Transcript Slide 1
The Reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1848-1896) The Qajar Shahs established their court/capital at Tehran and surrounded themselves splendor and ceremony associated with the long-standing monarchical Iranian tradition. Their appearance was deceiving - Qajars’ power outside of the gates of Tehran was limited. Bribery, corruption and extortion were commonplace during his reign. The peasant class grew to resent the government -In the absence of any other state-sponsored institutions, all levels of education were dominated by the ulama, or the religious Shia establishment. This religious establishment was emerging as self-sufficient entity. Nasir Shah could barely collect enough taxes from his people to keep his small administration running, whereas the ulama amassed considerable wealth from the zakat, the charitable donations Muslims must pay. This enabled them to provide assistance to the underprivileged and to create places of learning. The Great Game Iran was of great strategic importance to both Britain and Russia. Their repeated interference in Iranian affairs contributed to the paralysis of Iran. The Russians wanted to absorb the territories of Turkestan, Tajikistan and other portions of the Balkans. (a very ethnically diverse region) Russian expansionism in Iran had commercial as well as territorial objectives. After a decisive military victory over the shah’s irregular forces, Russia imposed the Treaty of Turkomanchai on Iran, which included clauses granting Russian merchants extraterritorial rights and favorable tariff rates. The commercial challenge was met by a treaty signed in 1857 in which the shah granted British merchants the same low tariff advantages the Russians were also receiving. These capitulatory agreements opened the way for economic penetration of Iran So Iran existed as a buffer state between their strategic interests and this became a device for Nasir Shah to fund his opulent trips to Europe and to acquire as much cash as possible. Constitutional Revolution The years of political upheaval from 1905 to 1911 mark a new phase in Iranian history referred to as the period of the constitutional revolution. The main three components of the coalition—traditional bazaar merchants, ulama and a small group of radical reformers and intellectuals—were each convinced that if they could find a way to limit the shah’s authority, they could then take the lead in guiding the country in the direction they thought it ought to go. Constitutional Revolution In order to keep the royal family in luxury, Muzafir reintroduced the idea of concession granting In 1901 the shah awarded William D’Arcy, a British subject, the concession for oil rights in the entire country except for five northern provinces. In exchange, the Iranian government, who was incapable of refining the oil, received 16 percent of the company’s annual profits. By 1914 the British government became the major shareholder in the company’s concession and became a central factor in its Middle East policies. Instead of using this money to stimulate domestic economic development, Muzafir was forced to pay off the loans that financed his hugely expensive trips to Europe between 1900 and 1905. Constitutional Revolution “The first assembly (Majlis) met in October 1906 and drafted two constitutional provisions that completely restructured the allocation of political authority within Iran. The first provision, the Fundamental Law, reduced the powers of the monarch by giving the elected legislature final authority over loans, concessions, treaties and budgets.” Muzafir signed this law a few days before his death and instituted the 6th written constitution in history. In the second provision, the Supplementary Fundamental laws, the rights of Iranian citizens were defined and the legislature granted additional powers, including authority over the appointment and dismissal of ministers. However this was not a secular constitutional movement. The ulama’s triumph was ensured by the constitutional clause that stated that Twelver Shi’ism was the official religion of the state and provided for a supreme committee of religious scholars to review legislation and to verify that in conformed to religious law. Constitutional Revolution The new Shah, Muhammad Ali, was determined to restore Qajar authority after a deteriorating economic situation accompanied by inflation had created lower-class discontent for the new constitutional government. Then in 1907, the two colonial powers agreed to divide Iran into three sections, with the south becoming the British ''sphere of influence'', the north similarly as a Russian zone and a central strip as the neutral (Iranian controlled) zone. Muhammad Ali staged his counterrevolution in June 1908 by sending the Cossack Brigade to close the Majlis, arresting and executing leading members of the constitutionalists, and reestablishing absolute monarchical authority in Tehran. Exacerbating all of this was the discovery of oil in 1908 by the D’Arcy group and the entrance by Britain into southern Iran. Russia responded by invading the north and threatening to occupy Tehran unless the government accepted an ultimatum demanding the dismissal of a newly appointed US financial adviser who would create policies which were potentially detrimental to Russian interests. When the parliament refused to accept this, it was dissolved by the Prime Minister and his cabinet and the constitutional revolution was over. On the eve of World War I, the parliament remained suspended and Iran was governed by a group of conservative ministers whose actions were closely monitored by Britain and Russia, who still occupied the south and northern parts of the country. Reza Shah’s Reign Reza Shah’s reforms were intended to accomplish in Iran results similar to those that Attaturk achieved in Turkey. His reforms did not restructure the existing political order; regular parliamentary elections were held but Reza Shah’s manipulation rendered them no more than a rubber stamp legislature. His personal power was enforced by the use of censorship, the abolition of opposition parties, the banning of trade unions and the arrest and occasional murder of high-ranking officials who caused him displeasure. Reza Shah’s Reforms A. Universal conscription law that required every Iranian male to serve for two years in the armed forces. The shah built up a military force of over 100,000 and adored its personnel. He provided them with high salaries and the opportunity to purchase land at an incredibly cheap price. B. Rapid expansion of the state bureaucracy. C. Forcibly disarming the tribes in the north and south with firmness that the Qajars never envisioned. D. His policies were largely secular and he ignored the Supplementary Fundamental Laws that instituted shariah religious laws and code. The role of the ulama in the national judicial life was further reduced when Reza Shah replaced the ulama judges with secular officials. They were narrowed down to a very specific fields of jurisdiction like family law. E. In 1928 a law was passed that required males to dress in the European manner, and in 1935 the wearing of a hat became compulsory. In 1936, he banned the wearing of the veil. The government, however, retained laws allowing polygamy and established provisions making it easier for men to divorce women than for a woman to divorce a man. Reforms Continued F. The most successful reforms occurred in education. Since Iran had very limited educational development in the nineteenth century, the central government suffered from a shortage of trained administrators in its attempts to accommodate the expanded role that Reza Shah demanded of it. They corrected this deficiency by allocated more funds to education. Tehran University opened and thousands of scholarships were offered to exceptional students. The majority of secondary and university graduates entered government service, forming a distinctive bureaucratic class who shared the same attitudes towards reforming Iran. G. The name of the country was officially changed from Persia to Iran so as to emphasize its Aryan origins. H. Reza Shah supported laws that banned the use of minority languages and reduced the number of Arabic and Turkish words in the Persian language. The End of Reza Shah World War II: When the war began, Iran proclaimed its neutrality, but Reza Shah’s known pro-German sympathies caused the Soviet Union and Britain to view Iran with suspicion. With the German invasion of the USSR in 1941, Iran once again became a pawn in the hostilities between outside powers. In order to keep a corridor open to the Soviet Union, the British and Soviets invaded Iran in August of that year. The Iranian government surrendered the day of the invasion and Reza Shah made a desperate attempt to preserve the Pahlavi dynasty by abdicating in favor of his son, Muhammad Reza.