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Qajar dynasty


(1794 – 1925) Ruling dynasty of Iran. It was founded by Agha Muhammad Khan, who brutally reunified Iran and reasserted Iranian rule over territories in Georgia and the Caucasus by defeating his rivals, including the last ruler of the Zand dynasty. His successor, Fath 'Ali Shah (r. 1797 – 1834), lost land to Russia and increased contacts with the West. Nasir al-Din Shah's (r. 1848 – 96) successful manipulation of Russia and Britain preserved Persia's independence, but his successors could not cope with subsequent European meddling, and the dynasty was overthrown by Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925.

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Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Qajar Dynasty

Ruling family of Iran, 1796 - 1925.

The Qajars were a Turkoman tribe that rose to prominence in Iran during the Safavi dynasty (1501 - 1722). In the turbulent civil wars that broke out after the Safavis were deposed by invading Afghans, the Qa-jars gradually consolidated power until Agha Mohammad Shah Qajar crowned himself shah at Tehran in 1796. He was killed a year later, and his nephew succeeded him as Fath Ali Shah (r. 1797 - 1834). During his reign, Russia defeated Iran in two wars (1805 - 1813, 1827 - 1828), acquiring territory in the north, while England blocked Iranian aspirations in Afghanistan. Both countries secured favorable treaty rights in Iran and acquired influence in the succession, which went in 1834 to Fath Ali's grandson Mohammad Shah, who ruled the country un-eventfully until his death in 1848.

During the long reign of Naser al-Din Shah (r. 1848 - 1896), Iran had to confront an increasingly powerful European presence. Trade and budget deficits forced Naser al-Din Shah to grant lucrative concessions in the north to Russia for the operation of the Caspian fisheries, and in the south to Britain for telegraphs, tobacco exports, and river navigation. Believing that various economic and social
reforms would help his government withstand British and Russian influence, Naser al-Din set up European-style educational institutions, brought in Russian advisers to drill his Cossack Brigade, created government printing offices, and tried to establish factories to supply the army. However, he neglected the financial and administrative requirements of the reforms, thus undermining their effectiveness. A serious challenge to his rule arose between 1890 to 1892, when the shah was forced to repeal a monopoly concession for tobacco that he had granted to an English company. In the first mass social movement of the modern period, the entire nation, including Naser al-Din's wives, boycotted tobacco in protest against European economic encroachment and the shah's acquiescence in it.

The aftermath of the Tobacco Revolt was marked by further popular unrest, which culminated in the assassination of Naser al-Din Shah on 1 May 1896. His son, Mozaffar al-Din Shah (r. 1896 - 1907), faced worsening economic conditions, which the bazaar merchants and ulama (Islamic religious leaders) increasingly attributed to the shah's helplessness in confronting foreign pressures. The less numerous Western-trained intelligentsia began to criticize European economic control and Qajar absolutism. In 1905 the beating of four sugar merchants (because of high prices) in the bazaar touched off a series of protests that soon engulfed Tehran and culminated in the summer of 1906 with the bazaar merchants closing their shops en masse and the ulama withdrawing from their religious services. Mozaffar al-Din Shah, unable to rely on support from Russia owing to the revolution there, was forced to agree to the formation of a national assembly (the Majles). This body set about in the fall of 1906 to write a constitution, which the shah signed on 30 December 1906, only nine days before his death.

The Constitutional Revolution brought political turmoil upon Iran between 1905 and 1911. The new king, Mohammad Ali Shah (r. 1907 - 1909), proved to be autocratic, and with Russian support he closed the Majles in June 1908. Constitutional resistance to the shah organized in Tabriz and other cities, and in July 1909, two proconstitution armies converged on Tehran and deposed Mohammad Ali Shah. His eleven-year-old son, Ahmad Shah Qajar, was crowned and ruled under a regent and the watchful eye of the reconstituted Second Majles. The former shah attempted a comeback, with tribal support, in the summer of 1911, but was defeated by the constitutional forces.

