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Iran
The Constitutional Revolution
The shah's son and successor, Muzaffar ad Din (1896-1907), 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 Majlis (see Glossary), with wide
powers to represent the people, and a government with a cabinet
subject to confirmation by the Majlis. 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. According to scholar Ann K.S. Lambton, the
Constitutional Revolution marked the end of the medieval period
in Iran. The hopes for constitutional rule were not realized,
however.
Muzaffar ad Din's successor, Mohammad Ali Shah, was determined
to crush the constitution. 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, Esfahan, Rasht, and elsewhere. In
July 1909, constitutional forces marched from Rasht and Esfahan
to Tehran, deposed the shah, and reestablished 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 Majlis 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
Majlis building, forced acceptance of the Russian ultimatum, and
shut down the assembly, once again suspending the constitution.
There followed a period of government by Bakhtiari chiefs and
other powerful notables.
Data as of December 1987
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