The Consequences of the Gijduvon Battle in the Political Geography of Transoxiana and in the Power Interrelations of the Safavids

Undoubtedly, one of the main challenges facing the Safavids since the beginning of their rule in Iran was how to deal with Uzbeks as one of their stubborn enemies in the northeast regions. Those who had territorial and religious claims against the Safavids, during the expansion and consolidation of the power of Shah Ismail I in Iran, created for him a great deal of concern in the Khorasan region. Eventually, the first Safavid king, who also had common claims against the destructive power of Uzbeks, had to solidly and seriously prevent them from moving forward into Khorasan. The battle of Marv served the intentions of Shah Ismail, but another battle called Gijduvon, which took place along the Amu Darya not long after the battle of Marv, ended in the defeat of Shah Ismail's troops. The present study, with a descriptive-analytical approach, seeks to answer this question that how this failure affected the political geography of Transoxiana and the internal relations of power in Iran. The results of this study indicate that the Gijduvon battle ended the continuation of the Timurid rule in the Transoxiana region in addition to putting an end to the wishes of Shah Ismail I for propagating the power of the Safavids on the other side of Amu Darya. Moreover, this battle revealed the disturbances in the credo centered system in the power structure of the Safavids.