The central government under the figurehead Ahmad Shah looked on helplessly during World War I as Russian and British troops fought against Turkish forces in Iran. Local movements arose in several provinces to challenge Tehran, especially in Gilan. A coup d'état in February 1921 brought to power Reza Khan, commander of the Cossack Brigade. As war minister, Reza Khan repressed the provincial opposition movements; by October 1923 he had become prime minister. Soon thereafter, Ahmad Shah left Iran for Europe on a trip of indefinite duration (in fact, he never would return). Reza Khan used his power base in the army and among the majority parties in the Fifth Majles to bring about the deposition of Ahmad Shah on 31 October 1925. Two months later the Majles vested the monarchy in Reza Khan, who adopted Pahlavi as his family surname. This "legal" transfer of royal authority formally ended the rule of the Qajar dynasty.

Bibliography

Amanat, Abbas. Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831 - 1896. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Foran, John. "The Concept of Dependent Development as a Key to the Political Economy of Qajar Iran (1800 - 1925)." Iranian Studies 22, nos. 2 - 3 (1989): 5 - 56.

Lambton, Ann K. S. Qajar Persia: Eleven Studies. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987.

— JOHN FORAN
UPDATED BY ERIC HOOGLUND

 
Wikipedia: Qajar dynasty

The Qajar dynasty (Sound Qajar?) (Persian: سلسله قاجاریه - or دودمان قاجار) was a ruling Persian dynasty[1] of Turkic descent[2], that ruled Persia from 1781 to 1925. The dynasty was founded in 1781 by Agha Muhammad Khan who set out to reunify Iran and established the capital at Tehran. By 1794 he had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had reasserted Iranian sovereignty over the former Iranian territories in Georgia and the Caucasus. In 1796 he was formally crowned as shah, or emperor. [3]

Background

The Qajar rulers were members of the Quvanlu clan of the Qajars, originally themselves members of the Oghuz branch of the larger Turkmen peoples[4][5][6]. Qajars first settled during the Mongol period in the vicinity of Armenia and were among the seven Qizilbash tribes that supported the Safavids [7]. The Safavids "left Arran (present-day Republic of Azerbaijan) to local Turkish khans" [8], and, "in 1554 Ganja was governed by Shahverdi Soltan Ziyadoglu Qajar, whose family came to govern Karabakh in southern Arran" [9].

Qajars filled a number of diplomatic missions and governorships in the 16-17th centuries for the Safavids. The Qajars were resettled by Shah Abbas I throughout Iran. The great number of them also settled in Astarabad (present-day Gorgan, Iran) near the south-eastern corner of the Caspian Sea[5], and it would be this branch of Qajars that would rise to power. The immediate ancestor of Qajars, Shah Qoli Khan Qajar Qovanlu of the Qovanlus of Ganja, married into the Qovanlu Qajars of Astarabad. His son, Fath Ali Khan Qajar, born circa 1685-1693, was a renowned military commander during the rule of the Safavid shahs [[Husayn {Safavid)|Husayn]] and Tahmasp II. He was killed on the orders of Tahmasb Qoli Khan Afshar in 1726. Fath Ali Khan's son Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar (1722-1758) was killed at the behest of Karim Khan Zand, and was the father of Agha Mohammad Khan and Hossein Qoli Khan (Jahansouz Shah) Qajar (father of "Baba Khan," the future Fath Ali Shah Qajar).

Within 126 years between the demise of the Safavid state and the rise of Nasir al-Din Shah, the Qajars evolved from a shepherd-warrior tribe with strongholds in northern Iran into a Persian dynasty with all the trappings of a Perso-Islamic monarchy.[1]

Rise to Power

Main article: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

"Like virtually every dynasty that ruled Iran since the 11th century, the Qajars came to power with the backing of Turkish tribal forces, while using educated Persians in their bureaucracy" [10]. In 1779, following the death of Mohammad Karim Khan Zand, the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Persia, Agha Mohammad Khan, the leader of the Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Persia. Agha Mohammad Khan was castrated in his childhood by the enemies of his father and was one of the cruelest kings even by the 18th century Iranian standards [5]. In his quest for power, he razed cities, massacred entire populations, and in an act of singular cruelty blinded some 20,000 men in the city of Kerman solely because the local populace had chosen to defend the city against his siege [5].

