نشریه مطالعات تاریخی جنگ
سال یکم شماره 1 (پاییز 1395)

The Battle of Badr was the holy Prophet's first important battle (SWA) the victory in which improved the reputation and the position of Muslims and their nascent state in Medina. Because of its significance, this battle is specifically mentioned in the holy Quran, in the Surah al-Anfal, the very revelation and completion of which was for and after this battle. In addition, Islamic biographers and narrators have paid a special attention to this battle although their opinions are apparently somehow different from the Quranic view. Finding the real causes of the Battle of Badr based on the Quran and Islamic exegeses was the main concern and question of the present research. Thus, this question was raised that why the interpretations about this battle vary from the Quranic view to that expressed by the biographers of the Prophet and why the latter try to impose their perspective on the Quran. It is hypothesized that the Quran sees thwarting the Quraysh's threat as the real cause of this battle while biographers of the Prophet and historians point to the attack of Muslims on the Quraysh caravan for acquiring their assets as the main motivation. What this study achieved is a review and analysis of the Battle of Badr from a Quranic perspective, different from the writings of the Islamic biographers.

As part of Arabs’ history, Ayyām al-ʿArab has always been a focus of attention for the historians studying the history of Islam and Arabs. However, their main concern has been literary and rhetorical aspects and they have been less concerned with the concept and phenomenon of battles among the nomad Arab tribes. This is while against the backdrop of geographical conditions and the dominant Pre-Islamic tribal system of Arabian Peninsula, battles were perceived as an integral reality of the Arabs’ social life. Studying the sociological contexts of Pre-Islamic battles, known as Ayyām al-ʿArab, and aiming at filling the existing research gap, this paper attempted to study the issue of warfare as Pre-Islamic Arabs perceived it. The hypothesis of this study is that it seems Arabs, beyond having an economic view of warfare, to secure their livelihoods, sought other purposes in battles. They considered warfare not as a form of banditry but as a popular sport in which the tribe's heroes enjoyed high positions. In addition, they sought hegemony, honor and dignity, courage, chivalry and eventually their salvation in it.

World War I (WWI) had many destructive consequences including the black triangle of famine, insecurity and disease spread, part of which occurred in Iran. The present article, based on resources inclusive of diaries and newspapers, published in that period in Isfahan, is an attempt to depict only dimensions of that human catastrophe and to show the effects of famine, insecurity and diseases on the city, what the civil authorities did at that time and to what extent the decisions made by them including the governor and the Baladia (municipality) influenced the circumstances. The findings of this historical study show that following WWI, Isfahan's people were inflicted with a hard and painful life due to causes such as insecurity, famine and disease outbreak. It also shows how civil authorities, influential figures, people, and the youth encountered these phenomena and their aftermath.

The present article aimed at analyzing World War II's consequences on Iranian coastal areas and the surrounding regions. It is hypothesized that this war has had numerous negative impacts such as the spread of political divisions and the reduction in Iran's trade level and commercial relations with the world's trade regions and centers and as a result the appearance of economic depression and a downfall in the country's foreign trade in the Persian Gulf, which as the Iranian most important economic trade route at that historical point in time had numerous effects on Iran's political, economic and social developments and any changes in the coastal areas and the surrounding regions influenced other, even the country's central, regions. In short, WWII had a direct impact on political, economic and even social life of the Persian Gulf and its surrounding areas and brought about different consequences. Therefore, drawing on reliable historical resources and documents, this study sought to investigate the consequences of WWII, as an important historical event, for the Persian Gulf's coastal areas and hinterlands.

The application of biological factors or in its modern sense biological weapons in order to eliminate and defeat enemies and adversary groups, as well as obtaining more benefits, has been one of the biggest human concerns in warfare especially in the recent decades. The use of biological factors as a weapon to reach different military-political goals has also been seen in the history of political development of Islamic middle ages. Thus, the present historical-explication stud attempted to answer this principal question that what status and function the biological factors had in the field of military developments in the middle ages of Iran’s history. The findings indicate that biological weapons have had the potential to change the military power balance and affect the defeats and victories besides having a propagandic impact and thus demoralizing enemies. In this regard, damaging enemie's weapons and equipment by means of biological factors and the elimination of prominent figures is another influence area of biological weapons in the military and political fields, of which hundreds of examples were recorded in the middle ages of Iran’s history.