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

30 Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajardo not affect the process of rational decision-making unless they are of suchextraordinary amplitude that they would distort the decision-making processaltogether. In that case the term duress might be a more appropriateterm, with all the implications and nuances that it implies. These instancesare of course rare and must be treated as exceptions. Certainly in the casesunder consideration here, constraints never reached this level, though at times,the pressures Fath-Ali Shah and Abbas Mirza were under between thedemands by France, Great Britain, and Russia, could be considered duressby more sympathetic commentators on the period.Unlike Fath-Ali Shah’s dilemma, for Agha Mohammad Khan veryfew constraints remained once he had conquered his domestic foes. AghaMohammad Khan was also the beneficiary of international events he hadno hand in affecting. First, his would-be foe, Catherine II, died in 1796 andwas replaced by her son Paul I, who showed no interest in pursuing her policiesof conquest in the southern Caucasus. He, instead, summoned CountZubov to return to St Petersburg, and in so doing effectively removed thethreat of any encounter with the Russian armies, freeing Agha MohammadKhan’s hand to consolidate his power in the southern Caucasus.Second, Napoleon’s ascendancy in Europe as First Consul and Generalof the revolutionary armies of France, drew away the attention, albeit temporarily,of the Great Powers from the Persian and Central Asian theatreand focused it on Europe. This was still true at the time of Fath-Ali Shah’saccession to the throne, although the British government in India was alreadytaking notice for its own reasons, given that Agha Mohammad Khan haddied while contemplating an eastern campaign the moment he was satisfiedthat the gains from his northern campaign were consolidated.Third, the military absence of Russia and Great Britain meant that Persia’sarmies were the strongest military force in the region with no credible challenger.The only possible constraint on Agha Mohammad Khan’s plannedmilitary campaigns would have been the collapse of his internal coalitions,either in the larger Qajar clan or with the other tribes, but given his trackrecord, even these eventualities were very remote. Agha Mohammad Khanwas in an enviable position at the time of his second campaign in theCaucasus. He was practically the unimpeded master of the entire terrain and,were it not for his assassination on that fateful night at Shusha, who knowswhat circumstances his heirs would have inherited.FATH-ALI SHAH: CONSTRAINTS ON DECISION-MAKINGAND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PERSIA’S BORDERSFath-Ali Shah only had the benefit of a few years of respite regarding thequestion of the borders of Persia with Russia. In 1801, Tsar Paul I was assassinatedand replaced by his son Alexander I. Tsar Alexander’s views concerningthe southern Caucasus differed dramatically from those of his father