Persia As An Independent State
The leader under whom the Persians overthrew the Timurids was Ismail, founder of the Safawid dynasty. He reestablished the Persian kingdom, reaching to the Oxus on the northeast and the Euphrates on the west. The rising power of the Ottomans, however, led to frequent border conflicts. Shah Abbas (I) the Great (reigned 1586–1628) moved his capital inland to Isfahan. He led the Persians in a war against the Turks, 1602–18, in which the Ottomans were driven back and Persia won new territory in the northwest.
Portugal had seized a Persian port in 1555. Although the old caravan routes lost importance after the sea route was opened around the Cape of Good Hope, Persian ports were well located for the developing trade between Europe and India. In 1622 the English and the Dutch aided Persia in forcing the Portuguese out, and England became a major influence in Persian commerce.
In 1638 Mesopotamia was permanently annexed by the Ottoman Empire. In the early 18th century the Afghans declared their independence and began occupying eastern Persia. Russian Cossacks made raids into the Caucasus. In 1736 a provincial governor, Nadir Shah, seized control of the kingdom. He pushed back the Russians and Ottomans, reconquered the Afghans, and successfully invaded India, but Persia was impoverished by his campaigns. At his death in 1747 Afghanistan established its independence. An Iranian tribe, the Zands, made themselves rulers of Persia, with Shiraz as capital. In 1794 they were overthrown by a northern tribe, the Kajars.
The Kajars ruled Persia for 131 years. As sovereigns they had little concern for their subjects, and the country at large declined into poverty and ignorance. The shahs (rulers) lived in pomp and splendor at their capital of Tehran, financed in part by European powers seeking Persian assistance in strengthening their empires. An Anglo-Persian treaty was signed in 1814, with Persia receiving an annual subsidy to help Britain protect its rights in India.
In the meantime, Russia had moved into the Caucasus. In the resulting warfare Persia lost most of the region (1828). During the next half century Russia occupied the northeast Persian provinces one by one. In the late 19th century Britain made Baluchistan a province of India. The Persian people were roused from their apathy by British moves toward modernizing the country. A telegraph system was installed, a bank founded, and river navigation improved. Growth of political awareness led to a demand for constitutional government. A constitution was granted in 1906, but the shah did not put it into effect until an uprising forced him to act.
The presence of oil in Persia had long been known. In 1901 a concession for developing the oil resources was granted to a British representative, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed in 1909. By the outbreak of World War I, the majority of shares was owned by the British government. Persia was by then one of the major oil-producing areas in the world.
Although Persia declared itself neutral in World War I, it suffered repeated invasions because of its oil resources. It was attacked by Turkey from the northwest and by Germany from the gulf coast. Britain and the Allies successfully defended the pipelines and oil installations, but Persia was left with its agriculture destroyed and finances shattered. Nationalist feeling and bitterness against foreign encroachment were strong. Russia, weakened by internal upheaval, renounced its previous seizures of territory. Persia joined the League of Nations in 1920, and the following year a withdrawal of British troops began.
Riza Khan, named minister of war in 1921, brought about the complete fall of the Kajar dynasty in 1925. He became ruler of Persia under the name of Riza Shah Pahlavi. The new shah pressed a program of Westernization. He made education compulsory, freed women from the harem, and rebuilt Tehran into a modern city. An effective armed force was created with French assistance, roads improved with United States aid, and a trans-Persian railway constructed without foreign financing. In 1933 the Anglo-Persian oil concession was extended. In 1935, the government demanded that other countries officially recognize the native name of “Iran."
