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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
1 Afary, Janet, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906–1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, and the Origins of Feminism (New York, 1996), 3Google Scholar.
2 Mokhber os-Saltaneh Hedayat, Mahdi Qoli, Gozâresh-e Irân: Qâjâriyyeh va Mashruteh, ed. Sowti, Mohammad Ali (Tehran, 1363), 210Google Scholar.
3 For the two Russo-Iranian wars, see Baddeley, John F., The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (London, 1908)Google Scholar and Atkin, Muriel, Russia and Iran, 1780–1828 (Minneapolis, 1980)Google Scholar.
4 Opposition to absolute monarchy in Russia had been building for some time prior to the revolution of 1905. But the confluence of these sentiments, with the disillusionment from the war, led to sometimes quite violent protests. Those forced Czar Nicholas II to allow the formation of the first Duma, which was in session from May 1906 until he dissolved it in July of the same year. A second Duma was later convened from February to June 1907. See Andrew M. Verner, The Crisis of Russian Autocracy: Nicholas II and the 1905 Revolution (Princeton, 1990), 330–341, and Hugh Seton-Watson, The Decline of Imperial Russia, 1855–1914 (New York, 1952), 254–260.
5 Browne, Edward G., The Persian Revolution of 1905–1909 (Cambridge, 1910), 148Google Scholar.
6 Hedayat, Gozâresh, 185; Hosayni-Tafrashi, Hajj Mirza Sayyed Ahmad, Ruznâmeh-ye akhbâr-e mashrutiyat va enqelâb-e Irân, 1321–1328, ed. Afshar, Iraj (Tehran, 1957), 96Google Scholar, and Kasravi, Ahmad, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh-ye Âzarbâijân (Tehran, 1376), 1Google Scholar; Mokhber os-Saltaneh Hedayat, Mehdi Qoli, Khâterât va khatarât tusheh'i az târikh-e shish pâdeshâh va gusheh'i az dowreh-ye zendegâni-ye man (Tehran, 1363), 150Google Scholar, 151; Browne, 165.
7 For the text of the agreement, see Hurewitz, J. C., The Middle East and North Africa in World Politics: A Documentary Record, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (New Haven, 1975), 538–541Google Scholar.
8 McDaniel, Robert A., The Shuster Mission and the Persian Constitutional Revolution (Minneapolis, 1974), 15Google Scholar.
9 hMartin, Vanessa, “Hartwig and Russian Policy in Iran 1906–8,” Middle Eastern Studies, 29, no. 1 (January, 1993): 6Google Scholar.
10 Ramazani, Rouhollah K., The Foreign Policy of Iran: A Developing Nation in World Affairs, 1500–1941 (Charlottesville, 1966), 89Google Scholar.
11 Mostowfi, Abdullah, The Administrative and Social History of the Qajar Period: From Mozaffar ed-Din Shah to Vosuq od-Dowleh's Anglo-Persian Agreement, vol. 2, trans. Glenn, Nayer Mostofi (Costa Mesa, Calif., 1997), 517Google Scholar.
12 See Kazemzadeh, Firuz, Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864–1914: A Study in Imperialism (New Haven, 1968), 511–532Google Scholar.
13 Martin, 1–2.
14 Martin, 17.
15 Hartwig, 6 September 1908, Ketâb-e nâranji, ed. Ahmad Bashiri, vol. 1 (Tehran, 1366), 286–288; Farmanfarma arrived in Tabriz on 12 September 1905. Kasravi, Ahmad, Târikh-e mashruteh-ye Irân, 8th ed. (Tehran, 1349), 427Google Scholar; The documents in the four volumes of Ketâb-e nâranji are Persian translations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs documents entitled Sbornik diplomaticheskikh dokumentov kasaiushchikhsia sobtii v Persii s kontsa 1906 g. po iiul. 1909 g. Published in 1911 in St. Petersburg, Martin says that the documents therein are by all appearances complete and genuine. Martin, 2.
