Sublime State of Persia دولت علیّه ایران Dowlat-e Elliye-ye Irân
← 1785–1925 →
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem Salâmati-ye Shâh (Well-being of the King)
Map of Iran under the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century.
Capital	Tehran
Language(s)	Persian (court literature, administrative, cultural, official)[1][2] Azerbaijani Turkic (principal language of the court)[3]
Government	Absolute Monarchy until 1906 Constitutional Monarchy until 1925
Shah
- 1794-1797	Mohammad Khan Qajar (first)
- 1909-1925	Ahmad Shah Qajar (last)
Prime Minister
- 1906	Mirza Nasrullah Khan (first)
- 1923-1925	Reza Pahlavi (last)
History
- Qajar dynasty begins	1785
- Treaty of Gulistan	1813
- Treaty of Turkmenchay	1828
- Constitutional Revolution	1906
- Pahlavi dynasty begins	1925
Currency	Toman

History of Iran

See also: Kings of Persia · Timeline of Iran

Antiquity Prehistory Proto-Elamite period 3200–2800 Elamite dynasty 2800–550 Kassites 16th–12th cent. Mannaeans 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Parthian Empire 248 BCE–226 CE Sassanid Empire 226–651 Middle Ages Islamic conquest 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Sajid dynasty 889/890–929 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 875–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1062 Sallarid 942–979 Ma'munids 995-1017 Ghaznavid Empire 963–1187 Ghori dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuq dynasty 1037–1194 Khwarezmid dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Sarbadars 1337–1376 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid dynasty 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu 1378–1508 Modern history Safavid dynasty 1501–1722/36 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Qajar dynasty 1781–1925 Pahlavi dynasty 1925–1979 Interim Government 1979–1980 Islamic Republic since 1980 view talk edit

The Qajar dynasty ( Qajar (help·info)) (Persian: سلسله قاجاریه‎ - or دودمان قاجار, also anglicized as Ghajar or Kadjar) is an Iranian royal family of Turkic origin,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} who ruled Persia (Iran) from 1785 to 1925.^[9][10] The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Persian sovereignty over parts of the Caucasus. In 1796 Mohammad Khan Qajar was formally crowned as shah.^[11]

Origins[link]

The Qajar (or Ghajar) rulers were members of the Karagoz of the Qajars, originally the members of the Qaraqalpaqs of the larger Turkmen peoples.^[4][5][6][7] Qajars first settled during the Mongol period in the vicinity of Armenia and were among the seven Qizilbash tribes that supported the Safavids.^[12] The Safavids "left Arran (present-day Republic of Azerbaijan) to local Turkic speaking khans",^[13] and, "in 1554 Ganja was governed by Shahverdi Soltan Ziyadoglu Qajar, whose family came to govern Karabakh in southern Arran".^[14]

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 Persia. 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 Quvanlu of the Quvanlus of Ganja, married into the Quvanlu Qajars of Astarabad. His son, Fath Ali Khan Qajar, born c. 1685-1693, was a renowned military commander during the rule of the Safavid shahs Husayn and Tahmasp II. He was killed on the orders of Tahmasp Qoli Khan Afshar (Nader Shah) 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 Persia into a Persian dynasty with all the trappings of a Perso-Islamic monarchy.^[9]

Rise to power[link]

"Like virtually every dynasty that ruled Persia since the 11th century, the Qajars came to power with the backing of Turkic tribal forces, while using educated Persians in their bureaucracy".^[15] In 1779, after brutally murdering Mohammad Karim Khan Zand, the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Persia, Agha Mohammad Khan, the leader of the Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Iran. Agha Mohammad Khan was known as 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 blinded some 20,000 men in the city of Kerman 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.^[16] By 1794, Agha Mohammad Khan had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty. He reestablished Persian 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. In 1797 Agha Mohammad was assassinated in Shusha, the capital of Karabakh khanate, and was succeeded by his nephew, Fath Ali Shah Qajar.

