Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar
1
History. College of Literature. University of Isfahan. Isfahan
2
Department of History.Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
Abstract
The capture of the Safavid capital, Isfahan, in October 1722 CE by the Kandahar Ghilzais marks a critical turning point in Iranian history. Traditional historiographical approaches have primarily reduced the causes of this collapse to issues stemming from the decline in Qizilbash power, the conversion of Mamalik (state provinces) to Khassah (crown lands), the psychological traits of Shah Sultan Husayn, sudden military defeats, and court factionalism. By analyzing the lesser-known narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar—an eyewitness to the invasion, siege, and fall of Isfahan—and applying Jack Goldstone's Demographic-Structural Theory of state breakdown, the present study attempts to explain how latent micro-level demographic and economic pressures transformed into a macro-political deadlock within the Safavid state structure. The research findings demonstrate that Malabar's precise observations of famine, rampant inflation, and the passivity of military institutions were not merely coincidental consequences of the siege; rather, they indicate that the state's ecological and bureaucratic capacities had reached a saturation point. By aligning this evidence with the theory of state breakdown, it is established that the simultaneous convergence of key crises—such as state inefficiency, the deterioration of center-periphery relations, fiscal crisis, deep intra-elite divisions, the emergence of ideological tensions, subsistence crises, and the mobilization potential for popular uprisings—had internally fractured the Safavid governance structure prior to the Ghilzai invasion. Consequently, contrary to traditional readings, the Afghan invasion did not serve as the absolute cause, but merely acted as a "triggering variable" that paved the way for the ultimate breakdown of the Safavid state.
Hasanpour Souderjani, V. and Jafari, A. A. (2026). Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar. Historical Researches, (), -. doi: 10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
MLA
Hasanpour Souderjani, V. , and Jafari, A. A. . "Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar", Historical Researches, , , 2026, -. doi: 10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
HARVARD
Hasanpour Souderjani, V., Jafari, A. A. (2026). 'Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar', Historical Researches, (), pp. -. doi: 10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
CHICAGO
V. Hasanpour Souderjani and A. A. Jafari, "Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar," Historical Researches, (2026): -, doi: 10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
VANCOUVER
Hasanpour Souderjani, V., Jafari, A. A. Analyzing the Fall of Isfahan (1135 AH / 1722 CE) through Eyewitness Accounts: An Application of the State Breakdown Theory to the Narrative of Alexander Sigismund of Malabar. Historical Researches, 2026; (): -. doi: 10.22108/jhr.2026.150292.3004
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