UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 7:
Iran: the Islamic Republic
The Constitutional Revolution
The Qajars pursued a policy of rapprochement with Russia during the 1890s. This paid dividends in the form of several large loans from the czar. The Russian money came just in time, allowing the shah to keep the Persian government afloat----and take more extravagant trips abroad.
In 1901 Britain once again became a source of quick foreign cash. The shah awarded a contract for all oil extraction within Iran to a British developer. The duration of the contract was to be sixty years. The arrangement would be managed under a new corporate entity, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). Iran’s share of the profits was set at 16%.
The czar was financially crippled in 1905 by the Russo-Japanese War, which Russia lost. The blow resulted in an end to loans from Russia. Now the shah was seriously strapped for cash, and the Persian economy went into a tailspin. Inflation spiraled out of control. Some basic commodity prices rose by nearly 100% in 1905 alone.
The shah’s mismanagement of the nation’s resources was not lost on the Iranian population. For years, the Qajar regime had granted foreigners monopolies over key sectors of the Iranian economy, and imposed reverse tariffs that penalized Persian industries for the benefit of manufacturers abroad. Now the shah was burying the Iranian economy under a mountain of foreign debt.
Protests against the shah arose from the middle class and clerical segments of the population. Although some of the clerics pushed for an Islamic form of government, the dominant sentiment was in favor of a constitutional democracy. The shah agreed to the establishment of an Iranian parliament, called the Majles. An electoral law was also passed, granting the right of suffrage to all land-owning Iranian males over the age of thirty. The shah was now ill and nearing the end of his life; he signed these measures while practically on his deathbed.
Unfortunately, the shah’s son and successor, Mohammed Ali, was no fan of constitutional democracy. He moved against the new democratic institutions in 1908, declaring martial law in Tehran. The new shah rounded up the leaders of the constitutional democracy movement and executed many of them. He also seized control of the Majles building.
A crisis bordering on civil war followed. Constitutional leaders in Tabriz formed an alliance with Azeri nationalists (the Azeris were an ethnic group in northern Iran). The shah sent an army to Azerbaijan with orders to crush the rebellion.
Great Britain and Russia were alarmed by the growing chaos in Iran. In the past they had competed over Iran, but now they were inclined to cooperate. London and Moscow had put aside their differences several years earlier, based on mutual anxieties about the pugnacious German Empire. The Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907 formalized the new hospitable relationship between the former enemies.
The shah faced a joint effort by the British and the Russians to oppose his assault on the constitutional democrats. Russia dispatched troops to northern Iran to block the shah’s forces. Great Britain, meanwhile, gave material aid to pro-democratic factions within the country. In the end, the constitutional democrats emerged victorious, and the shah was deposed in favor of his son, Ahmad, who was too young to effectively rule.
The constitutional democrats therefore had control of the government, thanks largely to the intercession of Great Britain and Russia. While they were grateful to be in power, they were unsettled by the ease with which foreign governments had steered the destiny of their nation. The constitutional democrats decided that Persia needed to distance itself from its two perennial meddlers, London and Moscow. To this end, they hired Swedish military advisors, and an American economic advisor.
The Russians and the British were incensed at what they perceived as Persian duplicity and ingratitude. They sent armies to occupy strategic points at the northern and southern ends of the country. Then they issued several ultimatums. The Persians were to expel the Swedish advisors, fire their American economic advisor, and promise to obtain prior British and Russian consent before hiring any more high-level foreigners. Even worse, both the British and the Russians demanded reimbursement for the costs of the invasion.
The Majles refused the demands; but this was not the end of the matter. British and Russian proxies in the Iranian government orchestrated the dismissal of the defiant legislators. Once again, foreigners had successfully pulled the strings of political change in Iran.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
