Ahmad Qajar

1869 - 1929

Sixth and last monarch of Persia's Qajar dynasty.

Ahmad Qajar was the son of Mohammad Ali Shah and Malekeh Jahan (daughter of Kamran Mirza, a son of Naser al-Din Shah, the fourth Qajar monarch). Ahmad Shah (also called Soltan Ahmad Shah) ascended to the throne at age eleven, when his father was deposed in 1909. Care was taken with his education; besides the traditional studies, he had a French professor who taught him political science and administrative law. A regent was appointed until he reached his majority, and the second majles (assembly) was called by him.

Ahmad Shah's reign coincided with a change in rivalry between Britain and Russia. The Convention of 1907 had divided Persia into three zones: Russia in the north, Britain in the southeast, and a neutral zone. The old rivalry between Russia and Britain, which had guaranteed Persia's independence, became an alliance that threatened to control. Russia issued an ultimatum that they would occupy Tehran unless Persia dismissed Morgan Shuster, an American financier, employed with the approval of the majles to reform Persia's financial administration. This was done and the regent closed the majles for three years, until Ahmad Shah came of age in 1914 and had to take his oath of office in the majles before he could be crowned. The coronation actually preceded the opening, on the eve of World War I.

At the outbreak of war, Persia declared neutrality, but the belligerents disregarded it and soon turned the country into a battleground. Nationalists and the majles favored the Germans and Turks - who opposed Persia's traditional enemies, Britain and Russia. When the Russians threatened to advance on Tehran, Ahmad Shah was persuaded that were he to go he would forfeit his throne.

Until the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Allies controlled Persia, with financial aid and military occupation. The Russian Revolution left the British in sole control. They tried to take advantage of the new situation by negotiating a treaty to keep financial and military control - and Ahmad Shah signed it, reluctantly, since it was opposed by the nationalists, who eventually defeated it.

A succession of weak governments, civil war, and communist infiltration from the newly formed Soviet Union caused a coup d'état in 1921, partly planned and inspired by the British occupying forces, which were soon to evacuate the country. The coup was carried out by Reza Khan, commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, and a pro-British journalist, Sayyid Ziya al-Din. Overcome by the turn of events, Ahmad Shah installed them in power - Sayyid Ziya as prime minister and Reza as minister of war. Reza ousted Sayyid Ziya and became prime minister, controlling the new army he had formed. His modernization policy also won him the support of the young nationalists.

In 1923, Ahmad Shah left Iran, appointing his brother to be in charge. A movement to establish a republic with Reza as president was defeated, especially by the ulama (body of mullahs), who feared secularization, as was established in Turkey. In 1925, the Qajar dynasty was deposed by the fifth majles, which voted to give the monarchy to the Pahlavi dynasty, with Reza Khan becoming Reza Shah Pahlavi, the founder. Ahmad Shah has been maligned by the historians of the Pahlavi era, shown as weak and vacillating; recent historians have emphasized his democratic nature, his wish to reign and not to rule. He lived and died in exile and was buried in Karbala, a holy Shiʿite city in southern Iraq.

Bibliography

Bayat, Mangol. Mysticism and Dissent: Socioreligious Thought in Qajar Iran. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1999.

Daniel, Elton L., ed. Society and Culture in Qajar Iran: Studies in Honor of Hafez Farmayan. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2002.

Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919 - 1939. First series, vol. 13. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1963.

Ghani, Cyrus. Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Rule. New York and London: Tauris, 1998.

Keddie, Nikki R., and Matthee, Rudi, eds. Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.

Lambton, A. K. S. Qajar Persia: Eleven Studies. London: Tauris, 1987.

Van den Bos, Matthijs. Mystic Regimes: Sufism and the State in Iran, from the Late Qajar Era to the Islamic Republic. Leiden, Netherlands, and Boston, MA: Brill, 2002.

— MANSOUREH ETTEHADIEH