16 Zinovief, Ivan Alexsavich, Enqelâb-e mashrutiyat-e Irân: nazarât-e yek diplomât-e rus; havâdes-e Irân dar sâlhâ-ye 1905 tâ 1911, ed. E‘tesami, Abu ol-Qasem (Tehran, 1362), 59–60Google Scholar.
17 Tafrashi-Hosayni, 68; Farmanfarma resigned as governor in Azerbaijan in April 1908 and was replaced by Mehdi Qoli Khan Hedayat. Hedayat, Khâterât va khatarât, 167.
18 Hedayat, Khâterât va khatarât, 170.
19 Hedayat, Khâterât va khatarât, 170.
20 For accounts of the first and second sieges of Tabriz, see Browne, 233–291, and Kasravi, Ahmad, Târikh-e Mashrute-ye Irân, 8th ed. (Tehran, 1349), 676–793Google Scholar.
21 Ramazani, 94–102.
22 Kazemzadeh, 530.
23 Hedayat described Alexander V. Miller, the Russian consul general in Tabriz, as “an upright man.” He was not so flattering of Pokhitanoff, whom he called “corrupt” (mofsed). Hedayat, Khâterât va khatarât, 209.
24 Mostowfi, Abdullah, Sharh-e zendegâni-ye man: târikh-e ejtemâ’i va edâri-ye dowreh-ye Qâjâriyyeh, vol. 2 (Tehran, 1360), 276Google Scholar.
25 See Hartwig's correspondences for 10, 24, and 25 September 1908, Ketâb-e nâranji, 1:288, 290.
26 Jurabchi, Mohammad Taqi, Harfi az hezârân kandar ‘ebârat âmad: vaqâye’-ye Tabriz va Rasht, 1326-30 A.H., eds. Ettehadieh (Nezam-Mafi), Mansureh and Sa'dvandian, Sirus (Tehran, 1984), 4Google Scholar.
27 Annual Report on Russia for the year 1908, Enclosure in Nicolson to Grey, no. 92, St. Petersburg, February 8, 1909; F.O. 371/727. Cited in Kazemzadeh, 532.
28 Afary, 211.
29 For a description of the dire conditions that existed in Tabriz during the first four months of 1909, see Browne, 270–272, Sablin, 16 April 1909, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:136–137, Sablin, 18 April 1909, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:138–139, and Miller, 19 April 1909, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:141.
30 Amirkhizi, Esma'il, Qiâm-e Azerbâijân va Sattâr Khân (Tehran, 1379), 310Google Scholar.
31 Amirkhizi, 311–312.
32 Sablin to Russian Foreign Minister, 26 April 1909, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:177–179; For a Persian translation of the text of the joint Russian and British announcement of their decision to send troops to Tabriz, see Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:179–180; St. Petersburg, London, and their respective embassies in Tehran, discussed the sending of supplies and Russian troops to Tabriz during the course of the siege, and it was considered to be necessary. Mostowfi claimed that the British lost nothing by agreeing to this plan. It was the Russians who were assuming the risk for taking the Iranian “snake by the head” he said. Furthermore, they were simply carrying out the two spheres agreement with “their own money and skin.” Mostowfi, Sharh, 2:277.
33 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 36; Mirza Asadollah Zamiri, Yâddâshthâ-ye Mirzâ Asadollâh Zamiri, ed. S. Baradaran-Showkuhi (Tehran, n.d.), 36; Mostowfi believed that the thinking of the Russians was that “this conflict between the government and the nation should not end until the weakness of both sides had helped them advance their ideas on executing the agreement on two spheres of influence [in Iran], thus making the affair of occupying their own sphere easier in the future.” For that reason, he claimed, Russia helped whichever side seemed to be losing at any particular time. Mostowfi, Sharh, 2:276.
34 Jurabchi, 44.
35 Amirkhizi, 312–313.
36 Amirkhizi, 313–314; Jurabchi, 44; Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36; Tehran sent its embassy in St. Petersburg a telegraph instructing it to halt the action. Abdullah Mostowfi spoke with the head of the Eastern Section of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but to no effect. Mostowfi, Sharh, 2:277–279.