War with Russia[link]

In 1803, under Fath Ali Shah, Qajars set out to fight against the Russian Empire, in what was known as Russo-Persian War of 1804-1813, due to concerns about the Russian expansion into Caucasus which was an Iranian domain, although some of the Khanates of the Caucasus were considered independent or semi-independent by the time of Russian expansion in 19th century,^[17] this period marked the first major economic and military encroachments on Iranian interests during the colonial era. Qajar army suffered a major military defeat in the war and under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, Iran recognized Russian annexation of Georgia and most of the Caucasus region. The second Russo-Persian War of the late 1820s ended even more disastrously for Qajar Iran with temporary occupation of Tabriz and the signing of Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, 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 Russian influence 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.

Development and decline[link]

Mullahs in the royal presence. The painting style is distinctly Qajar.

During Nasser-e-Din Shah's reign, Western science, technology, and educational methods were introduced into Persia and the country's modernization was begun. Nasser ed-Din Shah tried to exploit the mutual distrust between Great Britain and Russia to preserve Persia's independence, but foreign interference and territorial encroachment increased under his rule. He contracted foreign loans to finance expensive trips to Europe. These trips were part of a strategy to put Persia on the map as an independent, ancient but civilized state^{[citation needed]}. Although the trips in this field were rather successful, he was not able to prevent Britain and Russia from encroaching into regions of traditional Persian influence. In 1856, during the Anglo-Persian War, Britain prevented Persia from reasserting control over Herat. The city had been part of Persia in Safavid times, but Herat had been under non-Persian rule since the mid-18th century. 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 Persia's northeastern borders and severing historic Persian ties to the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand. Several trade concessions by the Persian government put economic affairs largely under British control. By the late 19th century, many Persians believed that their rulers were beholden to foreign interests.

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 ed-Din succeeded to the throne, Amir Nezam was awarded the position of prime minister and the title of Amir Kabir, the Great Ruler.

At that time, Persia was nearly bankrupt. 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 Persia'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.

A former Persian Legation in Washington, D.C.

One of the greatest achievements of Amir Kabir was the building of Dar ol Fonoon, the first modern university in Persia 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 could be expanded as needed. He hired French and Russian instructors as well as Persians 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. Through his marriage to Ezzat od-Doleh, Amir Kabir had been the brother-in-law of the shah.

Constitutional Revolution[link]

Persia in 19th and 20th centuries.

When Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani in 1896, the crown passed to his son Mozaffar-e-din. Mozaffar-e-din Shah was a moderate and kind, but also not a very effective 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, through the issue of a decree promised 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 Majles, 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 hopes for constitutional rule were not realized, however.

Mozaffar-e-din Shah's son Mohammad Ali Shah (reigned 1907–1909), who, through his mother, was also the grandson of Prime-Minister Amir Kabir (see before), 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 to Tehran lead by Mohammad Vali Khan Sepahsalar Khalatbari Tonekaboni, deposed the Shah, and re-established the constitution. The ex-shah went into exile in Russia. Mohammad Ali Shah died in San Remo, Italy in April 1925 . As fate would have it, every future Shah of Iran would also die in exile.

On July 16, 1909, the Majles voted to place Mohammad Ali Shah's 11 year old son, Ahmad Shah on the throne. 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 Persia 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(also spelled Schuster), 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[link]

Soltan Ahmad Shah was born 21 January 1898 in Tabriz, and succeeded to the throne at age 11. However, the occupation of Persia during World War I by Russian, British, and Ottoman troops was a blow from which Ahmad Shah never effectively recovered.

In February 1921, Reza Khan, commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, staged a coup d'état, becoming the effective ruler of Iran. In 1923, Ahmad Shah went into exile in Europe. Reza Khan induced the Majles to depose Ahmad Shah in October 1925, and to exclude the Qajar dynasty permanently. Reza Khan was subsequently proclaimed Shah as Reza Shah Pahlavi, reigning from 1925 to 1941,

Ahmad Shah died on 21 February 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Shahs of Persia, 1794-1925[link]

Name		Portrait	Title	Born-Died	Entered office	Left office
1	Mohammad Khan Qajar		Shahanshah	1742 - 1797	20 March 1794	17 June 1797
2	Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar		Shahanshah	1772 - 1834	17 June 1797	23 October 1834
3	Mohammad Shah Qajar		Shah	1808 - 1848	23 October 1834	5 September 1848
4	Naser al-Din Shah Qajar		Shahanshah	1831 - 1896	5 September 1848	1 May 1896
5	Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar	80px	Shahanshah and Sultan	1853 - 1907	1 May 1896	3 January 1907
6	Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar		Shahanshah	1872 - 1925	3 January 1907	16 July 1909
7	Ahmad Shah Qajar		Sultan	1898 - 1930	16 July 1909	15 December 1925

