عباس پناهی

Caucasian ethnic groups have had a close relationship with Iranians in recent centuries. Among the ethnic groups that played an important role in the political and economic structure of Iran during the Qajar era were the Georgians. This article attempts, using historical reports and data, to examine the presence of Georgian immigrants in Iran and to investigate the activities and life of Alexander Mirza Georgian and his children and descendants in the political structure of Iran. According to the available data, families such as Naqdi, Bahar, and Tehrani are among the descendants of Alexander Mirza. This research seeks to answer the question of what connection the ancestors of the Naqdi, Bahar, and Tehrani families had with the Georgian royal family? And whether historical documents confirm the origin of these families to Alexander Mirza? In this research, which was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, one of the main ambiguities in the family narratives of this family is the doubts about the relationship between Sohrab and Afrasiab. Some members of this family have considered Afrasiab to be the son of Sohrab, while others have introduced both of them as the children of Alexander. The findings of the research, based on various historical sources, reject the first narrative and confirm the brotherly relationship between these two figures. Additionally, considering that the Naqdi family is attributed to Sohrab Georgian and the Bahar and Tehrani families are descendants of Afrasiab Khan, it can be claimed that the roots of these three families can be traced directly to one of the sons of Erekle II, King of Georgia. This study was conducted using documentary and library sources and data.

The murder of Imbrie, the US consul in Iran in 1924, occurred shortly before the change of monarchy in Iran. The final years of the Qajar era were marked by significant entanglements in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. Issues such as oil, the consolidation of British political and economic power in Iran, the marginalization of American oil companies by Britain, the rise of republicanism in Iran, the expansion of government repression against the press and freedom of expression, and many other related and underlying issues were directly and indirectly linked to this incident. Imbrie’s death was exploited by some religious fanatics as an excuse for the British to send a message to their new competitors in the Middle Eastern oil economy, signaling that Iran’s oil resources were firmly within their control. The central question is this: What impact did the Saqaqhane incident and Imbrie’s murder have on Iran’s internal developments and its oil contracts with Britain? Archival documents, memoirs, and historical reports indicate that Imbrie’s efforts to bring American oil companies closer to the Iranian government, in order to secure oil concessions, provided the British with an excuse to eliminate him. From a domestic perspective, the Saqaqhane incident and Imbrie’s death were seized upon by Reza Khan as an opportunity to suppress political activists. By establishing a military government in response to Imbrie’s murder, Reza Khan began to implement policies that would lay the foundation for his monarchy. This study uses a descriptive-explanatory method and aims to provide a comprehensive answer to the research question by drawing on library and archival sources.

The peasant movement in Gilan during the Constitutional Era was rooted in the region’s geographical structure, land tenure system, and social awakening in the years leading up to the transformations of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, especially in Gilan. Gilan’s prosperous agriculture and economy drew significant attention from governments during the Safavid and Qajar dynasties. However, instead of improving the livelihood of rural communities, the dominance of landlords over peasants and the government’s heavy taxation contributed to their increasing poverty and deprivation. Moreover, Russia’s political influence in Gilan and the activities of merchants under Russian protection attracted Russian capitalists to the region. Consequently, Gilan became the only province in Iran that repeatedly witnessed significant peasant movements against landlords and the government. The establishment of parliamentary governance and the declaration of the constitutional system failed to liberate peasants from the oppressive feudal system. Nonetheless, the social awakening of that era led to increased awareness of their rights among peasants. After losing hope in the effectiveness of their protests, peasants initiated numerous movements aimed at improving conditions and abolishing the feudal system along with its related customs. This article seeks to answer the following questions: What were the factors leading to the failure of Gilan’s peasant movements during the Constitutional Era? And how did the National Consultative Assembly respond to the demands of Gilan’s peasants? The findings of the research indicate that the primary cause of repeated uprisings in Gilan was the harsh living conditions imposed on peasants by landlords.

