Iran entered the nineteenth century heaving from nearly a century of war and political turmoil. In 1722, the Safavid dynasty succumbed to an ignominious end at the hands of its Afghan vassals, inaugurating a prolonged period of political turmoil which witnessed the dramatic rise and fall of Nādir Shāh (r. 1736–47) and the comparative stability of Karīm Khān Zand (r. 1751–79), to be followed in turn by another bout of tribal and political conflict until qā Muḥammad Khān (r. 1796–7), a scion of the Qājār tribe and lead contender to succeed the throne vacated by the Safavids, finally established himself as patriarch of a new dynasty in 1796. Like his predecessors, qā Muḥammad Khān was forced to conquer the country from within and to fight to maintain the territorial integrity of the state he wished to inherit. But unlike his immediate predecessors, his hegemony proved sufficiently complete that he was able to ensure a peaceful succession, an achievement all the more remarkable given that he had no direct heirs of his own. The Qājār dynasty continued to reign (if not rule) over the ‘Guarded Domains of Iran’ until 1925, a period of comparative stability which nonetheless witnessed profound changes in the character and nature of the Iranian state, especially with respect to its international status.