The Study of Iranian Army Situation in the Period of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar

For many centuries, the Iranian government was reliant on tribal and nomads forces.The kind of training and military discipline of these forces, and how they were organized, were such that in the most optimistic case, only in internal conflicts could have very limited performance.Because these forces were traditionally under the command of the tribal chiefs, and were essentially a marginal force from the center, which was a major obstacle to the expansion of the sovereignty of the central.Therefore governments needed to weaken their tribes and not rely on their military force to develop their authority, as well as to create an independent and self-reliant army under the command of the king.During the Qajar era, which came to power with Qajarian tribes, the idea of forming a new military force was formed from Fath Ali Shah's era as a result of a military conflict with the new European powers in the Russian-Iranian war.However, the reforms did not achieve their desired result, with gradual ongoing Russian and British competitions to gain the most leverage in Iran as well as in the military. As in the period of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, which is itself a kind of transitional era and a turning point for the change of the foundations of centuries of monarchy in Iran, the status of the Iranian army was degraded for some reason.Therefore, the present study, with a historical descriptive-analytical method, seeks to answer the question of why the Iranian Army decline during the Mozafariperiod.Following this question, while describing the situation of the Iranian army during the Mozhafi period, we will discuss the reasons for the decline of the Iranian army during the period under discussion.The findings of this study indicate that factors such as lack of discipline, lack of military training, lack of modern equipment, and lack of attention to military affairs have played a role in the decline of the Iranian army during the Mozhafi period.