Tahqiqāt-e Târix-e Eqtesâdi (Economic History Studies of Iran)

Governing the War Economy: Wealth and Defeat—An Analysis of Allocative, Logistical, and Social Imbalances in the Ghaznavids’ Conflicts with the Seljuks (1025–1040 CE)

Articles in Press

Document Type : .

Authors

Nayere Dalir 1
reza derikvandy 2

1 Associate Professor of Iran History

2 Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Yazd University. Iran

10.30465/ehs.2026.54519.2096
Abstract
Despite possessing three privileged sources of revenue—Indian plunder, a centralized tax system, and a geoeconomic position along the Silk Road—the Ghaznavid state was defeated in its conflicts with the Seljuqs (416–431 AH). This paradox, namely the analysis of the reasons for the defeat of a wealthy power against destitute nomads from the perspective of war economy, constitutes the central problem of this study. The main research question is: Despite the Ghaznavids’ abundant financial resources, what factors led to the "inefficiency of their war economy governance"? The hypothesis posits that the combination of three structural imbalances—1) allocational imbalance (expenditure of resources on fronts with negative marginal returns), 2) logistical imbalance (insistence on a "heavy baggage train" model ill-suited to desert warfare), and 3) social imbalance (the exclusion of the people of Khorasan from defensive participation through the policy of "the peasantry must not fight" coupled with oppressive tax policies)—neutralized the Ghaznavids' financial advantage. The research method employs historical-explanatory and analytical reasoning based on a critical re-reading of Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī, utilizing concepts from the war economy literature.

Keywords

Governance of war economy
Ghaznavids
allocative
logistical
social imbalances
Seljuks
Subjects
Tahqiqāt-e Târix-e Eqtesâdi (Economic History Studies of Iran)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 07 September 2026

  • Receive Date 27 April 2026
  • Revise Date 21 August 2026
  • Accept Date 07 September 2026

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