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.
Abstract: This volume contains correspondence on the political and military situation in Persia [Iran] from April to December 1921. The correspondence is primarily formed of dispatches from HM Minister in Tehran to the Foreign Office, along with instructions from the Foreign Office to the Minister. It includes material relating to the following matters:The arrest of Zahir-ul-Islam [Sayyīd Javād Imāmī, Ẓahīr al-Islām] and other prominent politicians by the Persian Minister of War [Rezā Khān Savādkūhī, Sardār-i Sipah], under the charge of having conspired against the life of the Prime Minister [Aḥmad Qavām, Qavām al-Salṭanah] and himself, and the escape of the former Minister of Court, Mushar al-Mulk [Mīrzā Ḥasan Khān Mushār al-Mulk]The ratification of the Russo-Persian Treaty in the Persian Medjliss [Majlis, Parliament], despite the concessions granted to Standard Oil Company, and differences over certain articles of the Treaty, and the steps taken to ensure the passage of the Treaty by Soviet Ambassador Theodore RothsteinThe ‘lingering mistrust’ of Persians towards the British on account of their attitude to Islam and their aims in the country, and ‘maladministration and local causes of discontent’ as two major factors in favour of the Bolsheviks in PersiaA memorandum by the British Military Attaché in Tehran, Major Edward William Charles Noel, on the threat posed by the Bolsheviks to Persia, based on conversations with Mr Hildebrandt, the last ‘White Russian’ in charge of the LegationThe recovery of Resht [Rasht] and Enzeli [Anzali] from Soviet occupation, the death of Kuchik Khan [Mīrzā Kūchak Khān Jangalī] leader of the Jangalis, the redeployment of Persian Government forces to Azerbaijan against Kurdish leader Simko [Ismā‘īl Āqā Shakāk, Simkū], and the dismissal of Swedish officers from positions in command of the GendarmerieThe British plan to remove Arbab Kai Khosro [Kaykhusraw Shāhrukh, also known as Arbāb Kaykhusraw] as head of the Zoroastrian community and deputy in the Medjliss for his perceived anti-British views and communication with the Russian LegationThe attempts of the British Legation in Tehran to dissociate Britain from the rebellion of Colonel Mohammed Taqi [Colonel Muḥammad Taqī Khān Pisyān], despite the presence of as many as 1000 Barbaris [Hazaras] among the Colonel’s followersThe rebellion of Colonel Mohammed Taqi against the government of Kavam-us-Sultaneh [Qavām al-Salṭanah], the appointment of himself as Governor-General of the Province of Khorasan, and his eventual defeat and death at the hands of tribal forces in northern Khorasan, at the instigation of the Central Government of PersiaThe success of the Minister of War and the Shah of Persia in forcing the Prime Minister, Zia-ed-Din [Sayyid Ziyāʾ al-Dīn Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī] out of office, supported by ‘courtiers, priests, officials and other corrupt elements’, whose interests had been threatened, and the formation of a new government by Kavam-us-Sultaneh.The volume also includes a ‘Memorandum on England and Russia in Persia’ by W A Smart, Oriental Secretary of the British Legation at Tehran, 21 June 1921 (ff 174r-176r).Physical description: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 311; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This volume contains correspondence on the political situation in Persia [Iran] from December 1921 to December 1923. It is primarily formed of exchanges between HM Minister in Tehran (Sir Percy Loraine) and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston). It includes material relating to the following matters:The resignation of Mushir-ed-Dowleh [Ḥasan Pīrnīyā, Mushīr al-Dawlah] as President of the Council and his replacement by Serdar Sepah [Rezā Khān Savādkūhī, Sardār-i Sipah]The departure of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shāh Qājār] for Europe, arranged through the mediation of HM Minister in Tehran with Serdar SepahThe position of the Persian tribes south of the Tehran-Khanikin [Khanaqin] road and the plans of the Minister of War [Sardār-i Sipah] for dealing with themThe arrest of former Prime Minister, Qawam-es-Sultaneh [Aḥmad Qavām, Qavām al-Salṭanah], in connection with a plot to assassinate the Minister of WarThe fall of the cabinet of Mustaufi-ul-Mamalek [Mīrzā Ḥasan Āshtīyānī, Muṣtawfī al-Mamālik]The appointment of the new Prime Minister, Mustaufi-ul-Mamalek, and the announcement of his eight-point programme to the Persian Medjliss [Majlis, or Parliament]The dissatisfaction with Qawam’s conduct of affairs in the Medjliss, his failure to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union, and the fall of Qawam-es-Sultaneh’s GovernmentThe reconciliation brought about between Soulet-ed-Dowleh [Ismā‘īl Khān Qashqāy, Ṣawlat al-Dawlah], de facto Ilkhani of the Keshgais [Qashqāys] and Qawam-ul-Mulk [Ibrāhīm Khān Qavām, Qavām al-Mulk V], head of the Khamseh [Khamsah] TribesThe communique issued by Reza Khan [Reżā Khān], the Minister of War, assuming the entire responsibility for the coup d’etat of Sayyid Zia ed Din [Sayyid Ziyāʾ al-Dīn Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī]The relations between Loraine and the Bakhtiari Khans, including Sasam es Saltaneh [Najaf Qulī Khān Bakhtīyārī, Ṣamṣam al-Salṭanah], Sardar Jang [Naṣīr Khān Bakhtīyārī, Sardar-i Jang], and Sardar Ashjaa [Sulṭān Muḥammad Khān Bakhtīyārī, Sardar-i Ashjaʾ]A raid carried out by Sardar Naser Sanjabi [Qāsim Khān Sanjābī, Sardār-i Nāsir] and Sardar Rashid [‘Abbās Khān Ardalān, Sardār-i Rashīd] against Sayyid-ud-Daulah [Sayyīd Qaydār Hāshimī, Sayyid al-Dawlah] and the Waladbegi [Valadbaygī] Tribe.The volume also includes memoranda and records of interviews and conversations with the War Minister, Reza Khan, on 17 August 1922 (f 127), 15 July 1922 (ff 168-170), 14 and 15 May 1922 (ff 193-196), 14 April 1922 (ff 216-220), 22 January 1922 (ff 272-274); the Valiahd [Valī ‘Ahd, or Crown Prince, Muḥammad Ḥasan Mīrzā Qājār], June 1922 (ff 156-164); and the Bakhtiari Khans mentioned above on 2 January 1922 (ff 246-249).Physical description: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 307; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.