Qajar Royal Family[link]

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.^[18]

Qajar dynasty since 1925[link]

Heads of the Qajar Imperial Family

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

• Soltan Ahmad Shah Qajar (1925-1930)
• Fereydoun Mirza (1930-1975)
• Soltan Hamid Mirza (1975-1988)
• Soltan Mahmoud Mirza (1988)
• Soltan Ali Mirza Qajar (1988–present)

Heirs Presumptive of the Qajar dynasty

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

• Soltan Ahmad Shah Qajar (1925-1930)
• Mohammad Hassan Mirza (1930-1943)
• Fereydoun Mirza (1943-1975)
• Soltan Hamid Mirza (1975-1988)
• Mohammad Hassan Mirza II (1988–present)

Notable members of Qajar family[link]

Politics

• Prince Abbas Mirza, Fath Ali Shah's crown prince and military leader.
• Prince Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan, Governor of Isfahan province, son of Nasser al-Din Shah.
• Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma, Persian prime minister, grandson of Abbas Mirza.
• Mohammed Mosaddeq, Persian Prime Minister, great-grandson of Abbas Mirza.
• Prince Firouz Mirza Nosrat-ed-Dowleh Farman Farmaian III, renowned politician and diplomat, great-grandson of Abbas Mirza.
• Prince Soleyman Mirza Eskandari, founder of the Socialist Party of Persia and founding member of the Tudeh Party of Iran, great-grandson of Abbas Mirza.
• Prince Iradj Eskandari,founding member, and secretary-general of the Tudeh Party of Iran, descendant of Abbas Mirza
• Prince Mohammad Ali Mirza Eskandari, founding member of the Adamyat Society, great-grandson of Abbas Mirza.
• Ali Amini, Persian Prime Minister, grandson of Mozzafar al-Din Shah.

Business

• Princess Fakhr ol dowleh, one of the most prominent daughters of Mozzafar al-Din Shah.

Women rights

• Princess Mohtaram Eskandari, first leader of feminist Nesvan e vatankhah association.
• Princess Tadj es-Saltaneh, founding member of the Anjoman Horriyyat Nsevan daughter of Nasser al-Din Shah.

Literature

• Prince Iraj Mirza, Iranian poet, great grandson of Fath Ali Shah.
• Shahrnush Parsipur, Iranian novelist, great great-grandchild of Abbas Mirza.
• Nader Naderpour, Iranian poet, descendant of Mohammad Ali Mirza Dolatshah.

Music

• Gholam-Hossein Banan, Iranian musician and singer, great grandchild of Mohammad Shah Qajar.

Painting

• Abbas Moayeri, Iranian painter great great-grandchild of Nasser al-Din Shah

Popular culture

• Marjane Satrapi, Iranian graphic novelist, great grandchild of Nasser al-Din Shah
• Sarah Shahi, American actress and cheerleader; descendant of Fath Ali Shah
• Shireen Fathi, Iranian-American actress; descendant of Iranian Qajar.

See also[link]

• Iran
• History of Iran
• List of kings of Persia
• Mirza Kouchek Khan
• Abdolhossein Teymourtash
• Qajar art
• List of Shi'a Muslims dynasties

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Qajar dynasty

• The Qajar (Kadjar) Pages
• Qajars Dynasty Turkoman dynasty of the Shahs of Persia
• Qajar Family Website
• Royal Ark-Qajar Website by Christopher Buyers
• Royal Ark-Qajar Website by Christopher Buyers
• Some Photos of Qajar Family Members
• A slide show of the Qajar Era, 1781-1925: YouTube
• Mohammad-Reza Tahmasbpoor, History of Iranian Photography: Early Photography in Iran, Iranian Artists' site, Kargah

Lotfollah “Lotfi” Mansouri (born 15 June 1929 in Tehran) is an Iranian-born opera director and manager. He was an opera director from about 1960 onwards, and is most well known for being the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company and of the San Francisco Opera from 1988 through 2001. In 1992 he became a Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the subject of a 1998 biography.^[1] He introduced opera surtitles — projected subtitles above the stage that allow the audience to follow the libretto during the performance.^[2]

