Persian Cossack Brigade
The Persian Cossack Brigade ( Persian بریگاد قزاق Berīgād-e qazzāq ) was a Persian military associationfounded in 1879, which was initiallycommandedexclusively by Russian officers. The brigade served asthe Shah's bodyguard and the protection of the Russian envoy. The brigade was financed by customs revenue from northern Persia, which the Russian Banque d'Escompte transferred to the commander of the brigade annually (initially 342,000 Toman, from 1913 900,000 Toman ( ℳ 3.6 million, value 1913)).
Founding history
The establishment of the Persian Cossack Brigade was part of a process of modernization of the Persian armed forces, which was implemented with the help of foreign military experts.
Due to the good relations of the first interpreter of Naser al-Din Shah , the Armenian Mirza Dawud (David) Khan, to the court in Vienna , an Austro-Hungarian military mission was initially recruited. The Austrian officers tried hard to set up an infantry and an artillery unit, but ultimately failed because of the adverse climatic conditions and the lack of financial support from the Austrian state.
On his second trip to Europe in 1878, which was also to take him to Berlin , Naser al-Din Shah was the first to visit St. Petersburg . He was so impressed by the Cossacks accompanying him from the Russian border because of their neat uniforms, their precisely executed orders and their modern armament that he asked Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich Romanov , who was accompanying him, to send him some Russian officers who would bring a comparable troop into Persia should build up. The tsarist government in St. Petersburg saw an opportunity to expand Russian influence in Persia and immediately agreed. Lieutenant Colonel AI Domantovich was appointed head of this mission. With the help of other officers, he began to set up a Cossack regiment in April 1879. The results obviously exceeded the expectations of Naser al-Din Shah, so that in the summer of that year he decided to bring the small regiment to the strength of a brigade.
The strength of the unit varied over time. While 400 men were initially trained as a cavalry regiment, the unit soon shrank back to 300 men. In 1884 a smaller artillery unit was set up with four cannons left by the Russian army . Thanks to further donations from the Shah, around 1900 around 1,500 men were divided between two regiments in the Persian Cossack Brigade. Ten years later, the brigade was already on 8000 Persian officers and men to an infantry unit Advanced Division grown. The brigade and later the division were commanded by Russian officers from the beginning until 1920. When it was founded, nine Russian officers were on Persian pay . In 1920 there were more than 120.
The Persian Cossack Association suffered from the constant lack of money at the court. Furthermore, the dispute between the Russian embassy in Tehran and the Russian commanding officers was programmed. Tsarist Russia expected Russian officers who were paid by Persia to show consideration for the political interests of Tsarist Russia.
In 1891, the year Reza Khan began his service with the Cossack Brigade's artillery unit, a cholera epidemic broke out in Iran . In 1895 the troops were severely depleted and so run down that Naser al-Din Shah considered using them only as an honor guard , completely dismissing the Russian officers and replacing them with German officers. Since the victory of the German Empire over France in 1871 , the German military in Persia had a legendary reputation.
Mission history
During the first 17 years of its existence, the Persian Cossack Brigade had no specific task. The commander was subordinate to the Caucasian Cossack Division in Tbilisi . On the Persian side, he received his orders from the Shah directly. Even after the constitutional revolution, the brigade was not subordinate to the newly created Ministry of Defense. In addition, the brigade was bound by the guidelines and instructions of the Russian embassy in Tehran.
From 1896 it was used to maintain internal security. Smaller units were stationed in the individual provinces under the command of the provincial governor. The first test came on May 1, 1896 after the fatal assassination attempt on Naser al-Din Shah. Prime Minister Ali Asghar Khan Atabak called a Cossack division to Tehran to maintain law and order. The Cossack Brigade secured central government facilities as well as the Russian embassy and the Tehran branch of the Russian state bank until Mozaffar al-Din Shah took office . In 1901, the governor of Fars called on the Cossacks to help put down a regional uprising.
During the constitutional revolution , the Cossack Brigade came under heavy criticism for its pro-Russian stance. The Russian Ambassador Nikolai Hartwig and the commander of the Cossack Vladimir Lyakhov supported Muhammad Ali Shah in his bid to the Parliament to dissolve and to restore the old absolutist order. Lyakhov was appointed military governor of Tehran by the Shah. Lyakhov shelled the parliament building and the nearby mosque. Hundreds of supporters of the constitutional movement were killed in the attack. More than 400 Cossacks also took part in the siege of Tabriz , the inhabitants of which, under the leadership of Sattar Khan, successfully fought against Mohammed Ali Shah and helped to victory at the end of the constitutional movement.