In the last and critical years of Qajar reign the lack of a powerful central government caused Reza Khan to reach positions such as “Head of the Cossack Division”, “Minister of War and the commander-in-Chief of the Army (=Sardar Sepah)”, “Prime Minister”, and then he took over the temporary government and overthrew the Qajar dynasty. During this period, Reza Khan issued many declarations that contained various contents about the military, social and political situation of the country. The study and analysis of these declarations makes it possible to understand the causes, factors and the process of his rise to power, the way of changing the monarchy, and the important governmental, military and political changes of Iran in the 20th century. An important part of these declarations is about the military structure of the country, the security situation and its organization, prioritizing the independence of the fatherland, patriotism, establishing order, safety and welfare of Iranians, and social and political priorities. The research question is about:” What points did Reza Khan’s declarations contain about the situation of Iran during the end of Qajar period, and which political and social components did he emphasize? The findings of this research show that the study of the history of Reza Khan’s period from the time he became the Head of the Cossack division to the position of king, in addition to revealing his thinking and activities, also shows the change in his intellectual and political approaches from a soldier to a military ruler.

The law on the uniformity of clothing and the subsequent standardization of the clothing of government employees, especially women, was one of the preconditions for the passage of the law on the discovery of the hijab and greatly influenced its process. These two laws are one of the main actions of the government in order to modernize Iranian society, especially women, and change the Qajar culture to Western culture. The study of the measures taken in Gilan, as an important state in the development of contemporary Iranian history, is one of the main objectives of this study, which is a historical and qualitative study method to research and study more than 250 pages of archival documents and library resources. O paid. The key question of the present study is this point; What was the attitude of the Gilanis towards the law on the discovery of hijab during the reign of Reza Shah? According to the studies, the main factor in the rapid adoption of these laws in Gilan is the influence of Western thought, culture and civilization in this region and the familiarity of the people with it. One of the most important consequences of the discovery of the hijab and the unification of the cover of different ethnic groups in Iran is that this action destroys the nature of Iran and its ethnic diversity and endangers the existence of people in different parts of Iran.

During its seven-year period and even in the last century, the Jungle Movement has always faced accusations of separatism, centrifugalism, disobedience to the central government, and etc. On the other hand, the Jangalies in their memoirs and even the “Jangal newspaper” tried to exonerate themselves from this accusation by presenting their views and manifestos and calling the movement a patriotic movement. In this study, reasons for the accusation of separatism of Jangalies are studied and we are faced with this central question: Did Jangalies step in the path of national identity, or separatism? According to their performance, opinions and ideas in historical sources and documents, are their actions defined as a movement towards nationalism and national identity or have they resulted in the historical rupture of Iran? The findings show that during their activities, Jangalies were loyal to their ideals, which were based on Iran's independence, patriotism, and fighting against foreigners. The research method is historical and content analysis of archival documents.

The important Treaty of Kars, signed between the governments of Turkey, the Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia on October 13, 1921, led to the transfer of Nakhjavan to the Republic of Azerbaijan. After the First World War, the Armenians first took political-military steps to annex Nakhjavan to the fledgling Republic of Armenia. However, all their efforts failed due to the presence of strong rivals such as the Soviet Union and Turkey. As a result, the Treaty of Kars not only created a new political unit in the Caucasus, but also from a geopolitical point of view, led to the formation of a new political geography in northwestern Iran. The present descriptive-analytical study, using a historical method based on library and archival documents, mainly aimed to show how the sequence of the events of the early years of World War I influenced the formation of the political unit of Nakhjavan. Therefore, this study concerns the possible impact of the First World War on the political developments in Nakhjavan, from the Batum treaty to the Kars treaty. Although Soviet and Turkish governments were politically and militarily weak due to the consequences of the First World War, the research findings show that the common interests of both fledgling countries paved the way for starting their influence in South Caucasus by handing over Nakhjavan to the Republic of Azerbaijan to keep their further control of the region.

Given that the book “The History of Iranian Studies in Russia” is one of the most recent works in the field of Iranian studies in Russia, the author was expected to critique the achievements of Russian Iranologists with an analytical approach; especially for the fact that, during the communist era, the Russians attached special importance to Iranian studies in line with the plans and policies of the ruling Soviet party. Because in the Soviet period, Iranian studies were based on the course of historical one-line theory and the proof of historical determinism. These works had a great impact on the intellectual, political, and social atmosphere of Iran in recent decades. As a result, the critique of the Russians' record in this field could have opened new perspectives in the field of Iranian studies (Iranology), while the book under review provides a brief and hasty record of the trend of Iranology in the three-hundred-year history of this science in Russia. One of the most important reasons for the dispersion of the book’s contents was to choose a general title for the present study. So, the indicators studied by the author cover a wide range of topics and contents in the field of Iranian studies in Russia. The indicators studied in the present book should be included in the scope of encyclopedia research. The present article tries to critique and analyze the topics and indicators of the present book by the method of content analysis and scientific critique.

