Ismail II and Mohammad I Khoda-Bande:

In Ghazvin, a group of Ismail's supporters lead by his sister Parikhan-Khanom welcomed Ismail to the palace. Ismail took the control and immidiatly began a reign of terror. He captured and blinded all of his close reletives, and killed anybody whom he thought maybe dangarous to his throne. His first victime was Soleyman Mirza, his third brother, then the rest of his family, with the exception of Mohammad Khoda-Bande, his second oldest brother. Mohammad and his family were in Harat, in the eastern side of Iran(now in Afghanistan), and because Mohammad was already half blind (birth defect), Ismail did not think of him as a threat, and his children, Heydar 11 and Abbas 8 were too young to be considered dangarous.

After Ismail wiped his hands from the blood of his reletives, he got married. In 9 months he had a child whom he called "Shah Shoja" (the brave king). He was now sure of himself and was planning to change the capital abck to Tabriz, and make a new palace for himself. By this time the Ghezelbash soldiers were tired of this blood thirsty king, so they sent a messanger to Harat and asked Mohammad to send his oldest son Heydar to them so they can declare hin as the new king. Instead of sending the boy, Mohammad decided to go to the capital. When Ismail heard the news, he immidiatly sent someone to blind Mohammad and both of his sons. When the executioner reached Semnan(mid way between Harat and Ghazvin), he found out that only Mohammad himself is there and his sons had fled the scene with their mother and are in their way to Kerman, in southern Iran.

Ismail sent some soldiers to capture his nephews, and orderd the executioner to blind the Mohammad any way. When the soldiers got to Kerman and tried to capture the yuong boys, they faced an unexpected problem: Heydar, the older son, and some of his followers attacked the soldiers! They did not let the soldiers to succeed and stayed free.

After this minor victory, Heydar's mother encouraged him to begin a revolt against his tyrant uncle. Heydar found enough soldiers to stand in front of the Ismail II's army. On the other hand, in Ghazvin, people and courtians were becoming angry about Ismail's madly behaviour, so they started to support the Heydar's army in secret.

Heydar defeated Ismail's army in several occasions, but unfortunately he got killed mysteriously in one of the battles. Nobody was able to find out who killed him. This great los could have been the end of Mohammad's family, but something happened at this time that changed everything. Abbas, heydar's younger brother got the control of his brother's army and began moving toward the capital. When this news reached Ghazvin, a revolt broke out and like a thunder, it reached the royal palace. Whithin hours, the palace was in fire. After everything calmed down, people found the dead bodies of Ismail II and his child. They have been killed by an unknown person.

In General, this era can be called an era of revolt, anarchy, and complete unrest in the country. Ismail II can be called the Caligula of Iran. He was very brutal, he killed most of his family and just like Caligula he thought of himself as the greatest of the kings. Nobody, not even his sister Parikhan Khanom cried for his death, and he remains one of the most horrible kings in the history. His reign lasted for less than two years.

After Ismail's death, Ghezelbash guard decided to declair Abbas as the king, but because he was too young, they called upon his blind father to capture the throne of Shah Tahmasp.

Mohammad Khodabande was a weak man. In his life, he never accepted any real responsibility, and he never finished a job. Even his father did not see him fit for the throne of "Moshed-e Kaamel"(official title of the Safavid kings). During his 10 years on the throne, he had very little influence. We can call his reign the pre-face for the reign of one of the most glorious kings of Iran, Shah Abbas Bozorg (king Abbas the Great).

Reign of Shah Tahmasp I Reigns of Ismail II and Mohammad
Beginning of Reign of Shah Abbas Golden Age of Shah Abbas
Reign of Safi I, Abbas II, and Soleyman I Soltan Hossein and the Afghan Invasion
End of Afghan Invasion and Reign of Tahmasp II
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