Biography[link]

He was born in Tehran, Iran, the son of Hassan and Mehri (Jalili) Mansouri. He married Marjorie Anne Thompson, Sept. 18, 1954; he has a daughter Shireen Melinda.^[2] Mansouri studied psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (A.B., 1953) and was assistant professor there (1957–60).^[1] He began his directorial career with a production of Cosi fan tutte at Los Angeles City College, and several musical theater productions at Marymount College. From 1960 to 1966, he worked as a resident stage director at the Zurich Opera. In his first year there, he staged new productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors, La traviata, Don Pasquale, and Samson et Dalila. From 1966 through 1976 he worked as the head stage director at the Geneva Opera. Throughout this period, he occasionally worked at numerous U.S. opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera and many smaller companies.

Among his productions available on DVD, are La fille du régiment (with Beverly Sills, 1974) and L'africaine (with Shirley Verrett and Plácido Domingo, 1988).

Canadian Opera Company[link]

From 1971 through 1988 Mansouri worked as the general director of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Mansouri introduced surtitles for the January 1983 staging of Elektra, and this is generally regarded as the first use of such a translation system.

San Francisco Opera[link]

In 1988, Mansouri become the fourth general director of the San Francisco Opera, replacing Terence A. McEwen.^[3]

Mansouri lead the company in commissioning several new works which have received critical acclaim, including John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer (1992), Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons (Fall 1994), Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk (1996) (co-commissioned with Houston Grand Opera and New York City Opera), André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire (Fall 1998), and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (Fall 2000). This move has helped build the house's reputation as one of the leading innovators in the United States, a reputation which is still held today.

Towards the end of the 2001 season, Mansouri announced his resignation and was succeeded by Pamela Rosenberg, formerly of the Stuttgart Opera.

References[link]

• Chatfield-Taylor, Joan (1997). San Francisco Opera: The First Seventy-Five Years. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-1368-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=neCwqtGHp1sC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=%22terence+a+mcewen%22&source=web&ots=ibxQjNKLzU&sig=OEoDS0StHfru08BILWdVOaWQ_bM. 
• Chatfield-Taylor, Joan (1998). An Operatic Odyssey: Lotfi Mansouri and San Francisco Opera. San Francisco: Performing Arts Network. OCLC 44534470. 
• Joshua Kosman (5 August 2001). "Two views of Mansouri's S.F. era: Opera director was gambling man". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/05/PK165238.DTL&type=performance. Retrieved 11 August 2007. 
• Current Biography Yearbook. 1990 edition. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1990.
• Who's Who in Opera. An international biographical directory of singers, conductors, directors, designers, and administrators. Also including profiles of 101 opera companies. Edited by Maria F. Rich. New York: Arno Press, 1976.
• The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia. A comprehensive guide to the world of opera. Edited by David Hamilton. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Four volumes. Edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Press, 1992.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Four volumes. Edited by Stanley Sadie. New York: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, (n.d.).
• Baker's Dictionary of Opera. Edited by Laura Kuhn. New York: Schirmer Books, 2000

External links[link]

• Lotfi Mansouri official website
• Lotfi Mansouri at the Internet Movie Database

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Tagged since May 2011. It may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. Tagged since May 2011. It may contain original research. Tagged since May 2011. Its tone or style may not reflect the formal tone used on Wikipedia. Tagged since May 2011.

Amir Kabir (1807 – 10 January 1852) (Persian: امیرکبیر‎), also known as Mirza Taghi Khan Amir-Nezam (Persian: میرزا تقی‌خان امیرنظام‎), also known by the titles of Atabak and Amir-e Nezam; chief minister to Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (Shah of Persia) for the first three years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period.^{[Need quotation to verify]} Amir Kabir served as Prime Minister of Persia (Iran) under Naser al-Din Shah. Born in Hezaveh, a county of Arak and murdered in 1852, he is a controversial historical figure. He is considered by some to be "widely respected by liberal nationalist Iranians" as "Iran's first reformer", a modernizer who was "unjustly struck down" attempted to bring "gradual reform" to Iran.^[1]

Background and achievements[link]