The Qajar armies were composed of a small Turkoman bodyguard and Georgian slaves [11], and by 1794, Agha Mohammad Khan had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had reestablished Iranian control over the territories in the Caucasus. Agha Mohammad established his capital at Tehran, a village near the ruins of the ancient city of Rayy. In 1796 he was formally crowned as shah. Agha Mohammad was assassinated in 1797 in Shusha, the capital of Karabakh khanate, and was succeeded by his nephew, Fath Ali Shah Qajar.

War with Russia

In 1803, under Fath Ali Shah, Iran went to war against Russia during the Russo-Persian War. The Persians went to war because Russia was expanding from the north into the Caucasus Mountains. The Caucacus an area of historic Iranian interest and influence. This period marked the first major economic and military encroachments on Iranian interests during the colonial era. Iran suffered major military defeats during the war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, Iran recognized Russia's annexation of Georgia and ceded to Russia most of the north Caucasus region. The Russo-Persian War of the late 1820s ended even more disastrously for Iran. In 1828, Iran was forced to sign the Treaty of Turkmenchay acknowledging Russian sovereignty over the entire South Caucasus, the area north of the Aras River.

Fath Ali Shah's reign saw increased diplomatic contacts with the West and the beginning of intense European diplomatic rivalries over Iran. His grandson Mohammad Shah, who fell under the influence of Russia and made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Herat, succeeded him in 1834. When Mohammad Shah died in 1848 the succession passed to his son Nasser-e-Din, who proved to be the ablest and most successful of the Qajar sovereigns.

Era of Development and Decline

During Nasser-e-Din Shah's reign Western science, technology, and educational methods were introduced into Iran and the country's modernization was begun. Nasser-e-Din Shah tried to exploit the mutual distrust between Great Britain and Russia to preserve Iran's independence, but foreign interference and territorial encroachment increased under his rule. He contracted huge foreign loans to finance expensive personal trips to Europe. He was not able to prevent Britain and Russia from encroaching into regions of traditional Iranian influence. In 1856, during the Anglo-Persian War, Britain prevented Iran from reasserting control over Herat. The city had been part of Iran in Safavid times, but Herat had been under non-Iranian rule since the mid-18th century. Britain supported the city's incorporation into Afghanistan and, when the war ended in 1857, it was. In large part, Afghanistan was created by Britain in order to extend eastward the buffer between its Indian territories and Russia's expanding empire. Britain also extended its control to other areas of the Persian Gulf during the 19th century. Meanwhile, by 1881, Russia had completed its conquest of present-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, bringing Russia's frontier to Iran's northeastern borders and severing historic Iranian ties to the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand. Several trade concessions by the Iranian government put economic affairs largely under British control. By the late 19th century, many Iranians believed that their rulers were beholden to foreign interests.

Mullahs in the royal presence. The painting style is markedly Qajari.
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Mullahs in the royal presence. The painting style is markedly Qajari.

Mirza Taghi Khan Amir Kabir, was the young prince Nasser-e-Din's advisor and constable. With the death of Mohammad Shah in 1848, Mirza Taqi was largely responsible for ensuring the crown prince's succession to the throne. When Nasser-e-Din succeeded to the throne, Amir Nezam was awarded the position of prime minister and the title of Amir Kabir, the Great Ruler.

Iran was virtually bankrupt, its central government was weak, and its provinces were almost autonomous. During the next two and a half years Amir Kabir initiated important reforms in virtually all sectors of society. Government expenditure was slashed, and a distinction was made between the private and public purses. The instruments of central administration were overhauled, and Amir Kabir assumed responsibility for all areas of the bureaucracy. Foreign interference in Iran's domestic affairs was curtailed, and foreign trade was encouraged. Public works such as the bazaar in Tehran were undertaken. Amir Kabir issued an edict banning ornate and excessively formal writing in government documents; the beginning of a modern Persian prose style dates from this time.

