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Qajar Empire: A Visual History

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Visual history of an empire

The Turkmen dynasty that ruled Iran for 130 years, lost the Caucasus to Russia and Herat to Britain, and was squeezed until a constitution and a coup ended it.

Existed
1789 to 1925
Duration
136 years
Existed
1789 to 1925
Peak area
About 3 million km2 (1800), 1.6 million after 1828
Capital
Tehran
Longest reign
Naser al-Din Shah, 48 years (1848 to 1896)
Ended by
Reza Khan (Reza Shah Pahlavi)

The Qajar dynasty, a Turkmen tribe of northern Iran, took power when Agha Mohammad Khan reunified the country after the Zand civil wars and was crowned in 1796. His successors lost Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to Russia (treaties of Gulistan 1813 and Turkmenchay 1828), Herat to British pressure in 1857, and much of their sovereignty to Anglo-Russian concessions and loans. The Constitutional Revolution of 1906 created a parliament; Reza Khan's coup of 1921 and the deposition of Ahmad Shah in 1925 replaced the Qajars with the Pahlavis.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Qajar Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

1200130014001500160017001800190020002100Qajar Empire (1789 to 1925)Open: Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire (1299 to 1922)Open: Safavid EmpireSafavid Empire (1501 to 1736)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Russian EmpireRussian Empire (1721 to 1917)Open: Russo-Circassian War and Caucasian WarRusso-Circassian War and Caucasian War (1763 to 1864)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: Crimean WarCrimean War (1853 to 1856)Open: World War IWorld War I (1914 to 1918)Open: Russian Civil WarRussian Civil War (1917 to 1922)Open: Turkish War of IndependenceTurkish War of Independence (1919 to 1923)Open: Soviet Union (USSR)Soviet Union (USSR) (1922 to 1991)Open: Arab-Israeli conflictArab-Israeli conflict (1948 to present)

Qajar territory

00.751.52.2531796: 31813: 2.21828: 1.71857: 1.651925: 1.651800182018401860188019001920million km2 (approximate)

Timeline of the Qajar Empire

  1. 1789
    Agha Mohammad Khan takes Tehran
  2. 1796
    Coronation
  3. 1813
    Treaty of GulistanGeorgia and Dagestan lost.
  4. 1828
    Treaty of TurkmenchayArmenia and Azerbaijan lost.
  5. 1857
    Herat renounced
  6. 1891
    Tobacco Protest
  7. 1906
    Constitution granted
  8. 1908
    Oil discovered
  9. 1921
    Reza Khan's coup
  10. 1925
    Qajars deposed

Agha Mohammad Khan

Castrated as a boy by a rival dynasty, Agha Mohammad Khan escaped, rebuilt the Qajar tribe, destroyed the Zands, sacked Tbilisi in 1795 and was crowned shah in 1796. He was assassinated by his servants the next year. His nephew Fath-Ali Shah, famous for his beard and 100 or so children, fought Russia in two wars and lost the Caucasus.

The Great Game

Iran became a buffer between Russia and British India. Naser al-Din Shah, who reigned nearly half a century, toured Europe, sold concessions for telegraphs, railways, banks and tobacco to foreigners, and faced the Tobacco Protest of 1891 when a clerical fatwa made the whole nation stop smoking. He was assassinated in 1896. Britain and Russia divided Iran into spheres of influence in 1907; oil was found in 1908.

Constitution and coup

Mass protests in 1905-1906 forced Mozaffar al-Din Shah to grant a constitution and a Majlis. His son Mohammad Ali Shah bombarded the parliament in 1908 with Russian officers' help and was overthrown in 1909. The First World War brought foreign occupation and famine. In February 1921 the Cossack officer Reza Khan seized Tehran; he became prime minister, then in 1925 had the absent Ahmad Shah deposed and took the throne himself.

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

Wars of the same era and region

8 surprising things about the Qajar Empire

  1. Agha Mohammad Khan was a eunuch, castrated at six, and is one of the very few eunuchs to found a dynasty.
  2. Fath-Ali Shah is said to have fathered around 100 sons and daughters, so many that Qajar princes were a distinct social class.
  3. The Tobacco Protest of 1891-1892 saw even the shah's wives refuse to smoke, and the concession was cancelled.
  4. Naser al-Din Shah was the first Iranian ruler to visit Europe, in 1873, and brought back photography as a hobby.
  5. The Peacock Throne used by the Qajars was a replacement for the original looted from Delhi by Nadir Shah.
  6. The Qajar shahs granted Baron Reuter, of the news agency, a monopoly on almost the whole Iranian economy in 1872; it was cancelled after protests.
  7. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, born under the Qajars, became BP.
  8. Ahmad Shah, the last Qajar, was in France when he was deposed and never went back.

Sources

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