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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
In 1898, with Great Britain and Russia vying for political and economic dominance of Iran, Grand Vizier Mīrzā Alī Khān Amīn ud-Dawlah set in motion a cycle of events that, during the early part of the twentieth century, led to the downfall of the Qājārs, a dynasty he had spent his entire professional career serving. What initiated this cycle was the negotiation for a loan from Great Britain, sought partially for governmental expenses but mostly to finance a trip by the Shah to Europe. To obtain this loan, Amīn ud-Dawlah mortgaged the revenues of Iran's two most important customs houses in the south (Bushehr and Kermanshah), and also allowed those two departments to come under the control and administration of the British-owned Imperial Bank of Persia. In return for these astonishing concessions, the Bank advanced £50,000 to Grand Vizier Amin ud-Dawlah for emergency expenditures. The remainder, a mere £200,000, was to be paid upon completion of negotiations with the British Government. British bankers and diplomats in Tehran, aware of the sensitivity of the Grand Vizier's extraordinary decision, urged London to complete the negotiations as soon as possible. In the view of British representatives in Tehran this was imperative if temporary control of the customs houses was to become “a permanent institution.” However, negotiations dragged on long enough to give Russia and the Grand Vizier's rivals a chance to successfully frustrate the negotiations. Failure to obtain this British loan forced Grand Vizier Amīn ud-Dawlah to resign.
Author's Note: Among the primary sources cited below, the most important is Amīn ud-Dawlah's Memoirs (Tehran, Persian Book Company), first published by me in 1962. Its second edition was published in 1977 (Tehran, Amir Kabir Publishing Company). For the purpose of this article, I have made use of the first edition, and also, the notes which I shall incorporate in the work's forthcoming third edition. The second edition was published through the efforts of my colleague and friend, lraj Afshar. However, since at that time he did not have access to my revisions and additional notes it is, perforce, essentially the same as the first edition. A word of caution is due in connection with the reference entitled, Sharh-i Hāl-i Rijāl-i Irān, by Mihdī Bāmdad (Tehran, Zavvar Publishing Company). This work, which is an enormous biographical compendium of information on prominent Iranians of modern Iran, is, unfortunately, most unreliable. Many of the entries include colossal errors. This statement is not intended to undermine the significance of Bāmdād's monumental labor. This work stands on its identification of individuals, and this alone is enough to make it one of paramount importance. Since social scientists who are interested in modern Iran are using this work, my suggestion is that it should be used for purposes of identification only, and that its users should compare the information which they take from it with the original sources which Bāmdād has quoted. Moreover, Bāmdād often failed to utilize all available or the most reliable sources, and in many instances has included the least significant of the sources available to him. A good example in the present case is his entry on Amīn ud-Dawlah; here he has not used Amīn ud-Dawlah's memoirs, nor his travel accounts, nor his state letters and correspondence. All these were readily accessible to him.Google Scholar
1 us-Saltanah, Mīrzā Muhammad Hasan Khān I'timād, Al-M'āsiru val-āsar (Tehran, 1306 Lunar/ 1889), p. 193.Google Scholar
2 us-Saltanah, Mīrzā Muhammad Hasan Khān I'timad, Mir' āt ul-Buldān-i Nāsirī (Tehran, 1295 Lunar/1878), 11, p. 239.Google Scholar
3 ud-Dawlah, Mīrzā Alī Khān Amīn, Safarnāmah, Kāzimiyyah, Islām, ed., (Tehran, 1354 Solar/ 1975), p. 5.Google Scholar
4 ud-Dawlah, Mīrzā Alī Khān Amīn, Khātirāt-i Sīyāsī, Farmayan, Hafez, ed., (Tehran, 1341 Solar/ 1962), 1st ed., p. 49.Google Scholar
5 ibid., p. 52.
6 ibid., p. 59.
7 ibid., p. 65.
8 ibid., p. 70.
9 ibid., p. 91.
10 ul-Mamālik, Dūst Alī Khān Mu'ayir, “Mīrzā Alī Khān Amīn ud-Dawlah,” Yaghmā, 9 (Tehran, 1335 Solar/ 1956), p. 36.Google Scholar
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12 See Curzon, George N., Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892), Vol. 1, p. 428.Google Scholar
13 Amīn, ud-Dawlah, Khātirāt, p. 116.Google Scholar
14 Bāmdād, Mīhdī, Sharh-i Hāl-i Rijāl-i Irān (Tehran, 1347 Solar/1968), Vol. 1, pp. 2–7.Google Scholar
15 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 68.Google Scholar
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18 ibid., p. 95.
19 ibid., p. 81.
20 us-Saltanah, I'timād, Rūznāmah, pp. 246, 631.Google Scholar
21 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 129.Google Scholar
22 Algar, Hamid, Mirza Malkam Khan: A Study in the History of Iranian Modernism (Berkeley, 1973), p. 168.Google Scholar
23 us-Saltanah, I'timād, Rūznāmah, p. 975.Google Scholar
24 Algar, Malkum Khan, p. 244.Google Scholar
25 us-Saltanah, l'timād, Rūznāmah, p. 17.Google Scholar
26 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 151.Google Scholar
27 See Keddie, N. R., Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891–1892 (London, 1966);Google Scholar also Lambton, A. K. S., “The Tobacco Regie: Prelude to Revolution,” Studia Islamica, XXII (1965), 119–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 155.Google Scholar
29 ibid., p. 189.
30 ibid., p. 228.
31 ul-Mulk, Ghulām Husayn Afzal, Afzal ut-Tavārīkh, Unpublished manuscript, Malik Library (Tehran, 1317 Lunar/ 1899), Vol. 11, Section 19.Google Scholar
32 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 241.Google Scholar
33 Safā'ī, Ibrāhīm, Pan jāh Nāmah-yi Tārīkhī (Tehran, 1350 Solar/ 1971), p. 106.Google Scholar
34 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 245.Google Scholar
35 Ibid., p. 250.
36 Ibid., p. 257.
37 Ibid., p. 258.
38 ul-Mulk, Afzal, Tavārīkh, Vol. 11, Section 29.Google Scholar
39 Sayyāh, Hajj, Khātirāt ya Dawrah-yi Khawf va Vahshat, Sayyah, Hamīd and Golkār, Siyfullāh, eds. (Tehran, 1346 Solar/ 1967), p. 497.Google Scholar
40 Curzon, Persia, p. 428.Google Scholar
41 Kazemzadeh, Firuz, Russia and Britain in Persia, 1864–1914 (New Haven, 1968), p. 307.Google Scholar
42 Ibid., p. 308.
43 Ibid., p. 315.
44 ud-Dawlah, Amīn, Khātirāt, p. 266.Google Scholar
45 Ibid., p. 274.
46 Upon his son's request, Amīn ud-Dawlah kept a diary of his pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition to being one of the best literary works of twentieth-century Iran, the diary also reflects the personality and attitudes of Amīn ud-Dawlah toward life in general. This work has been published three times, the last being in 1975. The first two editions were lithographed from Amīn ud-Dawlah's own handwriting, and clearly show his handsome style of calligraphy.Google Scholar