Although the Jungles had begun their struggle against Tsarist Russia, among the foreign powers, the British had a direct and indirect influence on their military, political, and ideological orientations. This effect, especially after the agreement to leave the jungle conflict with the British military forces in August 1297 AH. It became more noticeable. Because the terms of the Jungle treaty with the British military show that they had accepted a military defeat by Dunsterforce, the jungle was forced to expel German and Ottoman forces from the jungle, leading to an ideological turnaround. It appeared in the body of the movement, because from the summer of 1297 AH. The position of the Islamic Union was weakened, and less than six months later, with the separation of some of the right-wing figures of the movement, the young forest forces became more inclined towards the Bolsheviks. Although the British did not openly cause these developments, they were the result of their presence in Gilan and the pressure of Vosough al-Dawla on the movement. These events left Kuchak Khan alone with the figures he relied on to organize the jungle movement. After these events, the movement inadvertently took a course that was in the interests of the British. The question of the present article is, what measures did the British take to pave the way for the intellectual, political and military weakness of the jungle movement?

The nature of the militarism of the Ziaran and the opposition they had with the Abbasid caliphate, what kind of relationship they had with the Abbasid caliphate and the central governments of Iran. In order to understand the political and religious behaviors of ziyāri in the field of domestic politics and their relations with the Abbasid caliph, they have to analyze the geopolitical space they have come from that point in history. The Ziyaran was in fact the Deylmi fighters who, as a result of long co-operation with the local governments of northern Iran, were able to overcome their defenses, and in the short run overwhelmed large parts of the north and center of Iran. Although they had grown up in the service of the Alawites and other Shiite rulers of northern Iran, their leaders had pre-Islamic Iranian revival tendencies.The purpose of this study was to analyze the causes of divergence and convergence of ziarias with the Abbasid and central governments, and the results of these relations will be evaluated on the weakness and power of this dynasty. The research method in this study is based on an analytical explanatory method.

This paper reports petitions silkworm farmers of Gilan sent to the National Assembly (The Parliament) between the years 1927- 1930 addressing difficulties they faced and asking for help.

Data for this study was obtained from archival documents held at the Islamic Consultative Assembly and other archival centers. Findings and

Political developments following the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and the policy of modernization increased the number of demands people forwarded to the central government. Silkworm farmers’ petitions sent from the province of Gilan to the Parliament complaining about the cruelty and injustice committed by landlords and tribal chiefs, accusing them of delivering rotten silkworm eggs to farmers and increasing tax tariffs. The petitions inform the parliament members of harsh economic difficulties that had pushed the farmers to the verge of extreme poverty. Farmers asked for establishing an agriculture school to educate future generations.

Bravine's political mission in Iran (February 27, 1296 to September 31, 1297 A.D.) as the first ambassador of the Russian Bolshevik government marked the beginning of a new era in the political relations between the two countries, but this mission did not end happily for Bravine. According to him, the British disagreement with the activity of the Bolshevik ambassador in Tehran, as well as the fear of the Iranian government and ruling body to announce their official positions in accepting the Soviet revolutionary government, were among the most important problems facing the first Soviet ambassador to Iran. Thus, if Bravine overcame these problems, he could have established his presence and position in Tehran, but in practice he could not achieve diplomatic success in Tehran. In the forthcoming research, this question arises; "What were the reasons for Bravine's failure in his mission to Tehran as the first Soviet ambassador?" The findings show that, despite the support of Bravine by the Jungle followers and some democrats, the conditions of World War I, especially the British government's influence on the Iran's political structure, Iran's and Caucasus's political turmoil and the Iranian government's reluctance to formally recognize the Soviet government and its ambassador, as well as the Soviet rulers' lack of firm support for him, were important factors of Bravine's failure in this mission. The present study is conducted using a historical and documentary approach implementing a descriptive-analytical research method.

