Qajar dynasty
The
Qajar dynasty () (سلسله قاجاریه) was the ruling family of
Persia from
1781 to
1925.
The dynasty was founded in
1781 by
Agha Muhammad Khan, of Iranian
Turkmen descent. He defeated the last ruler of the
Zand dynasty in 1796 but was himself assassinated only a year later.
The Qajars were a
Turkmen tribe that claimed to have held ancestral lands in present-day
Azerbaijan, which was then part of
Persia. As a tribe they were quite old and capable of tracing their lineage as far back as 1501. They filled a number of diplomatic missions and governorships in the sixteenth and seventeenth century for the
Safavids.
In
1779, following the death of
Mohammad Karim Khan Zand, the
Zand dynasty ruler of southern
Iran,
Agha Mohammad Khan, a leader of the Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Iran.
Agha Mohammad Khan defeated numerous rivals and brought all of Iran under his rule, establishing the Qajar dynasty. 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. Agha Mohammad established his capital at
Tehran, a village near the ruins of the ancient city of
Ray (now Shahr-e Rey). In
1796 he was formally crowned as
shah. Agha Mohammad was assassinated in
1797 in the Azerbaijani town of Shusha (in Karabakh) and was succeeded by his nephew,
Fath Ali Shah.
Under Fath Ali Shah, Iran went to war against
Russia, which was expanding from the north into the Caucasus Mountains, 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 Golestan in
1813, Iran recognized Russia's annexation of Georgia and ceded to Russia most of the north Caucasus region. A second war with Russia in the
1820s ended even more disastrously for Iran, which in
1828 was forced to sign the
Treaty of Turkmanchai acknowledging
Russian sovereignty over the entire area north of the
Aras River (territory comprising present-day
Armenia and
Republic of Azerbaijan).
Fath Ali'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.
During
Nasser-e-Din'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 Britain prevented Iran from reasserting control over Herat, which had been part of Iran in Safavid times but had been under non-Iranian rule since the mid-18th century. Britain supported the city's incorporation into Afghanistan; a country Britain helped create 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. |
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 privy and public purses. The instruments of central administration were overhauled, and the
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. 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, Georgraphy, History, Economics, and Engineering. Unfortunatelly,
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.
When Nasser-e-Din Shah was assassinated by
Mirza Reza Kermani in
1896, the crown passed to his son
Mozzafar-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 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. 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's son
Mohammad Ali Shah (reigned 1907-09), 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 Majles 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.
Ahmad Shah, was born 21 January 1898 in Tabriz, who succeeded to the throne at age 11, proved to be pleasure loving, effete, and incompetent and was unable to preserve the integrity of Iran or the fate of his dynasty. 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 was formally deposed by the
Majles (national consultative assembly) in October
1925 while he was absent in Europe, and that assembly declared the rule of the Qajar dynasty to be terminated. Ahmad Shah died later on 21 February
1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine,
France. The current head of the dynasty is
Ali Mirza Qajar.
To this day, descendants of the Qajars often identify themselves as such and hold reunions to stay socially acquainted through the
Qajar Family Association [
1].
*
Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar (
1794-
1797)
*
Fath Ali Shah (
1797-
1834)
*
Mohammad Shah Qajar (
1834-
1848)
*
Nasser-al-Din Shah (
1848-
1896)
*
Mozzafar-al-Din Shah (
1896-
1907)
*
Mohammad Ali Shah (
1907-
1909)
*
Ahmad Shah Qajar (
1909-
1925)
Heads of the Qajar dynastyThe headship of the dynasty is inherited by the eldest male descendent of Mohammad Ali Shah.
*
Ahmad Shah Qajar (
1925-
1930)
*
Fereydoun Mirza (
1930-
1975)
*
Hamid Mirza (
1975-
1988)
*
Mahmoud Mirza (
1988)
*
Ali Mirza Qajar (
1988-present)
Heirs Presumptive of the Qajar dynasty *
Ahmad Shah Qajar (
1925 -
1930)
*
Mohammad Hassan Mirza (
1930-
1943)
*
Fereydoun Mirza (
1943 -
1975)
*
Hamid Mirza (
1975 -
1988)
*
Mohammad Hassan Mirza II (
1988 - present)
Political*
Mohammed Mossadegh,
Iranian prime minister and nationalist. Nationalised Iran's oil industry.*
Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma,
Iranian prime minister and political heavy weight.*
Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan,
Govenor of Isfahan province.*
Abbas Mirza, military leader and heir who died before the preceding Shah
Religious*
Aga Khan III,
Indian Ismaili spiritual leader, mother was a Qajar princess*
Aga Khan IV,
Current Agha Khan, Qajar through his grandfather Agha Khan III.Popular Culture*
Marjane Satrapi,
Iranian cartoonist.*
Sarah Shahi,
American model and cheerleader; father is Iranian Qajar.*
Persia*
History of Persia*
History of Iran*
List of kings of Persia*
Mirza Kouchek Khan*
Qajar art*
The Qajar (Kadjar) Pages*
Qajars Dynasty Turkoman dynasty of the Shahs of Persia
*
Qajar Family Website