After Mohammed Ali Shah went into exile in Russia, Lyachow assured the constitutional government of his loyalty and did not support Mohammed Ali Shah's attempted coup against the constitutional government in 1911. However, the relationship with the constitutional government remained tense, so that in 1911 parliament decided to set up another military association, the gendarmerie, with the help of Swedish officers. The gendarmes subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior were given the task of securing the highways.
After the October Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Russian monarchy, the majority of Russian officers remained in Persian service. From 1920 the British government financed the Persian Cossacks with 60,000 tomans per month, and used them against communist movements in northern Persia. After the Russian civil war had been decided in favor of the communist movement and the White Army and the British troops supporting it withdrew from Russia to Iran, the British were interested in replacing the Russian officers with Persian officers for security reasons. That was the hour of Reza Khan, who had started out as a simple soldier in the Persian Cossack Brigade and made it all the way to officer. After talks with Ahmad Shah and General Ironside , who had come to Iran to lead the withdrawal of British troops (NORPERFORCE), Reza Khan was appointed commander-in-chief of the Persian Cossacks in October 1920. The remaining 120 Russian officers were dismissed and completely replaced by Persian officers.
During this time, the Persian Cossacks were against communist movements in northern Iran, in particular against the Jangali rebels under the leadership of Mirza Kutschak Khan , who had proclaimed an Iranian Soviet republic in June 1920 , and against the Khiabani rebels in the Iranian part of Azerbaijan, who were under leadership by Sheikh Mohammed Khiabani proclaimed the independent state of Azadistan. While the Persian Cossacks were successful against Khiabani, they first had to admit defeat against Mirza Kutschak Khan and retreat to Qazvin. The defeat against the Iranian Soviet Republic nourished the British mistrust of the commanding Russian officers and ultimately led to their replacement and the promotion of Reza Khan to Brigadier General (mīrpanj). The Persian Cossacks were now completely under British control.
The coup of February 21, 1921
The headquarters of the Persian Cossacks was established in Qazvin. From there, on February 21, 1921, the Cossacks under the command of Reza Khan occupied Tehran and overthrew the government under Prime Minister Fathollah Akbar Sepahdar . Seyyed Zia al Din Tabatabai was appointed as the new Prime Minister by Ahmad Shah Kajar . With the support of Seyyed Zia, Reza Khan made the Persian Cossacks again into a powerful division and defeated both the Red Army units that had occupied northern Iran and the Jangali movement, which was led by Mirza Kutschak Khan in June 1920 proclaimed an autonomous Soviet republic of Iran. Kurdistan and Azerbaijan were also under the control of the central government again thanks to Reza Khan, who had meanwhile held the title of Sardar Sepah (Commander in Chief) and had become Minister of Defense.
Establishment of the Iranian Army
After Seyyed Zia's resignation, Ahmad Qavam became Prime Minister. Reza Khan remained Minister of Defense. With the takeover of the Defense Ministry, Reza Khan began to integrate the gendarmes assigned to the Interior Ministry and still commanded by Swedish officers into the new Iranian army, which initially consisted only of Cossacks. In the planned second step, the South Persian Rifles , a military unit under British command and stationed in southern Iran to protect the oil facilities operated by the British in Abadan , into the newly created army, the British refused. They disbanded the force. The process of incorporating all military groupings operating in Iran into the newly created Iranian army was completed in 1925. In the end, the strength of the Iranian army, which was under purely Persian command, was 40,000 men. With the creation of a national army by Reza Khan, the Cossack Brigade ceased to exist as an independent military association.
Locations
- Larger locations
- Smaller locations
See also
literature
- Muriel Atkin: Cossack Brigade . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
- Stephanie Cronin: The Army and the creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1910-1926 (= Library of Modern Middle-East Studies. 11 (recte: 12)). Tauris Academic Studies, London et al. 1997, ISBN 1-86064-105-9 .
- Cyrus Ghani: Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah. From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Rule. Tauris, London et al. 2000, ISBN 1-86064-629-8 .
- John Keegan : World Armies. Macmillan Press et al., London 1979, ISBN 0-333-17236-1 .