"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية: العمليات في بلاد فارس ١٩١٤-١٩١٩" [و‎‎٢‎٨] (٥٦٦/٦٠)

NASIR-UD-DIN SHAH
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he signified his agreement to all the demands of a British
ultimatum. But though he raised the siege and left Herat,
he did not carry out his word for another three years and it
was only then that Mr. McNeill returned to the Persian capital.
From 1838 to 1848 the country passed through a most Persian
troubled time. In spite of Persian protests the Russians jg^g^g
occupied Ashurada island, in the Caspian, as a naval station
in 1839, on the grounds that the Shah had invoked their
assistance against the Turkoman pirates ; there was a rebellion
in 1842 of the Ismaili religious sect, whose chief the Agha
Khan found refuge in India ; relations with Turkey during
1842-43 were very strained, war only being averted by the
intervention of British and Russians, acting for once in accord ;
and the Babis (religious revivalists) rebelled in 1844. When
Muhammad Shah died, the ignorance, ineptitude and indolence
of his Vizier had brought the country to the verge of bank
ruptcy and the brink of revolution, while its power of self-
defence had almost vanished, for the army, with its pay several
years in arrears, was grossly inefficient and the mounted forces
of the tribes had practically ceased to exist.
On the accession of Nasir-ud-Din, Muhammad's sixteen Accession of
year old son, the general discontent gave rise to disorder s^ah ^s^s 111
which only subsided when the unpopular Vizier resigned.
His successor, entitled Amir-i-Nizam,* proved himself to be
one of the greatest and most upright statesmen that Persia
has ever seen ; and he set himself, with considerable success,
to reform existing abuses and to reorganise the country's
finances. But the reactionary and corrupt elements among
the population were too strong for him and, by effecting his
removal from office in 1851 and then his execution, did the
country irreparable injury.
The Persians still hoped to recover some of their lost pro- Break with
vinces and from 1851 to 1853 nursed the idea of re-occupying ^g t S and ’
Herat, till induced by the British, much against their own
wishes, to conclude a treaty engaging not to send troops into
Herat territory except in the event of attack from without.
In 1853 the Shah saw in the Crimean War a chance for the
recovery of territory lost to Russia, and, rejecting an invitation
to join that country against Turkey, made overtures to Great
Britain and France. These Powers, realising their inability
to ensure Persia against subsequent Russian reprisals, advised
the Shah to remain neutral. He so disliked this counsel
* All officials in Persia assume high-sounding titles by which they are
known to the total abrogation of their real names.
(27782)
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