نشریه مطالعات تاریخی
پیاپی 68 (بهار 1399)

This paper studies the Iranian politics during the year before 1921 coup based on US diplomatic reports. During this period, Persia, occupied by the Allies from the beginning of WWI, was involved with the British imposed treaty of 1919. The political, economic and military pressures made by the British for passing this treaty in Persian National Consultative Assembly came to no result. US diplomatic reports clearly show when this defeat was certain, the British military planned the 1921 coup to regain the control of Persia affairs. In this regard, they took the control of the Persian Cossack Brigade – the most important military force inside Persia and commanded by Russian officers from the beginning – by a very brilliantly calculated program. Finally, they directed the coup at the first possible moment.

This paper reviews the life of Vsevolod Starosselsky (1875–1935); how he rose up, became the commander of Persian Cossack Brigade, and finally dismissed. The process ending up with the rise and fall of Starosselsky paved the way for the British to take the control of Persian Cossack Brigade. This brigade had been stablished during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. Shortly before the coup, Russians officers would command this force. Commanding this brigade was a necessary tool for 1921 coup since it was the most important military force in the country. Cossack Brigade did that coup headed by Reza Khan. Recognizing Reza Khan to attempt the coup was the other side of Starosselsky dismissal project.

This paper studies the repressive role played by the British in the last phase of Jungle Movement (May 1920 – December 1921). The British fought with the Jungle forces in several fronts. Part of skillful British agents penetrated in the Bolshevik forces and led the leftists toward the British goals. By taking radical positions, they became the leader of this faction and followed the activities harmful for the Jungle Movement. On the other side, Mirza Karim Khan Rashti who was one of the prominent British agents in contemporary Iran, created a great front and gathered a vast spectrum of domestic forces who were opposing with the Jungle Movement. The Soviets also cooperated with the British despite anti-imperialistic slogans in order to wipe out the Jungle Movement and finally they repressed that.

The Pahlavids’ acquisitiveness had a crucial and effective role in the continuation and fall of Pahlavids; continuation, because gathering and vast distribution of rents by the king has a key role in attracting and shaping the governing circle; and fall, because this financial misbehavior and inequality would finally unify the unsatisfied people and the unity of different sectors of a society on a particular subject would result in regime change. This paper is about to identify the “Pahlavids’ Private Real Estate Office” that actually played the role of Reza Shah’s Private Treasury and finally structurally changed to “Pahlavi Foundation” despite the continuity of the same usage for Mohammad Reza Shah the 2nd king.

This paper reviews the social and economic conditions of Azerbaijan from 1921 to 1941. The data for this research is gathered by library methodology and documentary study. In library, the texts related to economic and social conditions of Azerbaijan have been studied and in the documentary section, the available documents of IRI Presidential Documents Center, Majlis Documentary Center and Documentary National Archive have been studies and analyzed. Based on the outcomes of the research, conducted policies during the reign of Reza Shah for the development of communications, railroad, security, education, justice and public health brought some changes to Azerbaijan. These changes in Azerbaijan were not fundamental and the other economic and cultural policies paved the way for dissatisfaction in this province.

One of the developments during the reign of Reza Shah was the unification of men’s cloths. This article discusses the attitude of religious leaders of Fars toward the law of “uniformization of men’s cloths” and its problematic consequences. Under the pressures of Pahlavi officials on the religious leaders of Fars to defrock them, they lost the chance of presence in religious circles and social and political activities and consequently put in social and economic hardships. In these conditions and as a reaction to this law, religious leaders of Fars tried to adjudicate their rights through Interior Ministry and National Consultative Assembly that in most cases had no outcome. Some of them showed their objections to this law by writing that finally resulted in their imprisonment and exile.