37 Amirkhizi, 314.
38 Jurabchi, 44; Rahim Khan and other royalists were both surprised and disappointed at the shah's telegraph to Ayn od-Dowleh telling him to allow provisions into the city. They telegraphed Mohammad Ali explaining that Tabriz was on the verge of capitulation because of the famine, but their attempt to change the shah's mind was in vain. Kasravi, Târikh-e mashruteh, 905.
39 Amirkhizi, 316.
40 Amirkhizi, 318; Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36; Jurabchi, 46.
41 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36.
42 Jurabchi, 46; Aqa Mirza Nurollah Khan Yekani, however, refused to let the Russian army cross the Aras river at Jolfa until instructions from the Provincial Anjoman in Tabriz arrived. Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36; In an effort to halt the dispatch of Russian troops to Azerbaijan, Tehran sent its embassy in St. Petersburg a telegraph instructing it to persuade the Russians to halt the action. The young diplomat Abdullah Mostowfi spoke with one Mr. Klein, the head of the Eastern Section of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but to no effect. Mostowfi, Sharh, 2:277–279.
43 Kermani, Nazem ol-Eslam, Târikh-e bidâri-ye Irâniân, vol. 2 (Tehran, 1362), 428–431Google Scholar.
44 Browne, 273; Jurabchi, 45.
45 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36; Jurabchi, 46. Kazemzadeh said that Miller “belonged to the extreme imperialist wing of the consular service…. Like most of his colleagues he felt nothing but dislike and disdain for the Persians.” His assignment in Tabriz “had been unhappy until he managed to have Russian troops enter it in 1908.” Beyond that, he wanted a restored shah, a pliant governor, control of the administration, and the arrest all the Caucasian revolutionaries. Kazemzadeh, 647–648.
46 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 36.
47 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 37; Jurabchi 48–49.
48 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 37; for a listing of grievances against the Russian troops stationed in Tabriz, see Browne, 275–282.
49 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 37; Amirkhizi, 327–328; Ajlal ol-Molk was the stand-in governor or nâyeb ol-hokumeh following the end of the siege. Jurabchi, 48; See Miller's reports in Ketâb-e nâranji, 2: 169, 170, and 173; Znarsky reduced the amount of the fine to seven thousand tumâns. Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:175.
50 Miller, 13 May 1909, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:175.
51 Charikof to Russian ambassador in London, Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:174. Miller made four demands to be met within fourty-eight hours. They were to find and execute the perpetrators, pay the sum of ten thousand tumâns in compensation, disarm the constitutionalist fighters (fedaiyan), and allow Russian soldiers to patrol the city streets. “In case our demands are not met,” he threatened, “houses, caravanserais, and neighborhoods will be destroyed by cannon fire. The first houses to be destroyed will be those used to fire on the soldiers. Then the quarter of Amir Khiz of Sattar Khan will be targeted.” Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:174.
52 Jurabchi, 48.
53 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 38.
54 Jurabchi, 49–50.
55 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 37–38.
56 Ketâb-e nâranji, 2:176.
57 Afary, 6.
58 Kazemzadeh, 536.
59 Afary, 212.
60 Kazemzadeh, 536.
61 McDaniel, 87.
62 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 39.
63 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 39; Jurabchi, 49; Miller also granted protection to some Iranians, one of the capitulations that frequently angered and frustrated the Iranian government. Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 40.
64 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 39; The Russians, in the course of their wanderings through the city, were accused of pestering Iranians, stealing food from shops, walking across the roofs of houses, and galloping their horses through the streets. The Iranians eventually published an eighteen-page list of grievances (daftarcheh). Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 40. For other examples of Russian actions in Tabriz, see Amirkhizi, 326–327.
65 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 49–50.
66 Hedayat, Khâterât, 208; Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 38–39; Jurabchi, 46.
67 Jurabchi, 49; According to Hartwig, it was after an attempt to assassinate Mohammad Ali Shah on 28 February 1908 that “an enormous wave of people from the Caucasus flowed down toward Azerbaijan” taking “weapons and supplies with them.” Ketâb-e nâranji, 1:286.
