File 4500/1920 Pt 3 ‘Persia Situation, Dec 1920-May 1921’

Title:

File 4500/1920 Pt 3 ‘Persia Situation, Dec 1920-May 1921’

Date:

1920/1921

Description:

Abstract: This volume contains correspondence relating to the political situation in Persia [Iran] from December 1920 to May 1921. The correspondence is largely formed of exchanges between HM Ambassador in Tehran and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The correspondence in the volume contains material relating to the following matters:The plan for the amalgamation of the three schools of officers, the possible abolition of the ‘Cossack Division’ [Cossack Brigade] and Gendarmerie, and the appointment of the Military Governor of Tehran, Colonel Kazimkhan [Colonel Kāzim Khān Sayyāḥ], as Chief of StaffThe appeal of Farmanfarma [‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Mīrzā Farmānfarmā], through his son, for the British Government to intervene for a settlement with the Persian Government, which would allow Farmanfarma to leave the country immediately, following the overthrowing of the Qajar dynasty in PersiaThe clashes between the Bolsheviks and the Cossack Brigade in Gilan, and the protest made by the Persian Ambassador in Moscow Mushaver-ul-Mamalek [‘Alī Qulī Khān Mas‘ūd Ansārī, Mushāvir al-Mamālik] to the Soviet GovernmentThe march of Bolshevik troops from Julfa to Ordubad in Azerbaijan, aimed at preventing the retreat of the Armenian Army from Zangezur to Persia, and the apparent departure of the Ottoman Turkish and Kurdish allies of Simko [Ismā‘īl Āqā Shakāk, Simkū]The determination of Kuchik Khan [Mīrzā Kuchak Khān Jangalī] to resist any Persian Government advance towards Resht [Rasht], with a combined force of Gilanis, Azerbaijanis, Caucasians, Turks and KurdsThe application of the Persian Prime Minister to the United States Government for advisors with administrative powers, and the possible appointment of William Morgan Shuster as manager of an ‘Agrarian Bank to be turned eventually into a National Bank’The promise of employment from Vosugh-ed-Dowleh [Mīrzā Ḥasan Khān Vusūq al-Dawlah] to Lieutenant-Colonel [Thomas Wolseley] Haig, the postponement of the contract under the government of Mushir-ed-Dowleh [Ḥasan Pīrnīyā, Mushīr al-Dawlah], and the possibility of obtaining a ‘suitable indemnity’ for Haig from the Persian GovernmentThe arrest of Sarem-ed-Dowleh [Akbar Mīrzā Qājār, Ṣarim al-Dawlah], Governor-General of Kermanshah and son of Zill-es-Sultan [Sulṭān Mas‘ūd Mīrzā Qājār, Zill al-Sulṭān]The withdrawal of Norperforce with the exception of a number of officers, and the takeover of certain positions by Persian forces to hold the front against the BolsheviksThe arrest of the Governor-General of Khorasan, Kavam-us-Sultaneh [Aḥmad Qavām, Qavām al-Salṭanah] and some of the notables of Meshed [Mashhad] by the GendarmerieA clash between the forces of Simko, apparently carrying the Turkish flag, and a force of Persian Cossacks, reinforced with a body of gendarmes and horsemen, and the order of the Government at Angora [Ankara] for all Turkish forces to withdraw from Persian AzerbaijanThe request of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shāh Qājār] from the Prime Minister to agree to his early departure for Europe on grounds of illnessThe treaty between the Soviet Government and the Government of Persia, negotiated by Mushaver-ul-Mamalek and the President of the Council [Muḥammad Valī Khān Tunikābunī, Sipahdār-i Aʿẓam]The decision of the Persian Government to allow the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919 to lapse, because the drastic changes in the political situation had made it counterproductiveThe proposals for the reconstruction of the Persian Army, including the provision of surplus hardware and ammunition, and British officers for training and leadershipThe coup d’état carried out by the President in Council and Reza Khan [Rezā Khān Savādkūhī] (Persian Cossack Commander), and the arrest of officials suspected of corruption including Farmanfarma ‘pending disgorgement [of] all ill-gotten gains’A proposal for the establishment of a Perso-British-Azerbaijani commission to arrange the simultaneous withdrawal of British and Bolshevik forces from PersiaThe formation of a new government by Sipahdar, including Mohtashem-es-Sultani [Mīrzā Ḥasan Khān Isfandīyarī, Muḥtasham al-Salṭanah] as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the retirement of Vahidul Mulk [Mīrzā ‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Shaybānī, Vaḥīd al-Mulk]The pilgrimage of Nosret ed Dowleh [Fīrūz Mīrzā Fīrūz, Nuṣrat al-Dawlah III] to Kazimain [Kazimayn], Kerbela [Karbala] and Najaf, and his procurement of a fatwa from the Chief Mujtahide [Mujtahid] pronouncing Bolshevism to be incompatible with IslamThe diplomatic activities of Sir Percy [Zachariah] Cox and the perception of an opportunity for Britain to transform and restore the authority of the Persian Government.The volume also contains a memorandum on the withdrawal of British forces from North-West Persia and its possible ramifications to inform future policy (ff 443-447).The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 510; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The volume also contains multiple original foliation sequences.

Language:

English

Type:

Archival file

Type (Narrower):

Other Texts

Type (Broader):

Text

Subject:

Bolshevism
Jangali Movement (1915-1920)
Military operations
Anglo-Persian Agreement (1919)
Persian Cossack Brigade
Prime Minister to the Shah of Persia

Geographic region:

Gilan
Azerbaijan
Khorasan

Rights:

غير معروف

Identifier:

81055/vdc_100000000419.0x000323_ar
81055/vdc_100000000419.0x000323_en
IOR/L/PS/10/907
IOR/L/PS/10/907

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