Amir Kabir was born into a lowly household at Hezaveh in the Farahan district, situated in Markazi Province of Iran. His father, Karbalaʾi Mohammad Qorban, entered the service of Mirza Abu'l-Qasim Farahani Qa'im Maqam of Farahan as cook, and when Mirza Bozorg was appointed chief minister to ʿAbbas Mirza, the crown prince, in Tabriz, Karbalaʾi Qorban accompanied him there, taking his son with him. Amir Kabir first assisted his father in performing domestic duties in the household of Mirza Bozorg, who saw signs of unusual talent in him and had him study with his own children. After he had learned reading, writing, and some mathematics, Amir Kabir, still an adolescent, was appointed by Mirza Bozorg to supervise his stables, a function he performed with exemplary efficiency. Mirza Bozorg died in 1237/1822 and was succeeded in the post of minister to the crown prince by his son, Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qaʾem-maqam. Under his aegis Amir Kabir entered government service, being appointed first to the post of lashkarnevis [military registrar] for the army of Azerbaijan. In 1251/1835, he was promoted to the position of mostofi-ye nezam, becoming responsible for supervising the finances of the army of Azerbaijan; several years later he was put in charge of the same army’s provisions, financing, and organization with the title of vazir-e nezam.

During his tenure, Amir Kabir participated in many missions abroad, he spent almost four years in Erzurum, participating in the work of a commission to delineate the Ottoman-Iranian frontier and settle certain other differences between the two states. He appears to have been the most forceful member of the Iranian negotiating team, resisting attempts to exclude Mohammareh (present-day Khorramshahr) from Iranian sovereignty and to make Iran pay compensation for its military incursions into the area of Solaymaniyeh. In this he acted almost independently of the central government in Tehran, which not only failed to formulate a consistent policy vis-à-vis the Ottomans but also opposed most of Amir Kabir’s initiatives. Although a form of treaty was concluded between Iran and the Ottoman state, the borders had still not been delineated when the Crimean War erupted and the British and Russian mediators found themselves at war and withdrew. Amir Kabir nonetheless acquired first-hand knowledge of the procedures of international diplomacy and of the aims and policies of Britain and Russia with respect to Iran. This helped him in the elaboration of his own distinct policies toward the two powers when he became chief minister.

Moreover, his years in Erzurum fell in the period of the Ottoman military and administrative reforms known as the Tanzimat. Some awareness of these reached Amir Kabir in Erzurum and inspired in him at least one aspect of his policy as chief minister: the elimination of clerical influence upon affairs of state. When explaining to the British consul at Tabriz in 1265/1849 his own determination to make the authority of the state paramount, he said, “The Ottoman government was able to begin reviving its power only after breaking the power of the mullas”.

Amir Kabir returned to Tabriz in 1263/1847. A year later, while retaining the post and title of vazir-e nezam he was appointed lala-bashi or chief tutor to the crown prince Naser-al-din, who was still only fifteen years of age. Soon after, in SHawwal, 1264/September, 1848, Mohammad Shah died, and Naser-al-din had to proceed to Tehran and assume the throne. But his minister, Mirza Fathallah Nasir-al-molk ʿAliabadi, was unable to procure the necessary funds, so Naser-al-din had recourse to Amir Kabir, who made the necessary arrangements. Naser-al-din’s confidence in Amir Kabir increased, and shortly after leaving Tabriz, he awarded him the rank of amir-e nezam, with full responsibility for the whole Iranian army. After arriving in Tehran, he also appointed him chief minister (shakhs-e avval-e Iran), with the supplementary titles of amir-e kabir and atabak (Ḏu’l-qaʿda, 1264/October, 1848). The former title came to be his common designation; the latter, used for the first time since the Saljuq period, referred to the tutorial relationship between the minister and his young master, reflecting, perhaps, Amir Kabir’s view of himself as a semi-independent agent.

Amir Kabir in 1848

His appointment as the chief minister aroused resentment in various persons who thought themselves more deserving, particularly the queen mother and other wasteful princes, who evidently resented Amir Kabir’s proud and self-confident bearing and his clamp down on their excess spending and allowances. The intrigues of his opponents resulted in a mutiny of a company of Azerbaijani troops garrisoned in Tehran, demanding his removal and execution; but with the cooperation of Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Emam-e Jomeh of Tehran, who ordered the merchants of Tehran to close the bazaar and arm themselves, the mutiny was soon quelled, and Amir Kabir resumed his duties.

