HISTORYAT A GLANCE |
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, 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 prot�g�s 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.
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