Ahmad Shah Qajar - Reign

Reign

Ahmad Shah acceded to the Peacock Throne on 16 July 1909, following the overthrow of his father and predecessor, Mohammad Ali Shah, who had attempted to reverse earlier constitutional restrictions on royal power, and thus enraged the majority of Iranians. It is alleged that Ahmad Shah was one of the most democratic-minded kings of Persia while others dismiss him as a weak ruler, uninterested in attending to the matters of government.

After removing Muhammad Ali Shah from power, the Grand Majles placed Ahmad Shah on the throne. The Grand Majles consisted of 500 delegate members who came from different backgrounds. They held a special tribunal in order to punish all those who participated in the civil war, among those hanged was Sheikh Fazlollah Nuri. They also brought in new reforms that were not seen in Iran before. They abolished class representation; created five new seats for the minorities in the Majles; the Armenians got two seats, other religious minority groups such as Jews, Zoroastrians and Assyrians each got one seat in the new government; the Majles also democratized the electoral system; diminished the electoral dominance of Tehran and even lowered the voting age from twenty five to twenty. Not much is known about his early life prior to his ascendancy to the throne. He was very attached to his father and after his father left, Ahmad felt isolated and bitter. Due to his young age a regent who was his uncle Azud al-Mulk, took charge of his affairs. However his lavish lifestyle did not gain him any favors with the Iranian people. Ahmad Shah inherited a kingdom in turmoil, and a constituency frustrated with British and Russian imperialism and the absolute rule of his father.

Ahmad Shah attempted to fix the damage done by his father by appointing the best ministers he could find. He was, however, an ineffective ruler who was faced with internal unrest and foreign intrusions, particularly by the British and Russian Empires. Russian and British troops fought against the Ottoman forces in Iran during World War I. The War led to outcries across the country because people of Iran were not happy that they were being used as a battleground. Thus, leading to local movement across the country that tried to challenge the power of Ahmad Shah Qajar and his government.

The Second Majles convened on November 1910 and just like the First Majlis, did not lead to any relevant accomplishment. The Majles was rendered ineffective because the central government was weak and did not have enough influence to reign in the changes that it had proposed. It is alleged that the Second Majles did not get along with Ahmad Shah.

In 1917, Britain used Persia as the springboard for an attack into Russia in an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Russian Revolution of 1917. The newly born Soviet Union responded by annexing portions of northern Persia as buffer states much like its Tsarist predecessor. Marching on Tehran, the Soviets extracted ever more humiliating concessions from the Qajar government – whose ministers Ahmad Shah was often unable to control. The weakness of the central bureaucracy in the face of such aggression by an atheist foreign power sparked seething anger among many traditional Iranians – including the young Ruhollah Khomeini, who would later condemn both communism and monarchy as treason against Iran's sovereignty and the laws of Islam.

By 1920, the government had virtually lost all power outside its capital and Ahmad Shah had lost control of the situation. The Anglo-Persian Agreement, along with new political parties, furthermore immobilized the country. The Moderates and Democrats often clashed, particularly when it came to minority rights and secularism. The debates between the two political parties led to violence and even assassinations.

The weak economic state of Persia put Ahmad Shah and his government at the mercy of foreign influence; they had to obtain loans from the British Imperial Bank. Furthermore, under the agreement, only a small fraction of the income generated by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was received by Iran. On the other hand, the Red Army along with rebels and warlords ruled much of the countryside.

On 21 February 1921, Ahmad Shah was pushed aside in a military coup by his Minister of War and commander of the Cossack garrison, Colonel Reza Khan, who subsequently seized the post of Prime Minister. During the coup, Reza Khan used three thousand men and only eighteen machine guns, a very bloodless coup that moved forward quickly. Reza Khan was a self made man who climbed his way up through the military ranks and appeared to be the right man to take back control of Persia. One of his first actions was to rescind the Anglo Iranian Treaty this was seen as a very successful diplomatic move since the treaty was very unpopular. In addition, he signed the Iran Soviet agreement in 1921. This agreement canceled all previous treaties between the two countries and also gave Persia full and equal shipping right in the Caspian Sea.

Stripped of all his remaining powers, Ahmad Shah went into exile with his family in 1923. Ahmad Shah's apparent lack of interest in attending to the affairs of the state and poor health had prompted him to leave Iran on this extended “European Tour.” He was formally deposed on 31 October 1925, when Reza Khan was proclaimed Shah by the Founders Assembly, taking the title Reza Shah Pahlavi. Reza Shah and the Majles thus terminated the Qajar Dynasty and established the Pahlavi Dynasty.