ABSTRACT
Safavid rule transformed the religious life of the empire but had a much less significant effect on its ethnic composition and social structure. Safavid politics and military recruitment followed the patterns common in the Islamic world before the gunpowder period. The strength of the Safavid following among the Turkmen of Anatolia made a clash with the Ottomans inevitable. The establishment phase of the Safavid Empire ended with a Qizilbash confederation ruling Azerbaijan, Iraq, western Iran, and Khurasan. Safavid conceptions of sovereignty evolved over time and addressed multiple audiences, though the evolution was less complex and the number of audiences smaller than in the Ottoman Empire. The standard argument, that the Safavids imposed Twelver Shiism in order to create a sharp distinction between themselves and the Sunni Ottomans and Uzbeks and to establish a national identity is both teleological and anachronistic. The Safavids made few major alterations in the system of landholding that discouraged innovation and increases in production.
