'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎136r] (276/610)

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CHAPTER VI.
Armed forces of the Persian Government.
The history of their decline and of European Military Missions
to Persia 237-9—Existing armed forces 239, South Persia Rifles
240, Cossack division 241, Central Brigade 243, Nizam in the
provinces 247, Levy Corps in East Persia 248, Gendarmerie
249, Amnia 252, Police 252, Military Institutions 254.
The History of their Decline, and of European Military Missions
to Persia.
The genius of Nadir Shah, the Napoleon of Asia, who ruled
Persia from 1736 to 1747, made her a great military power.
Her army was composed of contingents, mostly horsemen,
supplied by tribal chiefs from Kurdistan, Georgia, Afghanistan
and Baluchistan, and although ill-organized and ill-disciplined
from a European point of view, it was regularly paid and its
spirit was superior to that of any of the neighbouring Asiatic
states with which it came into conflict. This spirit was kept
alive by Agha Muhammad Khan who, like Nadir, fought his
way to the throne, and founded the Kajar dynasty. Path Ali
Shah, however, who succeeded him in 1797 was no soldier and
his reign marks the beginning of the decline of Persian military
power. Moreover his policy of disintegrating the authority of
tribal chiefs, who had been accustomed to furnish military
contingents to the Shah and in return to preserve a nominal
independence, was fatal to the old irregular army which, with
a strong Shah to lead it, was well suited to the primitive condi
tion of the country. External circumstances also contributed
to this decline, for Persia ceased to be surrounded by Oriental
States and by the expansion of Russia was now brought face to
face with a great power on her Northern frontier. To meet
this menace the assistance of European organizers was invited,
and the first foreign military mission to the Shah of Persia
was sent from France by Napoleon. The apprehension of
England was aroused and in 1809 an Anglo-Persian treaty was
signed by which the French mission was dismissed and Fath
Ali Shah was promised an annual subsidy of 200,000 tumans
and the loan of British officers and personnel at the expense
of the British Government. British interest in Persia
diminished after the defeat of Napoleon while the Shah, after
the termination of the Russo-Persian war by the disastrous