THE REIGN OF ZAMAN SHAH: AN ATTEMPT OF THE DURRANI EMPIRE TO SURVIVE

Abstract

The article is devoted to an Afghan monarch, Zaman Shah Durrani (1793-1801), the third ruler of the Durrani Empire, and discusses such problems as  the struggle for power in a monarchy with no strict order of succession and many contenders for the throne due to the polygamy of the monarch and the reliance of the monarchy on different clans and influence groups; the complexity of managing an empire, which was based on the loyalty of the leaders of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes; the difficulty of governing a vast empire, the outskirts of which were prone to revolts against the central government; and, the last but not the least, the ultimate doom of an empire of this (seminomadic, medieval) type before empires of a new type – European colonial empires of Modern times. The life of Zaman Shah consisted of endless campaigns from the East to the West and from the West to the East of his weakening Empire. Zaman was the most competent of the brothers and tried to contribute to benefit of the nation and for the peace and prosperity of the country, but all his attempts at Indian conquest (in which his grandfather succeeded) were ill-directed and ill-timed, though the hopes of the Muslims of India related to him as a defender of Islam against the advancing East India Company. Dreaming only about India, Zaman didn’t pay much attention to the securing of the support of his own tribe and didn’t bother much to defend Khorasan which had become the object of desire of a new Persian ruler – Agha Mohammad Shah Qajar. Under Zaman Shah, the Durrani Empire remained a regional power, but the crisis of Afghan statehood, which erupted after Zaman Shah’s reign, led to the collapse of the Durrani Empire and to the fragmentation of Afghanistan.