68 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 40–45; Amirkhizi, 327.
69 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 45.
70 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 47.
71 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 84.
72 Hedayat, Khâterât, 208–209.
73 Hedayat, Khâterât, 212.
74 Hedayat, Khâterât, 202.
75 Hedayat, Khâterât, 204–208.
76 See the reports exchanged between Tabriz, Tehran, and St. Petersburg in Miller, 16 June 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:137, Izvolsky to ambassador in Tehran, 17 June 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:139, S. S. Poklusky (Tehran) to Tabriz, 18 June 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:140, Miller to Tehran, 20 June 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:143, and Miller, 17 June 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:139, 148–151.
77 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 45; Miller, 6 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:51.
78 Izvolsky to ambassador in Tehran, 8 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:53.
79 Izvolsky to ambassador in Tehran, 13 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:60–61, and 14 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:63.
80 Zamiri, 38; Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 47; Miller, 19 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:67; Miller to Tehran, 19 March 1910, Ketâb-e nâranji, 4:72; Sir George Barclay to Sir Edward Grey, 20 March 1910, in Amirkhizi, 419; Hedayat had his own reasons for wanting Sattar and Baqer Khan out of Tabriz. See Hedayat, Khâterât, 197–198.
81 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 84.
82 Rava'i, Naser Daftar, Khâterât va Asnâd-e Nâser Daftar Ravâ'i, eds. Afshar, Iraj and Razzaqi, Behzad (Tehran, 1363), 28Google Scholar; On Samad Khan, see Bamdad, Mehdi, Sharh-e hâl-e rejâl-e Irân dar qorun-e 12, 13, va 14 hejri, vol. 2 (Tehran, 1347), 180–181Google Scholar and Gholamiyyeh, Mas'ud, Hâji Samad Khân Shojâ ‘od-Dowleh va regim-e mashruteh (Tehran, 1380)Google Scholar.
83 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 177.
84 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 179.
85 Zamiri, 40; Shuster, W. Morgan, The Strangling of Persia: The Story of the European Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue That Resulted in the Denationalization of Twelve Million Mohammedans (New York, 1968), 111Google Scholar.
86 Zamiri, 40, 41.
87 Zamiri, 42.
88 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 206.
89 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 249; The first Russian ultimatum was delivered verbally by the Russian ambassador on 2 November 1911. The second came on 29 November and was written. It demanded that Shuster be removed, that Iran get the permission of Russia and Britain before hiring foreign nationals, and that Iran pay for the dispatch of Russian troops to Iran. Shuster, 157, 164–165; “The Russians intended their action as a specific warning to Shuster that he was to consult them before making any administrative change in northern Persia.” McDaniel, 181.
91 Zinovief, 157–158.
90 McDaniel, 187.
92 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 253.
93 Zamiri, 42.
94 Zamiri, 42; Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 264; Zamiri, 44.
95 Zamiri, 45; Zamiri claims that fourteen to fifteen Russians and one hundred Iranians were killed on this day. Zamiri, 47.
96 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 273.
97 Zamiri,45.
98 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 264.
99 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 273.
100 Zamiri, 48.
101 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 268.
102 Zamiri, 48.
103 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 273.
104 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 268.
105 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 268–269.
106 Zamiri, 48.
107 Zamiri, 45.
108 Zamiri, 52–53.
109 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 264.
110 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 265.
111 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 269.
112 Zamiri, 53–54: The Russians paid close attention to the contents of Iranian newspapers, and their ambassador in Tehran gave summaries of their contents in his weekly reports.
113 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 261.
114 Kasravi, Târikh-e hizhdah sâleh, 285–286.
115 Zamiri, 59–61; Some of the Khita'is had been killed, some had fled, and eleven boys, girls, and a daughter-in-law had disappeared or were Russian prisoners. Zamiri, 56–57.
116 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 271–273.
117 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 286.
118 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 286–287; He killed himself several days later “from the pressure of the Russians and the insensitivity of the British.” Zamiri, 63.
119 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 297.
120 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 287, 297.
121 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 288.
122 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 288.