Background and Purpose:

Like other parts of Iran, Guilan, was in poor health during the Qajar period. Numerous factors in the studied period led to the spread of various diseases in Guilan. In addition to having physical and mental adverse effect on the people of Guilan, these diseases caused significant changes in the composition of the population, economy and culture of this province, especially in the Qajar era. This study focuses on the effect of superstitious beliefs on the prevalence and spread of disease in this period; In addition to weakness of the health system and care facilities, superstitious beliefs were considered deterrent to public health. Aside from the deterring effects of superstitions on general health, these beliefs became a part of culture during this period, which added to deterioration of Guilan health during this period. This writing endeavors to answer the question of what effect beliefs and superstitions had on the spread of diseases in Guilan during the Qajar period?
 

The present study was conducted based on a library research method. Historical resources and travelogues of Europeans, as well as new researches were used to complete the topics.
 

This study showed that, due to the conditions of the society at that time and the lack of progress in medical science and the inability and ignorance of people in dealing with various diseases and treatment methods, the tendency to use folk medicine to treat diseases has had a great prevalence and deterring effect on the spread of diseases in this period.
 

It seems that superstitions and false beliefs have been one of the reasons for the spread of infectious diseases in Guilan during the Qajar era.
 

Psikhan region was considered as one of the most important strategic points of the forest movement due to its special geographical location on the communication route from Rasht to Fumanat. Since the Jungles dominated most of the political life of the movement over the land of Fumanat, the geographical location of Pesikhan played an important role in the political balance of Rasht and Fuman, especially in the reciprocal attacks between the Jungles, the Russians, the British and government forces. He took, he played. Psikhan was so important because it was located in areas surrounded by swamps, rivers, forests, forests, and natural obstacles, that its occupation by the warring factions led to the capture of all of Fumanat or Rasht. The main issue of the article is what was the position of Pesikhan in the political and military developments of the forest movement? The authors try to study and analyze the geographical position of Pesikhan in the ups and downs of the jungle movement.

One of the most important intellectual and political foundations of the Jangal Movement of Guilan was the ideology of the Unity of Islam. The Jangalis tried to employ Ottoman's support to downsize the pressure exerted by Russia and Britain. However, later in practice Kuchakkhan proved that he was not willing to ignore Iran's national interests to the benefit of the ideology of Ottomans. That said, the questions that arise are what motivations and aims were behind the alignment of the Unity of Islam Committee with the Jangal Movement, and what achievements this cooperation resulted in. The findings of this descriptive-analytical study, that takes a historical approach, show that the political and intellectual defeats of idealist and anti-alien constitutionalists on the one hand and the ever-growing dominance of Russia and Britain on the other hand brought about the Jangal Movement's enjoyment of economic, intellectual, and military supports of the Unity of Islam Committee with the support of German and Ottoman-leaning intellectuals and by the use of the ideology of the Unity of Islam. Despite the union between the Jangalis and the ideology of the Unity of Islam, Kuchakkhan founded his policies on the basis of Iran's independence. Yet, the cooperation of the members of this movement with the Unity of Islam Committee can be considered a political tactic adopted by them.

The importance of silk in the economy of Guilan and Persia, and especially the exportation of this product to other countries, are the main reasons behind the attention Persia’s central governments and foreign powers paid to silk. This is despite the fact that Guilan used to have the economic power to produce other products in addition to silk. Safavid era marks the pinnacle of silk trade in Guilan and Persia; the product also forms a major portion of export items in the Qajar era. The major factor contributing to the importance Europeans attached to the silk produced in Guilan was the epidemy of silkworm diseases, and the consequent shortage of silk, in Europe. However, due to the dominance of Russia over silk-producing areas in the northern Persia, Russians had the monopoly over the product. The English too tried to have access to this precious commodity through intermediaries. Other European nations, therefore, were not able to trade in Persian silk then. The monopoly of silk held by Russians and the English caused the livelihood of silk producers and merchants during Qajar era to be dependent upon the firms and policies formulated by these two nations. Based on historical and document studies, the present research tries to analyse the role of silk industry of Guilan and the impact thereof on the Russo-English and Persia relations in the Qajar era. The findings indicate that some political conflicts between Russia and England in Persia were over controlling the economy and trade of this product. This exclusive trade caused other countries to fall out of competition with these powers. The policies implemented by Russia and England did finally pave the way for the reduction of the importance of silk.