More severe disorder prevailed in a number of provincial cities, especially Mashhad. Toward the end of the reign of Mohammad Shah, Hamza Mirza Heshmat-al-doleh had been appointed governor of Khorasan, but he found his authority disputed by Hasan Khan Salar, who, with the help of some local chieftains, had rebelled against the central government (1262/1846). Hamza Mirza abandoned Mashad to Hasan Khan and fled to Herat. Amir Kabir sent two armies against Hasan Khan, the second of which, commanded by Soltan Morad Mirza, defeated his forces and captured him. Amir Kabir had him executed (1266/1850), together with one of his sons and one of his brothers, a punishment of unprecedented severity for such provincial resistance to central authority, and a clear sign of Amir Kabir’s intention to assert the prerogatives of the state.

A task of equal importance that confronted him in the early days of his ministry was the repression of the Babi insurrections that had coincided with the period of transition between Mohammad Shah and Naser-al-din Shah. Movements of rebellion were led in Mazandaran by Molla Hoseyn Boshruyi and Molla Mohammad Barforushi, in Zanjan by Molla Mohammad Zanjani, and in Nayriz by Seyyed Yahya Darabi. After a series of bloody battles in 1266/1848, all three movements were defeated and their leaders executed. Wishing to prevent further outbreaks of Babi insurrectionary fervor by doing away with the founder of Babism, Amir Kabir gave orders for the execution of Seyyed ʿAli-Mohammad Bab, which took place in Tabriz on 27 Shaʿban 1266/9 July 1850.

With order reestablished in the provinces, Amir Kabir turned to a wide variety of administrative, cultural, and economic reforms that were the major achievement of his brief ministry. His most immediate success was the vaccination of Iranians against smallpox, saving the lives of many thousands if not millions.^[2] Faced with an empty treasury on his arrival in Tehran, he first set about balancing the state budget by attempting to increase the sources of revenue and to decrease state expenditure. To aid him in the task, he set up a budgetary committee headed by Mirza Yusof Mostofi-al-mamalek that estimated the deficiency in the budget at one million Iranian toman. Amir Kabir thereupon decided to reduce drastically the salaries of the civil service, often by half, and to eliminate a large number of stipends paid to pensioners who did little or no governmental work. This measure increased his unpopularity with many influential figures and thus contributed to his ultimate disgrace and death.

At the same time he strove to collect overdue taxes from provincial governors and tribal chieftains by dispatching assessors and collectors to every province of the country. The collection of customs duties, previously farmed out to individuals, was now made the direct responsibility of the central government, and the Caspian fisheries, an important source of revenue, were recovered from a Russian monopoly and contracted out to Iranians.

The administration of the royal lands (khalesajat) came under review, and the income derived from them was more closely supervised than before. Yield and productivity, not area, were established as the basis of tax assessment for other lands, and previously dead lands were brought under cultivation. These various measures for the encouragement of agriculture and industry also benefited the treasury by raising the level of national prosperity and hence taxability.

Of particular interest is the care shown by Amir Kabir for the economic development of Khuzestan (then known as ʿArabestan), identified by him as an area of strategic importance, given its location at the head of the Persian Gulf, and also of potential prosperity. He introduced the planting of sugarcane to the province, built the Naseri dam on the river Karkheh and a bridge at Shushtar, and laid plans for the development of Mohammara. He also took steps to promote the planting of American cotton near Tehran and Urmia.