123 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 299.
124 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 289.
125 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 289.
126 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 289.
127 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 298.
128 Zamiri, 63–64.
129 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 301.
130 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 303.
131 Zamiri, 66.
132 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 303.
133 Zamiri, 68.
134 Zamiri, 68.
135 Zamiri, 66.
136 Zamiri, 68–69.
137 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 305.
138 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 307; Zamiri, 72–74; Zia ol-'Olama, Sadeq ol-Molk, Aqa Mohammad Ebrahim Qafqazchi, and the sons of Ali Mesu were arrested the same day. Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 307; When the Russians entered Tabriz, the Mojahedin wanted the Provincial Anjoman's approval to fight in writing. Sayyid ol-Mohaqqeqin, the head of the Anjoman at the time, Mirza Esma'il Nobari, Seqqat ol-Islam, Shaykh Salim, Hajj Naser Hazrat, and Sadeq ol-Molk were among those who placed their seals on the document. They were all therefore known when the Russians took control of the city, and all of them were either arrested, executed, or went into exile. Rafi'i, Mansureh, Anjoman (Tehran, 1362), 42–43Google Scholar.
139 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 309.
140 Zamiri, 76; Hedayat, Khâterât, 202.
141 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 310.
142 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 311.
143 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 326; Zamiri says that the men were removed from the gallows the next morning. Zamiri, 77.
144 Shuster, 219–220; Shuster says that a British journalist compared the hanging of Seqqat ol-Islam on 10 Moharram A.H. to hanging the Archbishop of Canterbury on Good Friday for the British. He also claims that the Russian Foreign Minister said in an interview that the Russians would annihilate the “revolutionary dregs” in Tabriz. Shuster, 220.
145 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 326–327.
146 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 341.
147 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 327–328.
148 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 328.
149 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 331; The three men were Hajji Ali Davaforush, Mirza Ahmad Sohayli, and Mohammad Khan. The last two were nephews of Sattar Khan. Nayeb Mohammad Aqa, Mashhadi Abbas Ali, and Mirza Ahmad were questioned but not hanged. Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 331–336.
150 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 342–345; Kasravi gives a vivid account of the scene he encountered when the bodies of the executed men were being turned over to their families. Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 345; The men were Aqa Mirza Ali Va'ez, Hajj Samad Darzi, Hajji Khan Qafqazi, and Mashhadi Shokur Kharrazi-forush. Kasravi says that three other men—Mirza Mahmud Salmasi, Hajj Ahmad Naqqash, and the Ottoman Hafez Effendi—were killed at this time in the Bagh-e Amir, but that he had no information on when or how that was done. Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 346–347.
151 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 353–355.
152 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 355–360; In contrast with the sieges of 1908 and 1909, Kasravi said that few non-natives of Tabriz participated in the 1911 fighting except for some Georgians and Caucasians. Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 356; On Armenian participation in the Constitutional Revolution, see Chaqueri, Chosroe, ed., The Armenians of Iran (Cambridge, Mass., 1998)Google Scholar.
153 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 367.
154 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 368–374; Two of them were Aqa Mir Karim and Mashhadi Mohammad Amu Oghli. The former had been arrested three days previous, taken to the Bagh-e Shomal, and tried along with seven other men.
155 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 376.
156 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 378–379.
157 Mostowfi, Sharh, 2:89.
158 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 323; Rava'i, 30.
159 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 325–326.
160 Kasravi, Târikh-e hijdah sâleh, 336.
161 Afary, 338.
162 Afary, 321.
163 For more details on the events surrounding the reception of the ultimatum and its eventual acceptance by the Iranian government, see McDaniel, 190–210.
164 One of those is McDaniel, who calls the dissolution a defeat of reform in Iran and a victory for the “Qajar bureaucracy;” McDaniel, 202
165 Samad Khan only stayed in Azerbaijan for a couple of years and spent most of the First World War in Russia. He wanted to declare Mohammad Ali shah after reentering Tabriz in 1912, but the Russians prevented him from doing so because of British opposition. See Kazemzadeh, 651–655.
