Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma

Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma

Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma ( Persian عبدالحسین میرزا فرمانفرما), also Abdol-Hossein Mirza Salar Laschkar Farmanfarma (* 1857 , † 1939 ) was the founder of one of the most influential Qajar families . He was born in 1857 to Nosrat Doleh Firouz Mirza and his wife Hajieh Homa Khanoum. Abdol Hossein was a cousin of Naser al-Din Shah . In the course of his life he received the titles Salar-Laschkar (commander of the army), Nosrat-Doleh (victory of the state), Amir Tuman (commander of the thousand) and Farman-Farma (commander of the commanders). He held high government offices including the office of prime minister and was a patron of the arts . Abdol Hossein had eight wives (including a daughter of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah named Ezzat al-Dowleh) who bore him 24 sons and 13 daughters. He died in 1939 at the age of 82.

Life

Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma was born in 1857. He received a prince-appropriate education in fencing, hunting, horseback riding, calligraphy, writing poetry, ceremonial etiquette and all the other important skills that a member of the Qajar house had to master through private tutors. He received his military training at the Austrian Military Academy in Tehran . In 1882 he became the commander of a smaller military unit in the province of Kerman . In 1887 received the title Amir Tuman (Commander of the Thousand) .

In the following years he became governor of Kerman, Kurdistan, Fars, Kermanshah and Azerbaijan and was soon one of the largest landowners in Iran. After the death of Naser al-Din Shah and the assumption of reign by Mozaffar ad-Din Shah , he lost all his offices and in 1898 went into exile in Egypt and Baghdad for four years. Under Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, the Iranians fought for a constitution and a parliament as part of the constitutional revolution .

Mozaffar ad-Din Shah died just 10 days after the constitution came into force on January 7, 1907 . His son Mohammed Ali Shah was crowned Shah 10 days after his father's death. Representatives of Parliament were not invited to the coronation. Mohammed Ali Shah had decided that it would be best to ignore parliament. Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma initially supported Mohammad Ali Shah politically and financially in his fight against the constitutional movement. In return for his financial support, Mohammad Ali Shah Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma, who was a patron of the arts, signed over the extremely precious interior of the Crown Prince's Palace in Tabris . Farmanfarma had the palace completely cleared and taken to his property in Azerbaijan. Expensive and light items were brought to his homes in Tehran and Tabriz.

When the overthrow of Mohammed Ali Shah became apparent in spring 1909, Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma switched sides and openly declared his support for the constitutional movement. After the constitutional movement's victory over Mohammad Ali Shah and the re-establishment of a constitutional government, Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma became Minister of Justice and later Minister of Defense.

The parliament of that time did not yet have any parties, only loose associations of members of parliament into groups. On the one hand, the group of conservative MPs, who called themselves the “moderates” and was led by Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma, was significant. They faced the group of progressive reform MPs who called themselves "Democrats".

During the First World War, Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma became Prime Minister with British support in February 1915, after the former Prime Minister Hassan Mostofi had been forced to resign by the British by the Democrats, who pursued a strict policy of neutrality during the First World War. Iran had declared its neutrality after the outbreak of war, but had become a combat zone in the north and west due to the invasion of Russian and British troops . Prime Minister Mostofi had established contacts with the Ottoman and German empires and promised support against the Russian and British occupations. Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma was considered a follower of the British and was therefore favored by them as Prime Minister. After only three months, however, he had to resign due to domestic political pressure and Hassan Mostofi took over the office of Prime Minister again. In December 1915, Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma took over the office of Prime Minister again, but this time too, after three months, he had to resign in March 1916. He returned to Shiraz and took over the office of governor of Fars.

In Fars he supported the founding of the South Persian Rifles , commanded by General Percy Sykes , a British-financed troop of British officers and Iranian soldiers who defended “British interests in southern Iran” and especially the oil plants of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company von Abadan , should protect against attacks by Ottoman troops and against German acts of sabotage.

Farmanfarma remained governor of Fars until 1921, when he was replaced by his nephew Mohammad Mossadegh . After his return to Tehran, he and two of his sons were immediately arrested on the instructions of Prime Minister Tabatabai . He was accused of high treason because of the support of the British military during his time as governor of Fars. After Prime Minister Tabatabai resigned after just 100 days at the urging of Ahmad Shah Kajar , Abdol Hossein Farmanfarma and his sons were released from prison. However, large parts of his property were confiscated and he had to spend his final years under house arrest.

Farmanfarma died in November 1939 and was buried in Shah Abdol Azim's cemetery.

Name and title

His full name was Hazrat Aghdas Vala Shahzadeh Abdol Hossein Mirza Farman-Farma translated His Highness Prince Abdol Hossein, the Significant and Exalted, Commander of Commanders . After Reza Shah made the use of a family name compulsory, he chose the title Farman-Farma as a family name.

Foreign medals

He was raised to the Knight Grand Cross of the British Order of St. Michael and St. George .

Government offices

• Commander of the Gendarmerie (1884)
• Commander of the army in Azarbaijan (1890)
• Governor of Tehran (1896)
• Governor of Kerman (1892-1893), and (1894-1896)
• Governor of Kurdistan (1894)
• Governor of Fars (1897–1898), and (1916)
• Governor of Kermanshah (1903)
• Governor of Azarbaijan (1907)
• Governor of Isfahan (appointed in 1908 but turned down the post)
• Minister of Justice (1907), (1909)
• Defense Minister (1896-1897)
• Minister of the Interior (1910), (1915)
• Prime Minister (1915-1916)

literature

• Farmānfarmā, Abd-al-Ḥosayn Mīrzā , in Encyclopædia Iranica online [1]
• Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes : A History of Persia, Vol. II. Macmillan, 1921. See chap. LXXX sqq [2] .
• Sattareh Farman Farmaian, Dona Munker: Daughter of Persia. A Woman's Journey from her Father's Harem through the Islamic Revolution . Crown Publishers, Inc., New York NY 1992, ISBN 0-517-58697-5 .
• Manucher Farmanfarmaian, Roxane Farmanfarmaian: Blood and Oil. Memoirs of a Persian Prince . Random House, New York NY 1997, ISBN 0-679-44055-0 .

Web links

• The Qajar (Kadjar) Pages
• Tha Kadjar Family Association

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manoucher Farmanfarmaian, Roxane Farmanfarmaian: Blood & Oil. Random House 1997, p. 44.
2. ↑ "Shahzdeh's Tree, A Family Genealogy of Abdol Hossein Mirza Farman Farma", compiled by Mitra Farman Farmaian Jordan, 1997, Universal Printing, Washington.
3. ^ Karl Schlamminger, Peter Lamborn Wilson : Weaver of Tales. Persian Picture Rugs / Persian tapestries. Linked myths. Callwey, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7667-0532-6 , p. 106 f.
4. ↑ Shahzdeh's Tree , p. 52.