War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$1,( \Y$

PrologueThe dream of empirePeter W. AveryThe Safavid dynasty conquered and then ruled over most of what today isthe geographical entity, Iran, for 234 years. That the period of the achievementof Safavid sway over Iran is described as having been preceded by itsconquest is significant. Dominion over the whole country was only achievedby the fifth Safavid Shah ‘Abbas I (1587–1629), who moved the capital Qazvinto Isfahan, making this city one of the wonders of the world. Nader Shahestablished Safavid puppets until his own coronation in 1736, but it was theAfghans’ 1722 invasion that in fact ended the great regime of the SafavidShahs, which they had formed as a Shi’ite counterpoise to the SunniOttoman Empire.Nader Shah’s Afsharid dynasty lasted from 1736 to his assassination, bya group of servants considered trustworthy, 11 years later. The dynasty wascarried on through the reign of the blind Shahrokh who was eventually torturedto death by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1796 when the latterwas seeking to get hold of Nader Shah’s treasury.Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was the founder of a dynasty that lasted145 years. In some respects it emulated that of the Safavids, not least in successfullyaccomplishing dominion over the whole of the modern Iranian area.Afghanistan had become detached after the fall of Nader Shah, but, insofaras its city of Herat was concerned, was twice the target of the Qajar rulers.Pretensions to provinces in Central Asia had long since been dropped;Nader Shah attempted a reconquest there but failed. The expedition plannedin 1833 by the brilliant innovative military reformer, the Qajar ‘Abbas Mirza,was aborted by this Prince’s untimely death. It was the premature demise ofa man who, had he lived to succeed his father, Fath-Ali Shah, might havecompletely changed the future of Iran.The purpose in drawing attention to, first of all, Qajar emulation of Safavidrule and, secondly, the length of time their respective dynasties survived,becomes manifest when the state of Iran which the Qajars found and, forthat matter, which the Safavids had found on their ascent to power, is notedas having been a scene of anarchy. On the murder of Nader Shah, his hugeWehrmacht fell apart. His Afghan general, Azad, took over Azerbaijan. HisBakhtian Officer, Mardan Khan, held Isfahan, while Karim Khan Zand reigned
14 Peter W. Averyin Shiraz and contended for supremacy with Shahrokh, Nader’s grandson,whom he ultimately left a shadowy potentate in Mashad. 1During this chaotic period, Mohammad Hussain Khan Qajar consolidatedhis position in the Caspian region round Astarabad. His son AghaMohammad, after he had been castrated by Nader’s nephew, ‘Adil Shah, 2was eventually captured but treated honourably in Shiraz by Karim Khanthe Zand. Western historians tell how, although he was well treated, the eunuchAqa Mohammad nurtured the ambition to avenge the Qajars, a Turcomanpeople from the North, on his captors. It is said that he used to sit in KarimKhan’s court and cut into the carpet with a sharp fruit knife as a meansof venting his anger and indignation. It was a purpose he accomplishedas the Qajar dynasty’s founder when he had the remains of Karim Khanthe Zand reburied under the doorstep of his residence in his new capital,Tehran, so that he might have the satisfaction of stepping on the Zand’s grave.Historians have tended to present him as a bitter and cruel tyrant, but thisinterpretation of his conduct has to be seen against the background of theanarchic conditions he found in the realm over which it was his purpose toestablish a nationwide hegemony.This he did, but suffered from what became the bane of all Qajar rulers: lackof usable revenue, the insufficiency of which became more pressing as QajarIran was brought closer to Powers