The Caucasus has long been inextricably linked to the Iranian land. The two regions of Aran and Shervan were an inseparable part of Iran from the beginning, and the kings of this region who were lovers of literature played an important role in enhancing Persian poetry and literature in the region. In other words, Persian was the cultural language of the region. Persian language also gradually flourished in other Caucasus regions such as Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Dagestan. Nowadays with the growth and development of scientific centers, paying attention to Persian language and Iranology studies is of great importance in each of these areas. In addition to historical links, cultural and economic exchanges between the north and northwest of Iran were increased in the last years of the 19th century, as a result a great number of written sources and manuscripts were added to the libraries and archives of the Caucasus in the late nineteenth century; this was one of the reasons for the creation of the Iranology Studies Departments in this area during the Soviet era. Since the fall of communism, based on Soviet research on Iranology studies in its republics, numerous departments of Iranology Studies have focused on Persian language and literature, linguistics, history and anthropology of Iran in these centers. Given this issue and the importance of Iranology studies in the Caucasus, the present study is expected to examine the status of Iranology Studies in the Caucasus and developments in this field. Given the Caucasian historical and cultural background in Iran, Persian language and Iranology studies seem to be of major importance in Caucasian scientific research.

According to methods and standpoints, most accounts written by Jangali worriers or eyewitnesses to this movement are categorized as those supporting or rejecting the movement. Yeghikian, however, gives a narrative, both accurate and informed, of the movement from a bird’s eye view. He emphasizes the Soviet Union of Guilan and chronicles the movement. He employing a scientific method that is both rigorous and disinterested. However, there are overt signs of tilting towards the British and criticizing the Ottomans and Axis powers in his book. The research question is: What is Yeghikian’s approach to the historical development of the movement from the perspective of historiographical method and standpoint? The findings indicate that the account he provides is more documented than those presented by other historians. This stems from his association with a diverse range of warriors involved in the movement and having access to confidential documents. The desk method is employed in the study. The analytical-critical approach in historiography is applied to The Soviet Union and Jangal (Jungle) Movement and other works by Yeghikian revolving around this topic.

European tourists in their reports from Guilan in the Qajar era, also have addressed the issue of health and deadly diseases affecting lives of people, such as rice fever, malaria, cholera, and plague in addition to pointing out the numerous social tragedies. From these tourists’s point of view, the weather conditions, geographical location, livelihood and some living and social habits and behaviors of the people of this land were directly related to the prevalence and spread of these diseases. The epidemic of malaria, cholera, and plague has had a profound effect on the spread of poverty, public discontent, and demographic composition in the Qajar era. The authors seek to answer these questions; from the point of view of tourists and foreign visitors, what factors have caused the spread of epidemics in Guilan during the Qajar era? and what have been the consequences of the pervasive diseases on the human and economic situation of Guilan? The research findings show that the climate of Guilan, abundance of rivers, swamps, food culture, and some other natural factors caused some infectious diseases such as malaria and paddy fields in this province to be much higher than other parts of Iran. In addition to malaria, some epidemic diseases such as cholera and plague have played an important role in the economy and population of Guilan. According to the limited and scattered reports of tourists, in addition to the geographical factor in the spread of these diseases, people's lifestyles and the government's lack of attention to public health and welfare played an important role in the prevalence and spread of these diseases. Economic and social bankruptcy and the government's inability to support the people in Guilan's social movements, such as constitutionalism and the forest have made their mark. The research method in the present study is performed using historical method and descriptive-analytical studies.

At the same time that Safavids rose to power in Persia, Russians’ and Ottomans’ attention drawn to Guilan. Ottoman sultans were interested in the region as well as in Azerbaijan. Russians too sought to usurp the monopoly of trades in the southern and western coasts of the Caspian Sea. The latter nurtured plans for developing and expanding ties with Persians in order to perpetuate their expansionism and reinforce their puissance, both political and military. Russians and Ottomans, therefore, cemented strong ties with the rulers in Guilan to take the region under their influence. Following Shah Abbas’s interest in the region ,however, Russians stopped supporting the rulers and Ottomans chose to keep their friendship with Safavids for the profit that would earn them, despite providing refuge for the Karkiya Khan. The findings suggest that notwithstanding the fact that Russians and Ottomans failed to achieve their political goals through the local rulers in the long term, they contrived, in the short term, to pave the way for the permeation of these empires in the northern and north-western Persia.