Among the various measures enacted by Amir Kabir, the foundation of the Darolfonun,^[2] in Tehran was possibly the most lasting in its effects. Decades later, many parts of this establishment were turned into the University of Tehran,^[3] with the remaining becoming Darolfonun Secondary School. The initial purpose of the institution was to train officers and civil servants to pursue the regeneration of the state that Amir Kabir had begun, but as the first educational institution giving instruction in modern learning, it had far wider impact. Among the subjects taught were medicine, surgery, pharmacology, natural history, mathematics, geology, and natural science. The instructors were for the most part Austrians, recruited in Vienna by Daʾud Khan, an Assyrian who had become acquainted with Amir Kabir during the work of the Ottoman-Iranian border commission. By the time the instructors arrived in Tehran in Moharram, 1268/November, 1851, Amir Kabir had already been dismissed, and it fell to Daʾud Khan to receive them. Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri, Amir Kabir’s successor, sought to persuade Naser-al-din Shah to abrogate the whole project, but the Darolfonun, soon became a posthumous monument to its founder. The Austrian instructors initially knew no Persian, so interpreters had to be employed to assist in the teaching; but some among them soon learned Persian well enough to compose textbooks in the language on various natural sciences. These were to influence the evolution of a more simple and effective prose style in Persian than had previously existed.

Amir Kabir made a second indirect contribution to the elaboration of Persian as a modern medium with his foundation of the newspaper Vaqayeʿ-ye Ettefaqiyeh, which survived under different titles until the reign of Mozaffar-al-din Shah. A minimum circulation was ensured by requiring every official earning more than 2000 rials a year to subscribe. In founding the journal Amir Kabir hoped to give greater effect to government decrees by bringing them to the attention of the public; thus the text of the decree forbidding the levying of soyursat was published in the third tissue of the paper. He also wished to educate its readers in the world’s political and scientific developments; among the items reported in the first year of publication were the struggles of Mazzini against the Habsburg Empire, the drawing up of the Suez Canal project, the invention of the balloon, a census of England, and the doings of cannibals in Borneo.

Painting attributed to Amir Kabir, 19 th century AD, National Museum of Iran.

All of the measures enumerated so far had as their purpose the creation of a well ordered and prosperous country, with undisputed authority exercised by the central government. This purpose was in part frustrated by the Ulema, who throughout the Qajar period disputed the legitimacy of the state and often sought to exercise an independent and rival authority. Amir Kabir took a variety of steps designed to curb their influence, above all in the sphere of law. He sought initially to supersede the sharʿ courts in the capital by sitting in judgment himself on cases brought before him; he abandoned the attempt when he realized that the inadequacy of his juridical knowledge had caused him to pronounce incorrect verdicts. Then he established indirect control over the sharʿ courts by giving prominence to one of them that enjoyed his special favor and by assigning the divan-khana, the highest instance of ʿorf jurisdiction, a more prominent role. All cases were to be referred to it before being passed on to a sharʿ court of the state’s choosing, and any verdict the sharʿ court then reached was valid only if endorsed by the divan-khaneh. In addition, any case involving a member of the non- Muslim minorities belonged exclusively to the jurisdiction of the divan-khana. Not content with thus circumscribing the prerogatives of the sharʿ courts, Amir Kabir took stringent measures against sharʿ judges found guilty of bribery or dishonesty; thus Molla ʿAbd-al-Rahim Borujerdi was expelled from Tehran when he offered to settle a case involving one of Amir Kabir’s servants to the liking of the minister.

Amir Kabir also sought to reduce clerical power by restricting the ability of the ulema to grant refuge (bast), in their residences and the mosques under their control, to criminals and others pursued by the state. In 1266/1850, bast was abolished, for example, at the Masjed-e Shah in Tehran, although it was restored after the downfall of Amir Kabir. In Tabriz, prolonged efforts were made to preserve bast at various mosques in the city, and recourse was even had to the alleged miracle of a cow that twice escaped the slaughterhouse by running into the shrine known as Boqʿa-ye Saheb-al-amr. The immediate instigators of the “miracle” were brought to Tehran, and soon after the emam-e jomʿa and shaykh-al-eslam of Tabriz, who had reduced civil government in the city to virtual impotence, were expelled. Less capable of fulfillment was Amir Kabir’s desire to prohibit the taziyeh, the Shiʿite “passion play” enacted in Moharram, as well as the public self-flagellation that took place during the mourning season. He obtained the support of several ulema in his attempt to prohibit these rites, but was obliged to relent in the face of strong opposition, particularly from Isfahan and Azerbaijan.

