'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎23r] (50/610)

33
land with a pension from the Persian Government, and Persia
was relieved of his presence until 1918. 1
The illstarred attempt at financial reorganization in 1911 formation
has been described. The invitation, however, of Swedish officers merie g we .
for the formation of a gendarmerie was temporarily more dish Officers;
successful. They started to raise a force in 1911, with which
1 000 Treasury gendarmes raised by Mr. Shuster were amalga
mated. By the end of 1912 they numbered 3,000 Persians with
21 Swedish officers, and in 1913 between 5,000 and 6,000
Persians with 36 Swedish officers. The force . was fairly
satisfactory and was always supported by the British Legation
as a counterforce to the Persian Cossack division, under
Russian officers.
The function of the gendarmerie was to provide garrisons
for road posts, and mobile columns at provincial headquarters.
They controlled the districts around Tehran, 2 and placed posts
along the Tehran-GIlan, Tehran-Kazvln-Hamadan, _ Tehran-
Samnan, Tehran-Qum-Sultanabad, and Kazvin-Zinjan roads.
In 1913 a thousand gendermerie were sent to Shiraz,. convoyed
consignments of arms from Bushire and fought with tribes
men between Shiraz and Bushire. They also made a raid into
Luristan. These dispositions were followed by a decrease in
brigandage and highway robbery, which had become very
prevalent.
The break up of this gendarmerie force in 1915 is described
■ m para. 4 below (pages 38, 39).
With the year 1911 the 3rd phase of the ‘ Constitutional ’ events
movement closes. In the spring the Persians had invited se q U ent Persian
foreign advisers to undertake the task of reorganization for history,
which they themselves had proved incapable. The rebellion
of the ex-Shah and of S alar - u d- D auleh had been crushed, and
a gendarmerie instituted, but the Russian ultimatums had
-caused the expulsion of the American financial advisers, and
had precipitated the country deeper into the slough of despond.
Until the end of 1913 the revenues were collected by Belgians
and showed some increase, but little effort was made at reform,
and Persia drifted along on the brink of bankruptcy, which she
1 See para. 4, page 60. - . 1 ,
2 In Tehran they nearly came into conflict with the Bakhtiarls. The BaKh"
tiaris had first come to Tehran in 1909 and their support was essential to the Con-
•stitutionalists ’ until after the final defeat of Muhammad Ah the ex-Shah, and of
saiaV ud-Dauleh With their disappearance and the advent of the gendarmerie as
a muiurv ac or the cxmti nued presence of undisciplined armed bands of Bakh-
t!5ri irregulars 1 became an embarrassment. As a result of the _ dispute between
cendarmerie and Bakhtiaris in 1913 the Government decided in favour of the
former and reduced the numbers of Bakhtiaris around Tehran from 950 to 300.