordings of Persian soldiers using jazāyers in combat dates back to the mid-seventeenth century. In addition to the jazāyer, jazāyerchi also used shamshirs. This body of infantry underwent an incredibly intense regiment of drills and continuous training. An eyewitness account of one of the training sessions gives the following description:
  [T]he infantry—I mean those that carried muskets—would get together in their own units and they would shoot their guns at a target and exercise continuously. If Tahmasp Quli Khan, (referring here to Nader), saw an ordinary soldier consistently on top form he would promote him to be a leader of 100 men or a leader of 50 men. He encouraged all the soldiers toward bravery, ability and experience, and in simple words he himself gave an example of strong character and military virtue.
  Jazāyerchi units engaged in training several hours everyday. A clear emphasis was given to constant drilling of the soldiers. Nader shaped the jazāyerchi corps himself and often took personal command of them in battle. According to another contemporary, the jazāyerchi were well uniformed and provided with the best equipment.
  The total number of jazāyerchi seems to have varied with time as we have varying reports of strength numbers but generally speaking the corps was approximately a dozen thousand strong. Jonas Hanway reported that in 1744 there was a contingent of 12,000 jazāyerchi in addition to the 40,000 regular Tofangchi (musketeers). Nader also had a contingent of 12,000 jazāyerchi on his Central Asian campaign.
  Although the Jazāyerchi were an infantry corps they usually campaigned on mounts and occasionally fought as mounted troops also, (as some units did at Karnal). They were used to achieve the hardest and most crucial tactical tasks due to their high quality as elite fighting troops, proving their worth in many battles including Mihmandust, Murche-Khort, Kirkuk, Yeghevārd, Karnal and Kars.
  On the deadly impact of the jazāyer during the Battle of Karnal, a contemporary noted, "An arrow cannot answer a Jazāyer".
caption: Jazāyer muskets on display in Mashhad's Museum of Nader Shah.
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "C905", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "R1EA033     prg1205-9079_GENERIC_SI 00.00", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:04 17:58:37", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13948", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4929", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:04 17:58:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:04 17:58:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "591/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2448", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3264"}