military structure

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.

War is an approach that governments take as a solution to achieve security, independence and development and to survive. Although security will be obtaind through both diplomacy and military, governments of the six centuries AH, often chose the military force to repel external and internal threats. Historical events, including Arabs and Turks invasion, made security is use in Iran. Thus among the three pillars - Military force, vassal, treasury - the military force became more important. The present study check the position of the military in Iran in the first six centuries by studying on etiquettes and historical texts. The research method is descriptive and analytical and it is a documentary writing. The result of the research shows the rulers need knowledge and awareness to gather and organize troops, rather than warfares that becom modernized in time and with technological growth. Even though battlefields may change, governments still fight to achieve Material, spiritual or human goals with the military force. It is necessary to know military techniques, to understand strategies and rules in the field of military selection, their population composition and careful attention to detail in military matters.

Islamic conquests in the Khazar territory in comparison to other territories which invaded by Muslims, was faced with failure. Accordingly, the present research,by using the method of historical research, wants to answer the question of what factors had been impressive in failure of Islamic conquests in the Khazar lands? this research reaches to this conclusion that there are some important reason which leading to Muslimschr('39')s failure . this paper wants to say that Muslims couldnchr('39')t conquer khazars land because of  the Khazar military structure, especially its powerful strength in mobilizing forces, superior military equipment, having a defensive fortresses, and they were supported  from Khwarizmians and the Russians besides the possession of a powerful and dynamic economy and the existence of a relative social justice which leading to the general satisfaction of the khazarchr('39')s state and finally their remoteness from the caliphate centers, the existence of natural obstacles and the cold weather of this land were the effective factors On the failure of Islamic conquests in the land of the Khazaria.

During Sasanid ruling, Fortresses  were basically  considered in terms of their military and disciplinary role, while the fortress's usages have been beyond military issues and they played a key role in social, economic and political transformations of Iran during Sasanid period.  Fortresses were considered as military and civilian fortifications which had  commonly been constructed at heights and boundaries because of their natural geographical features and to maintain security.  The present paper using  documentary and field study aims to answer the question that in addition to military and boundary usages, what other usages have the fortresses had? In this research Iran is divided into 8 areas and the fortresses of Iran during Sasani have been studied.  The research findings showed that fortresses in each area had had a particular usage; However the fortresses were mainly used as military bases to defend boundaries. Most fortresses had been built in  boundaries but the fortress is one of the buildings which had been considered as urban requirement and some fortresses with commercial usage, temples, ruling citadel are seen which shows the existence of city and civilizatin during that period.

Timur’s period was the time of the conquest and evolution of the empire during which a military aristocracy played the most salient role in the structure of power. In Shahrokh’s era, a kind of structural transformation occurred in the nature and manner of the exertion of power that could be considered as the symbol of passing the Timurid empire from a military-dominated discourse to a military-civil structure. In this era, it seems that, for the first time throughout Iran’s history, the governors and military elements had distanced from the merely military functions and permanent stances of the men of the sword by engaging themselves in administrative and executive activities. The Present Study employed a descriptive analytic method. It not only ponders on the administrative structure of the Timurid period, and effort to a conflict between the literati and the men of the sword but also addresses the major question of what the effects of the transformation of the political structure and the institutionalization of the Timurid power in Shahrokh’s period on the function and stance of the military governors of this period were. The results of the research reports that in the light of the realistic personality of Shahrokh’s and the institutionalization of power in this period, the administrative structure was improved so that some governors paid attention to executive affairs and created a new political experience in Iran’s middle period.