Nader Shah

Nader Shah (1688-1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty and Shah of Iran from 1736 until his assassination in 1747. Rising from a military commander serving the collapsing Safavid state, he expelled invading Afghan and Ottoman forces before seizing the throne himself, then led a series of far-reaching campaigns that extended Persian control from the Caucasus to Central Asia. In 1739 he invaded the Mughal Empire and sacked Delhi, massacring large numbers of its inhabitants in reprisal for a riot and carrying off enormous plunder, including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Widely regarded by historians as one of the last great Asian conquerors and military innovators, his later years were marked by increasing paranoia and brutality toward his own subjects and officers, and he was killed by a group of his own officers in 1747.