Environmental Damages of Wars in the Safavid Era

The Safavid era is one of the challenging periods in the Iranian history during when foreign disputes significantly influenced Iran’s environment. During this period, extensive wars against the Ottomans and Uzbeks occurred in the western and eastern regions of the country. These wars, in addition to causing human and financial losses, had considerable destructive effects. The present article examines the environmental damages resulting from the wars of this period. The results of the study showed that the extensive attacks of the Ottomans or the Uzbeks on Iranian lands, as well as some defensive policies of the Safavids against these attacks, led to the destruction of water resources and serious damages to food resources, which caused famine and various diseases in the society. Given the extent of the wars and the large number of battles, the famines and disease outbreaks were inevitable. Therefore, it is clear that the wars of the Safavid era had extensive and profound effects on Iran’s environmental space.