Russo-Iranian wars and the influence of European defensive architecture in Iran Case study: Kurdasht and Abbasabad Castles of Aras

Traditional Iranian society, at the beginning of the 19th century, was involved in aggressive determination of the world powers which their benefits had been derived from emerging European disciple. As the main actors of this colonialist process, the governments of Russia, France and UK, have brought most disasters to Iran and Iranians. Among them, the tsarist Russian government with a territorial greed toward iran was the initiator of a long-term war. At the time of defence against Russian army, passive defence considerations and defensive architecture thereunder, was part of Iran’s millitary program. At that time, Abbas Mirza, the crown prince of Qajar, asked for advisory assistance from some European countries in order to modernize the order of the battle. In this regard, some European castle-building experiences was transferred to Iran. The first European style castles of Iran was Kurdasht and Abbasabad castles, built in the beach of Aras river. This research, which is conducted using analytic-descriptive method and based on library resources, attempts to examine the qualities of defensive architecture of Iranian army at that period regarding their design and construction.