Plundering and Looting Tabriz during the Minor Tyranny Period Case Study: Ziegler & Co. Properties

Civil wars and the siege of Tabriz during the Minor Tyranny period caused widespread insecurity and spread of chaos. Insecurity has hit a strike on the Tabriz’ economy. In the turbulent atmosphere of Tabriz, many large domestic and foreign companies suffered great losses. One of the damaged companies was the agency of the Anglo-Swiss Ziegler & Co. in Tabriz, which during this period experienced its most prosperous economic activities in Iran. A significant portion of the damage sustained by Ziegler & Co. was caused by the plunder of government forces headed by Rahim Khan Chelbianlou and Shokrullah Khan Shoja Nezam Marandi. The properties in the warehouses and representative offices of foreign companies based in Tabriz, including Ziegler & Co., was plundered by government forces during the Tabriz civil war. The deployment of these warehouses and dealers in the Tabriz market (Majid Al-Mulk shops) and location of the market between constitutional and state forces intensified the level of this plunder. Another part of these damages came to the roads leading to Tabriz, especially the Tabriz-Ottoman (Tabriz- Trabzon) and Tabriz-Russia (Tabriz-Jolfa) routes. Due to the chaos and insecurity prevailing in the state of Azerbaijan during the Minor Tyranny period, much of the postal items and properties of the caravans in the abovementioned routes were looted. A significant portion of these items and properties belonged to foreign companies, including Ziegler & Co. This looting caused the protests of embassies and consulates of European governments such as Britain, Germany and France. These governments, and at the top of them, the British Government, worked hard to enforce the rights of the affected companies, especially Ziegler & Co. The present study seeks to investigate the material losses suffered by the company during the civil wars via library and archival resources and in a descriptive-analytical method, while studies the economic activities of Ziegler & Co. in Tabriz during the days of Minor Tyranny.