The present article intends to study the functioning and effective role of the Guilani tribes and their position in the military and political structure of the Sassanid era with an analytical approach based on Roman, Islamic and modern research on the Sassanid background. As the abundance of natural resources and obstacles from this land was built in an unbeatable way, so that only the natives of this land are able to discover it and live in Guilan. These environmental conditions have led to constant warlordism and special military skills throughout the history of DalaiLaman. Hence, the Sassanid kings attempted to use the Dylanian military in their foreign battles. However, the relations between the Sassanid kings and Guil Dilam's relatives were not based on tolerance, but the desire of the Sassanid kings to dominate the whole world and ignore the political dilemmas of the Sassanids caused them to confront these local governments. The findings of the research show that the Sasanians saw the Dilemians in the eyes of warriors whose domination and utilization in their military structure would strengthen their military capability. The research method is conducted in a historical and analytical way using library data.

The acquaintance of Iranian thinkers of the constitutional era with the manifestations of modern Western civilization, which took place in parallel with the acceptance of Western ideas by the elites of this historical period, laid the groundwork for the challenge between tradition and modernity. Traditionalist, modernist, and reformist religious discourses centered on responding to this challenge. Considering the reproduction of this challenge in the discourse of contemporary Iranian society and the live presence that these discourses have in the minds of Iranian elites, in this article we have sought to recognize the characteristics of the discourse of religious knowledge reform in the Rūh A-Qodus newspaper. Accordingly, the answer given by the discourse of reforming religious knowledge to the challenge between tradition and modernity - in the context of tyranny and colonialism rule in Iran - is a central question that we seek to answer in this article. Analyzing the discourse and establishing a connection between the discourse features of the Rūh al-Qodus newspaper and the historical context of the constitutional era is the method used to answer this question. The use of this method led us to the conclusion that the need to return to the original Islam, redefining the role of the clergy and its relationship with the institution of politics, the need to recognize tyranny and its types, and the need to fight colonialism, were important strategies that the Rūh al-Qodus newspaper chose as the discourse of reforming religious knowledge in order to overcome the critical situation of the constitutional era. This strategy was achieved based on inter-discourse action and absorbing the desirable elements of traditionalist and modernist discourses.

By the emergence of Karkiya dynasty in eastern Gilan and their emphasis on Zaydi Shiite religion, the intellectual activities of followers of other religions and sects became so restricted. Rulers of this dynasty did not take an appeasing and tolerating approach toward opponents who were parts of the religious culture of Gilan, so that followers of other religions and sects were fired from Gilan or left the land during 200-year rule of Karkiyas. Kiyais’ insistence on Zaydi Shia in the BiyahPish region and, on the other hand, the bigotry of Sunni rulers of BiyahPas caused bloody wars at the middle ages of Gilan until the Safavid period. The result of these battles was the burnout of the social and economic system of Gilan and the easy seizure of this land by Shah Abbas Safavi in 1000 AH. The findings of this research show that the root of most of the territorial conflicts of the local dynasties of Gilan and Talesh was the religious disputes. This study is based on a historical approach and a descriptive-analytic study method.

To study social, economic, and cultural life of the people of the region though the contents of marriage certificates. Method and Research Design: Data was collected and analyzed from marriage certificates held at the Central Archives of Astan Quds Razavi. Marriage certificates were divided into three groups: Mohammad Shah and early Naser Al-Din Shah years (circa. 1838-1855), Naser Al-Din Shah years (circa. 1856-1890), and later years of the Qajarid era (circa. 1890-1925).
Findings and Early marriage certificates are written in plain language. Items included in the certificates as mahriyyeh shows that the overall economic condition of people was not poor. Certificates of the second period are written in a more pedantic style, but show some economic improvements. It seems that marriage with people from out of the region had become more common than before. In the certificates of the of last period, mention of imported items indicates the expansion of trade with western countries as well as further improvement in economic condition of people.