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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎263v] (526/644)

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The record is made up of 1 file (320 folios). It was created in 6 Dec 1933-27 Mar 1947. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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i
12
by their troops, and partly to the fact that large parts of the tribal areas were
not in effective control, conscription could be applied only to the unfortunate
few, and the ranks of the army were still considerably depleted at the end of
the year.
30. Half-hearted efforts were made to restrict the worst abuses in the
application of conscription and in the army generally; certain of the moi^rv
notoriously corrupt officers of the old regime were retired; a few well-educateu
senior officers with relatively good moral reputations, but lacking the force of
character of their unprincipled predecessors, were brought into the General
Staff at Army Headquarters; and various schemes of reorganisation to suit the
limiced role of responsibility for internal security only that had been allotted
to the army in the draft treaty were discussed and put on paper. The hollowness
of the army’s pretensions and its unworthiness of the admirable modern
equipment with which it had been furnished at enormous expense to the country
had been shamefully exposed by its performance in the face of Russian and
British troops. No one could expect that the Persians should fight to annihilation
against two powerful enemies, but that does not excuse the officers who. with
some honourable exceptions, fled the field—usually in order .of seniority—without
thought for their men. The defects in the army were clear even to the Persians
themselves. On the moral side they were an absence of a sense of duty
on the part of the officers, either to their country or their men, and on the part
of the soldier in the ranks dislike and distrust of his officers. On the material
side there was a complete lack of services for the supply of rations or munitions
to troops in action, or for the treatment and evacuation of sick and wounded.
31 Only drastic action could hope to remedy the moral defects so
flagrantly exposed, but the army had been for so long a law unto itself and
free from any control except that of the ex-Shah, that no Minister could be
found with sufficient courage to grasp the nettle. Moreover, the young Shah,
who had himself been trained as an officer and had consequently deeply felt
its humiliation, was also an obstacle, for although he admitted to His Majesty’s
Minister that there was corruption and cruelty in the army, he was inclined
to resent concrete criticism or the suggestion that his corps of officers needed
heavy pruning and some exemplary punishment.
32. Appeal was made to His Majesty’s Legation to assist in remedying
the material defects. The most urgent need was for transport to give the army
some mobility and so to avoid the necessity of maintaining large garrisons in
numerous detachments in the provinces.^ Our military authorities were,
however, too short of transport themselves to justify holding out any hope to
the Persian Government of any motor vehicles being available in the near future.
33. By October the disintegration and demoralisation of the Persian forces
« had reached a very low level. Desertions with arms were so common that in
most units the arms were kept permanently under lock and key. Sufficient
reliable troops could not be found to provide parties to pursue deserters or
to operate against brigands. Officers were sullen and defeatist. By the end of
the year there had been some slight improvement, which showed itself in a
reduction in the number of desertions and a slightly less passive attitude in
the face of rebels and robbers.
34. Although there are in the army officers with sufficient technical
knowledge to plan the necessary reforms and re-organisation, it was obvious
that those who had the will to carry them out had little hope of success in any
reasonable time without the help of a mission of foreign advisers. The main
task of the latter would be to check abuses, to restore morale, to endeavour to
eliminate the strong pro-German sentiments and to soothe the resentful feelings
of the humiliated officers.
35. By the end of the year no progress had been made towards securing
such a mission. In the army there was some strong opposition—Persian military
vanity does not readily admit the need for foreign- advice; but there is little
doubt that a mission of. say, American officers would find considerable support
within the army. Without considering possible Russian objections, it was held
that a mission of British officers could effect little owing to the ill-feeling
towards the British that was regrettably common within the army. This is
due to the humiliation that it had undergone and its consequent sense of
inferiority; to resentment at our association with the Russians; and to its
admiration for German achievements.

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Content

Annual reports for Persia [Iran] produced by staff at the British Legation in Tehran. The reports were sent to the Foreign Office by HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at Tehran (from 1943, Ambassador to Iran). The reports cover the following years: 1932 (ff 2-50); 1933 (ff 51-98); 1934 (ff 99-128); 1935 (ff 129-165); 1936 (ff 166-195); 1937 (ff 196-227); 1938 (ff 228-249); 1939 (ff 250-251); 1940 (ff 252-257); 1941 (ff 258-266); 1942 (ff 267-277); 1943 (ff 278-289); 1944 (ff 290-306); 1945 (ff 307-317); 1946 (ff 318-320).

The reports for 1932 to 1938 are comprehensive in nature (each containing their own table of contents), and cover: an introductory statement on affairs in Persia, with a focus on the Shah’s programme of modernisation across the country; an overview of foreign relations between Persia and other nations, including with the United Kingdom, British India, and Iraq; Persia’s involvement in international conventions and agreements, for example the League of Nations and the Slave Traffic Convention; British interests in or associated with Persia, including Bahrain and Bahrainis resident in Persia, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bushire, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Bank of Persia, and the Imperial and International Communications Company; political affairs in Persia, including court and officials, majlis, tribes and security; economic affairs in Persia (government finances and budgets, trade, industry, agriculture, opium production); communications (aviation, railways, roads); consular matters; military matters (army, navy, air force).

Reports from 1939 to 1946 are briefer in nature, Reports from 1941 onwards focusing on the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia, and the role of United States advisors in the Persian Government’s administration.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (320 folios)
Arrangement

The file’s reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the file. Each report for the years 1932-1938 begins with a table of contents referring to that report’s own printed pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 321; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 308A

Pagination: Each of the reports included in the file has its own printed pagination system, commencing at 1 on the first page of the report.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎263v] (526/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661168.0x00007f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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