Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

AGGRESSION ON AFGHANISTAN 439
invaded Persian Baluchistan, hut in the end v. lied.
The present representative of the family
is one of the
leading and most enlightened Moslems in India, where his
followers are termed Khojas.
Perso-Turkish Relations, 1842-1843. Since the close
of hostilities between Persia and Turkey
there had been
many causes of mutual complaint, as was only to be expected
with an ill-defined frontier inhabited on both sides
by wild and turbulent tribesmen.
In 1842 the Kurdish Vali of Ardelan collected his
horsemen to support a dismissed Pasha of Sulaymania,
whose case the Persian Government had taken up with
slight success, and to meet this force Turkish troops
assembled on their side of the frontier. A Kurdish
detachment was sent to occupy a defile in rear of the
Turkish position, but the manoeuvre was rendered unavailing
by the defeat of the Vali of Ardelan. The matter
was misrepresented at Teheran ;
the Shah gave orders for
an army to be assembled, and an outbreak of hostilities
appeared to be imminent. Great Britain and Russia,
however, used their good offices, and war was averted.
Subsequently a commission was formed for delimiting
the frontier, and the peace was not broken. In the
following year religious opinion in Persia was outraged by
an attack on Kerbela and a massacre of its inhabitants.
Although this city is on Turkish soil, the cry
for war was
universal and extensive military preparations were made ;
but the Turkish Government expressed regret and
promised compensation, and hostilities were again avoided.
The Death of Mohamed Shah, 1848.
from boyhood had been a martyr to
Mohamed Shah
and when he
gout,
reached his fortieth year
he was attacked by a complication
of maladies to which he succumbed. His differences
with Great Britain and his failure before Herat, combined
with ill-health, had soured his character, which was
certainly bigoted and cruel but
; according to his lights
he
was not a bad Shah. The state of Persia, however, was
not satisfactory for ; Haji Mirza Aghasi,
who had been its
"
virtual ruler for thirteen years, was utterly ignorant of
statesmanship or of military science, yet
too vain to receive