representing a more modern world. Asfor the loot in jewels Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar had seized from the lastAfsharid, and Nader in his turn from the Emperors of India, precious gemsare not an easily convertible asset. What was wanting was a sufficiency ofrevenue from taxes. There is a moving account of how a revenue official enteringAgha Mohammad’s tent one winter’s evening found him playing, as itwere, marbles on the floor with those precious stones Nader had fetched fromDelhi. There was little else that the Shah could do with these baubles.In many of the discourses contained in this volume, and which were presentedat the Conference, the spectacle is seen of history turned inside out.Too much of the history of Iran, as written by Western historians, is thedepiction of the Iranian people and their vicissitudes from outside. As alreadysuggested, the cruelty of Agha Mohammad Shah can be explained not onlyby his physical defect, but principally by the situation with which he wasfaced when he set out to gain supremacy.He was succeeded by his nephew, the magnificent Fath-Ali, whose consciousnessof the dream of Empire is displayed in his having images of himselfcarved in proximity to those in ancient ruins dating back to the Sassanidand Achaemenid eras, times when Iran established the prototype for all futuregreat empires. The magnificence of Fath-Ali Shah and, incidentally, the meticulousnessof his Court procedures and hierarchy of officials, are amply illustratedby James Morier, a member of King George III’s mission to the PersianCourt in the years 1808–1809. 3 Morier is blessedly impartial and was obviouslyimpressed by Fath-Ali Shah’s splendour.Unfortunately, that splendour was to become increasingly threatened by theimpact of Russia in the north and the responding impact of Britain seeking
Page 2 and 3: War and Peace in Qajar PersiaPersia
Page 4 and 5: War and Peace inQajar PersiaImplica
Page 6 and 7: ContentsList of figuresContributors
Page 8 and 9: Figures5.1 Omani enclaves 1305.2 Ar
Page 10 and 11: Contributor listMansoureh Ettehadie
Page 12: AcknowledgementsThis volume grew ou
Page 15 and 16: 2 Roxane Farmanfarmaianrepresented
Page 17 and 18: 4 Roxane Farmanfarmaianchapter in t
Page 19 and 20: 6 Roxane FarmanfarmaianThus, two si
Page 21 and 22: 8 Roxane Farmanfarmaiangaining grea
Page 23 and 24: 10 Roxane Farmanfarmaiantough deals
Page 25: 12 Roxane FarmanfarmaianIranian geo
Page 29 and 30: 16 Peter W. Averybut the invasion w
Page 32: Part IWar
Page 35 and 36: 22 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarth
Page 37 and 38: 24 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarap
Page 39 and 40: 26 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarmi
Page 43 and 44: 30 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajardo
Page 45 and 46: 32 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-QajarIn
Page 47 and 48: 34 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarco
Page 49 and 50: 36 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-QajarTh
Page 55 and 56: 42 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarop
Page 57 and 58: 44 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarbe
Page 59 and 60: 46 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajarva
Page 61 and 62: 48 Stephanie Cronincapacity and res
Page 63 and 64: 50 Stephanie Croninforces of the es
Page 65 and 66: 52 Stephanie CroninPART ONE: THE QA
Page 67 and 68: 54 Stephanie Croninprincipally on h
Page 69 and 70: 56 Stephanie CroninThe French offic
Page 71 and 72: 58 Stephanie CroninEuropean alignme
Page 73 and 74: 60 Stephanie Croninthe authorities
Page 75 and 76: 62 Stephanie Croninin the revolutio
Page 77 and 78:
64 Stephanie Croninof power and sta
Page 79 and 80:
66 Stephanie Croninliving and the m
Page 81 and 82:
68 Stephanie Croninconsequences for
Page 83 and 84:
70 Stephanie Croninrevolution was a
Page 85 and 86:
72 Stephanie CroninNew British miss
Page 87 and 88:
74 Stephanie CroninBrigade to a Div
Page 89 and 90:
76 Stephanie Croninwithout the sove
Page 91 and 92:
78 Stephanie Croninaccounting devic
Page 93 and 94:
80 Stephanie Croninbut also faced a
Page 95 and 96:
82 Stephanie Cronindetermined on th
Page 97 and 98:
84 Stephanie Cronin15 For a discuss
Page 99 and 100:
86 Stephanie Cronin55 The Anglo-Rus
Page 101 and 102:
3 The Turko-Persian War1821-1823Win
Page 103 and 104:
90 Graham WilliamsonThe resultant w
Page 105 and 106:
92 Graham Williamsonprovincial forc
Page 107 and 108:
94 Graham WilliamsonThe field armyO
Page 109 and 110:
96 Graham Williamsonnot hold out mu
Page 111 and 112:
98 Graham Williamsonoften in arrear
Page 113 and 114:
100 Graham Williamsonthan any desig
Page 115 and 116:
102 Graham WilliamsonThere were ove
Page 117 and 118:
104 Graham Williamsonone should not
Page 119 and 120:
Table 3.2 Persian regional armies (
Page 121 and 122:
108 Graham WilliamsonIranian influe
Page 123 and 124:
4 Social networks andborder conflic
Page 125 and 126:
112 Vanessa MartinPersian troops on
Page 127 and 128:
114 Vanessa Martinof comparatively
Page 129 and 130:
116 Vanessa MartinTHE ROLE OF SOCIA
Page 131 and 132:
118 Vanessa MartinThe Shah’s negl
Page 133 and 134:
120 Vanessa Martinborder or any oth
Page 135 and 136:
122 Vanessa Martin44 No. 38, 2 June
Page 138 and 139:
5 The consolidation of Iran’sfron
Page 140 and 141:
Consolidation of Iran’s frontier
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Figure 5.2 Arab principalities
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
6 Narrowing the frontierMid-ninetee
Page 164 and 165:
Narrowing the frontier 151witnessed
Page 166 and 167:
Figure 6.1 The 1843 borderlands sta
Page 168 and 169:
Narrowing the frontier 155And the S
Page 170 and 171:
Figure 6.2 The 1850 Williams line a
Page 172 and 173:
Narrowing the frontier 159elicited
Page 174 and 175:
Narrowing the frontier 161travellin
Page 176 and 177:
Narrowing the frontier 163be found
Page 178 and 179:
Narrowing the frontier 165A similar
Page 180 and 181:
Narrowing the frontier 167and accep
Page 182 and 183:
Narrowing the frontier 169Perhaps t
Page 184 and 185:
Narrowing the frontier 171By this s
Page 186 and 187:
Narrowing the frontier 17346 For a
Page 188 and 189:
Crime, security, and insecurity 175
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
8 Merchants without bordersTrade, t
Page 198 and 199:
Merchants without frontier 185the m
Page 200 and 201:
Merchants without frontier 187and d
Page 202 and 203:
Merchants without frontier 189photo
Page 204 and 205:
Merchants without frontier 191their
Page 206 and 207:
Merchants without frontier 193In an
Page 208 and 209:
Figure 8.1Seated, first from left:
Page 210 and 211:
Figure 8.3Seated: Hajj Mohammad-Taq
Page 212 and 213:
Figure 8.5 Taken in Hajj Hasan Jour
Page 214 and 215:
Merchants without frontier 201Figur
Page 216 and 217:
Merchants without frontier 203Studi
Page 218 and 219:
Merchants without frontier 20516 Me
Page 220 and 221:
Merchants without frontier 207and t
Page 222 and 223:
Merchants without frontier 209or pu
Page 224 and 225:
Merchants without frontier 211It ca
Page 226 and 227:
9 The politics of concessionReasses
Page 228 and 229:
The politics of concession 215gradu
Page 230 and 231:
The politics of concession 217Shah,
Page 232 and 233:
The politics of concession 219assig
Page 234 and 235:
The politics of concession 221compa
Page 236 and 237:
The politics of concession 223gross
Page 238 and 239:
The politics of concession 225the B
Page 240 and 241:
The politics of concession 227as th
Page 242 and 243:
IndexAbbas Mirza, Crown Prince 6, 1
Page 244 and 245:
Index 231Gulf Arabs 127-9Gwadar 136
Page 246 and 247:
Index 233policy in Persian Gulf 131
show all

War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?