Amir Kabir took a benevolent interest in the non-Muslim minorities of Iran, largely to further his desire of strengthening the state. While in Erzurum he had learned of the fashion in which the European powers intervened in Ottoman affairs on the pretext of “protecting” the Christian minorities, and there were indications that Britain, Russia, and France hoped for similar benefits from the Assyrians and Armenians of Iran. He moved therefore to remove any possible grievances and hence any need for a foreign “protector.” He exempted the priests of all denominations from taxation, and gave material support to Christian schools in Azerbaijan and Isfahan. In addition, he established a close relationship with the Zoroastrians of Yazd, and gave strict orders to the governor of the city that they not be molested or subjected to arbitrary taxes. He also forbade attempts made in Shushtar to convert forcibly the Sabean community to Islam.

The foreign policy of Amir Kabir was as strikingly innovative as his internal policies. He has been credited with originating the policy of “negative equilibrium,” i.e., refusing concessions to both of the rival powers pressing on Iran, Britain and Russia, and avoiding alignment with either of them. He abrogated the agreement whereby the Russians were to operate a trade center and hospital in Astarabad, and attempted to put an end to the Russian occupation of Ashuradeh, an island in the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea, as well as the anchorage rights enjoyed by Russian ships in the lagoon of Anzali.

In the south of Iran he made similar efforts to restrict British influence in the Persian Gulf, and denied Britain the right to stop Iranian ships in the Gulf on the pretext of looking for slaves. It is not surprising that he frequently clashed with Dolgorukiy and Sheil, the representatives of Russia and Britain in Tehran. In order to counteract British and Russian influence, he sought to establish relations with powers without direct interests in Iran, notably Austria and the United States. It may finally be noted that he set up a counter-espionage organization that had agents in the Russian and British embassies.^[4]

Dismissal and Demise[link]

From the get-go, Amir Kabir’s policies incited animosity within the influential circles of Iranian elite – most notable being the inner circle of the monarchy whose pensions and income were slashed by his financial reforms and policies. He was also later opposed by those who envied for his numerous posts and were backed strongly by foreign powers – whose influence had diminished strongly under his leadership. A coalition was thus formed among this opposition whose prominent members consisted of the Queen Mother, Mahd Ulm, Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri - Amir Kabir’s lieutenant and British subservient - and Mirza Yususf Ashtiyani - the Court’s chief accountant and Russian subservient.^[5]

As the adolescent Nasir al-Din Shah began to exert his own independence in government, he was strongly influenced by his the Queen Mother. Through her influence, Amir Kabir was demoted solely to the chief of the army and replaced by Nuri as the premier. This transition marked a rejection “ of…reformist measures in favor of the traditional practices of government.” ^[5] The power struggle in government finally resulted in his arrest and expulsion from the capital under continued countering Russian and British meddling and involvement. Amir Kabir was sent to Kashan under duress and kept in isolation by the Shah's decree. His execution was ordered six weeks later after the Queen mother and his executioner, Ali Khan Farash-bashi, had convinced the King that Amir Kabir would soon be granted immunity by the Russians – possibly allowing him to make an attempt to regain control of the government with force. The young Shah may have been inclined to believe these accusations because of the certain arrogance and disdain for protocol that Amir Kabir had shown since the beginning of his government career in Tabriz.

In the end, Amir Kabir was murdered in Kashan on January 10, 1852. With him, many believe, died the prospect of an independent Iran lead by meritocracy rather than nepotism.

Legacy[link]

Among his Iranian contemporaries Amir Kabir received praise from several poets of the age, notably Sorush and Qaʾani, but his services to Iran remained generally unappreciated in the Qajar period. Modern Iranian historiography has done him more justice, depicting him as one of the few capable and honest statesmen to emerge in the Qajar period and the progenitor of various political and social changes that came about half a century later.

Contemporary Legacy[link]

• Tehran Polytechnic, established during Pahlavi Dynasty in 1958, was renamed Amirkabir University of Technology after him in 1979.

In fiction[link]

• Amir Kabir Farahani is portrayed by actor Dariush Arjmand in Mohsen Makhmalbaf's movie Nasereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema.
• He is also portrayed by Saeed Nikpour in the Iranian television series Amir Kabir.

See also[link]

• Prime Minister of Iran
• List of Prime Ministers of Iran
• Military history of Iran

References and notes[link]

'Amir Kabir and Iran' by Fereydun Adamiyat, Tehran, Kharazmi Publishing, 1354/1975.

• همنشین بهار، دستخط امیرکبیر