Introduction and Review of a Newly-Found Manuscript about the Second Period of Iran-Russia Wars

Munshāt (compositions) is considered as one of the important historical sources in the Qajar period. One of the significant historical junctures in the Qajar period was the outbreak of two wars between Iran and Russia. In this research, the newly-found sources called transcripts of the letters of Crown Prince Abbās Mīrzā are examined. The purpose of this study is to examine the information values ​​of the content of the introduced compositions about the second period of the Iran-Russia wars. In this study, while categorizing and specifying the content of the letters in question, some of its important information features are also taken into consideration. The importance of these compositions is because they contain the very documents and letters related to various topics about the second period of the Iran-Russia wars that have remained unused so far.

Research Method/Approach: 

The research method is library and by examining the codicology and studying the manuscript of the work, an attempt is made to survey the different aspects of the subject by raising such questions as: What are the information values ​​of the sources? What is the significance of the information of Qā’m Maqām Farahānī’s munshāt concerning the Iran-Russia wars? And what are the information values ​​of the newly-found munshāt? Besides, to further emphasize the importance of the munshāt and the novelty of its content, it is compared with other munshāt as well.

The findings and conclusions of the research show that this 128-page copy contains 103 letters, of which 54 letters are related to Iran and Russia, 12 letters concern Iran-Ottoman relations, 6 letters concern Iran and Britain, 3 letters are related to Austria, 4 decrees from Fatḥ ‘Alī Shāh, and one letter to France, and 23 miscellaneous letters with various domestic content. These letters are somehow a complement to the three volumes of Qā’im Maqām’s letters that were published by Jahāngīr Qā’im Maqāmī. 54 documents examined in these compositions include correspondence of 8 different representatives of the Russian government in various administrative positions with Abbās Mīrzā and other members of the court. So far, the historical documents and letters introduced in Persian research projects wars have not been used about the second period of Iran-Russia. The content of these compositions is highly important compared with other contemporary compositions, such as the state of political relations between Iran and Russia, the confrontation between the representatives of the two sides in the war, the issues and problems of the regions involved in the war, Iran-Ottoman relations, border skirmishes, and some social issues in the conflict regions.