One of the greatest achievements of Amir Kabir was the building of Dar ol Fonoon, the first modern university in Iran and the Middle East. Dar-ol-Fonoon was established for training a new cadre of administrators and acquainting them with Western techniques. Amir Kabir ordered the school to be built on the edge of the city so it can be expanded as needed. He hired French and Russian instructors as well as Iranians to teach subjects as different as Language, Medicine, Law, Geography, History, Economics, and Engineering. Unfortunately, Amir Kabir did not live long enough to see his greatest monument completed, but it still stands in Tehran as a sign of a great man's ideas for the future of his country.

These reforms antagonized various notables who had been excluded from the government. They regarded the Amir Kabir as a social upstart and a threat to their interests, and they formed a coalition against him, in which the queen mother was active. She convinced the young shah that Amir Kabir wanted to usurp the throne. In October 1851 the shah dismissed him and exiled him to Kashan, where he was murdered on the shah's orders.

The Constitutional Revolution

Main article: Iranian Constitutional Revolution
Iran in 19th and 20th centuries.
Enlarge
Iran in 19th and 20th centuries.
Qajar era currency bill with depiction of Nasereddin Shah.
Enlarge
Qajar era currency bill with depiction of Nasereddin Shah.

When Nasser-e-Din Shah was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani in 1896, the crown passed to his son Mozaffar-e-din. Mozaffar-e-din Shah was a weak and ineffectual ruler. Royal extravagance and the absence of incoming revenues exacerbated financial problems. The shah quickly spent two large loans from Russia, partly on trips to Europe. Public anger fed on the shah's propensity for granting concessions to Europeans in return for generous payments to him and his officials. People began to demand a curb on royal authority and the establishment of the rule of law as their concern over foreign, and especially Russian, influence grew.

The shah's failure to respond to protests by the religious establishment, the merchants, and other classes led the merchants and clerical leaders in January 1906 to take sanctuary from probable arrest in mosques in Tehran and outside the capital. When the shah reneged on a promise to permit the establishment of a "house of justice", or consultative assembly, 10,000 people, led by the merchants, took sanctuary in June in the compound of the British legation in Tehran. In August the shah was forced to issue a decree promising a constitution. In October an elected assembly convened and drew up a constitution that provided for strict limitations on royal power, an elected parliament, or Majlis, with wide powers to represent the people, and a government with a cabinet subject to confirmation by the Majles. The shah signed the constitution on December 30, 1906, but refusing to forfeit all of his power to the Majles, attached a caveat that made his signature on all laws required for their enactment. He died five days later. The Supplementary Fundamental Laws approved in 1907 provided, within limits, for freedom of press, speech, and association, and for security of life and property. The Constitutional Revolution marked the end of the medieval period in Iran. The hopes for constitutional rule were not realized, however.

Mozaffar-e-din Shah's son Mohammad Ali Shah (reigned 1907-09), and, with the aid of Russia, attempted to rescind the constitution and abolish parliamentary government. After several disputes with the members of the Majlis, in June 1908 he used his Russian-officered Persian Cossacks Brigade to bomb the Majlis building, arrest many of the deputies, and close down the assembly. Resistance to the shah, however, coalesced in Tabriz, Isfahan, Rasht, and elsewhere. In July 1909, constitutional forces marched from Rasht and Isfahan to Tehran, deposed the shah, and re-established the constitution. The ex-shah went into exile in Russia.

Although the constitutional forces had triumphed, they faced serious difficulties. The upheavals of the Constitutional Revolution and civil war had undermined stability and trade. In addition, the ex-shah, with Russian support, attempted to regain his throne, landing troops in July 1910. Most serious of all, the hope that the Constitutional Revolution would inaugurate a new era of independence from the great powers ended when, under the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, Britain and Russia agreed to divide Iran into spheres of influence. The Russians were to enjoy exclusive right to pursue their interests in the northern sphere, the British in the south and east; both powers would be free to compete for economic and political advantage in a neutral sphere in the center. Matters came to a head when Morgan Shuster, a United States administrator hired as treasurer general by the Persian government to reform its finances, sought to collect taxes from powerful officials who were Russian protégés and to send members of the treasury gendarmerie, a tax department police force, into the Russian zone. When in December 1911 the Majlis unanimously refused a Russian ultimatum demanding Shuster's dismissal, Russian troops, already in the country, moved to occupy the capital. To prevent this, on December 20 Bakhtiari chiefs and their troops surrounded the Majles building, forced acceptance of the Russian ultimatum, and shut down the assembly, once again suspending the constitution.

Fall of the dynasty

Soltan Ahmad Shah, was born 21 January 1898 in Tabriz, and succeeded to the throne at age 11. However, the occupation of Iran during World War I (1914-18) by Russian, British, and Ottoman troops was a blow from which Ahmad Shah never effectively recovered. With a coup d'état in February 1921, Reza Khan (ruled as Reza Shah Pahlavi, 1925-41) became the preeminent political personality in Iran; Ahmad Shah left Iran in 1923 for Europe never to return. He was formally deposed by the Majlis (national consultative assembly) in October 1925 while in Europe, and that assembly declared the rule of the Qajar dynasty to be terminated. Sultan Ahmad Shah died later on 21 February 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Qajar Royal Family

The Qajar Imperial Family in exile is currently headed by the eldest descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah, Soltan Ali Mirza Qajar, while the Heir Presumptive to the Qajar throne is Mohammad Hassan Mirza II, the grandson of Mohammad Hassan Mirza, Soltan Ahmad Shah's brother and heir. Mohammad Hassan Mirza died in England in 1943, having proclaimed himself shah in exile in 1930 after the death of his brother in France.

Today, the descendants of the Qajars often identify themselves as such and hold reunions to stay socially acquainted through the Kadjar Family Association[2].

Shahs of Persia, 1794-1925

Heads and Heirs Presumptive of the Qajar dynasty since 1925

Heads of the Qajar Imperial Family

The headship of the Imperial Family is inherited by the eldest male descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah.

Heirs Presumptive of the Qajar dynasty

The Heir Presumptive is the Qajar heir to the Iranian throne.

Notable members of Qajar family

Political

Religious

  • Aga Khan III, Ismaili spiritual leader, was the son of a Qajar princess.
  • Aga Khan IV, Current Agha Khan, Qajar through his grandfather Agha Khan III.

Popular Culture

References

  1. ^ a b Abbas Amanat, The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896, I.B.Tauris, pp 2-3
  2. ^ Richard N. Frye and Lewis V. Thomas. The United States and Turkey and Iran, Harvard University Press, 1951, p. 217
  3. ^ Qajar Dynasty on Encyclopædia Britannica
  4. ^ Genealogy and History of Qajar (Kadjar) Rulers and Heads of the Imperial Kadjar House
  5. ^ a b c d Cyrus Ghani. Iran and the Rise of the Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power, I.B. Tauris, 2000, ISBN 1860646298, p. 1
  6. ^ William Bayne Fisher. Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 344, ISBN 0521200946
  7. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica. The Qajar Dynasty. Online Edition
  8. ^ K. M. Röhrborn, Provinzen und Zentralgewalt Persiens im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1966, p. 4
  9. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica. Ganja. Online Edition
  10. ^ Nikki R. Keddie. "The Iranian Power Structure and Social Change 1800-1969: An Overview", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1. (Jan., 1971), p. 4
  11. ^ Ira Marvin Lapidus. "A History of Islamic Societies", Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0521779332, p. 469
  12. ^ http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Persia/qajar13.htm
  13. ^ [1]

See also

External links



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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Qajar dynasty".  Read more

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