The Persian Campaign or Invasion of Persia was a series of engagements at northern Persian Azerbaijan and western Persia between the British Empire and the Russian Empire against the Ottoman Empire, beginning in December 1914 and ending with the Armistice of Mudros on October 30 1918 as part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. The Russian operations were halted by the Russian Revolution on February 23 1917, and the Russian Caucasus Army replaced with the Armenian units and an Allied force named Dunsterforce.

Background

Persia was, on the paper, neutral in World War I. The reality Persian forces were affected by the rivalry between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers and took sides based on the conditions. Western interest in Persia was based on its significant oil reserves. Persia was strategically situated between Afghanistan and the warring Ottoman, Russian, and British Empire. Persia divided into northern and southern spheres of influence under the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907. The convention capped off several decades of the Great Game between the Russia and British. It defined their respective spheres of influence in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. It provide a counterweight to German influence. Persian government's fundamental struggle was lack of money. At turn of 1914, habitual disorder (absence of safety) destroyed both agriculture and industry. Persian governmental system was just couple years away from Iranian Constitutional Revolution. At first, Great Britain and Russia cordially agreed to the appointment of an American mission of financial advisers, headed by Mr. Morgan Shuster. Morgan Shuster demanded through the Cabinet the recall of the Russian Consul-General, by this Persia, Russia and West had a depart. Persian internal dynamics were also in shift in this period. The Persian reformers, whom were the first generation of Iranian intellectuals, became conscious that antiquity of Persian civilization is not enough for the continuation of the country. A Persian officer from the Persian Cossack Brigade, who was part of the conflicts, lead to a new area for the Persia at the end of the War.

Germany established Intelligence Bureau for the East on the eve of World War I. It was dedicated to promoting and sustaining subversive and nationalist agitations in the British Indian Empire and the Persian and Egyptian satellite states. The bureau was involved in intelligence and subversive missions to Persia and to Afghanistan, to dismantle the Anglo-Russian Entente. Its Persia operations were led by Wilhelm Wassmuss. The Germans hoped to free Persia from British and Russian influence, and to further create a wedge between Russia and the British, eventually leading to an invasion of British India by locally organized armies.

The Ottoman Empire's — or rather German — military strategic goal was to cut off Russian access to the hydrocarbon resources around the Caspian Sea. Aligned with the Germany, Ottoman Empire wanted to wane the influence of the Entente in this region, but for a very different reason. Ottoman War Minister Enver Pasha claimed that if Russians could be beaten in the key cities of Persia, it could open the way to Azerbaijan, to Central Asia and to India. Enver visioned an extended cooperation between these newly establishing nationalistic states, if they were to be removed from western influence. He was anti-imperialistic in his thinking. This was his pan-Turanian project. Enver project conflicted a major western project played out as struggles among several key imperial powers, known as Imperialism in Asia. His approach was a Turkic in character. His political position was based on the assumption [which turned to be true] none of the colonial powers possessed the resources to withstand the strains of world war and maintain their direct rule in Asian states [Enver concentrated on a smaller geopolitical section limited Turkic in nature]. Although nationalist movements throughout the colonial world led to the political independence of nearly all of the Asia's remaining colonies during World War I and interwar period, but decolonisation on the scale of Enver's ambitions never achieved. However, Enver continued with his ambition after the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the powerful Imperial Powers until to be killed on August 4, 1922.

In 1914, before the war, the British government had contracted with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company for the supply of oil-fuel for the navy. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was in the proposed path of Enver's project which British had the exclusive rights to work petroleum deposits throughout the Persian Empire except in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Ghilan, Mazendaran, Asdrabad and Khorasan.

Forces

The Persian forces were established around certain districts, instead of one single force. Each district (like state forces) furnished battalions and each of the provinces had several battalions. Each district depending on the tribal grouping furnished 1 or sometimes 2 battalions usually under their own chiefs. The strength of battalions was from 600 to 800. They had batteries from 4 to 8 guns. The irregular troops amount to about 50,000 in each district and tribal horse and an uncertain number of footmen all badly or indifferently armed. It is not uncommon of the the chiefs, who controlled the battalions, change side based on the conditions. Some of these forces were Qashqai Tribesmen, Tangistani Tribesmen, Luristani Tribesmen, and Khamseh Tribesmen. Persian central government also had Persian Central Government Gendarmerie under Swedish officers consisting of about 6,000. Only 2,000 of the 6,000 was mounted. They were in 6 regiments 9 battalions and are armed with the Mauser, 12 machine guns and 4 mountain guns. It was dispersed at Tehran, Kazrin, and Hamadan. It's objective was to keep the roads under their charge to open which was about 930 miles.

In 1914, Enver ordered Lt. Col. Kazım Bey, commander of the 1st Expeditionary Force (11 December) and Lt. Col. Halil Bey, commander of the 5th Expeditionary Force (25 December): “Your duty is to move with your division towards Persia and proceed through Tabriz to Dagestan, where you will ignite a general rebellion and repulse the Russians from the shores of the Caspian Sea.”

The German operations were achieved by Wilhelm Wassmuss and Count Kaunitz. Wilhelm Wassmuss, known as the German Lawrence, was a German consular official in Persia who loved the desert, and wore the flowing robes of a desert tribesman He persuaded his superiors in Constantinople that he could lead Persian tribes in a revolt against Britain.

In 1914, British had British Indian Army units located in the southern influence zone. British had extensive experience in dealing with tribal forces because of the Indian experience. In 1917, a British force headed by Major-General Lionel Dunsterville was established. He arrived to take command in Baghdad on January 18, 1918. The British troops of Dunsterville numbered roughly 1,000. They were supported by a field artillery battery, machine gun section, three armoured cars, and also two airplanes. He was ordered "proceed from Mesopotamia through Persia to the port of Anzali, then board ship to Baku and onwards." In 1916 the British formed the South Persian Rifles to protect their interests in Persia.

Russians have long established forces in the region. The Persian Cossack Brigade and a small Russian contingent of Russian Caucasus Army under the Armenian General Tovmas Nazarbekian existed in the region. Cossack Brigade consisting of 8 squadrons 1 small battalion of infantry and a horse battery of 6 Krup guns, which the total strength did not exceed 2.000 of all ranks. Besides this force, in 1912, Russia obtained the formal consent of the Persian Government to the formation of a similar Cossack Brigade at Tabriz under Russian officers the consent of the Persian Government was given as a condition for the withdrawal of Russian troops in Persian Azerbaijan, which at the onset of the Great War Russia did not pull out it's forces from the region. Russian also moved one Detachment Armenian volunteer units under the command of Andranik Toros Ozanian to this region.

File:QF3pdrHotchkissMesopotamia1917.jpg|British Indian ArmyImage:Cosacos Artilleros de Terek.jpg|Nikolai Baratov commanded Terek Cossacks under Russian Caucasus ArmyImage:Persian Cossack Brigade.jpg|Persian Cossack BrigadeImage:Staff of Armenian volunteers 1914.png|1914, Staff of Armenian volunteer unitsImage:Dunster1.jpg|Dunsterville with the staff of Dunsterforce

Battle zone

The engagements were in the northern Persian Azerbaijan, compromising the provinces of East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan and Ardabil cities include Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Maragheh, Marand, Mahabad and Khoy.

The conflicts were distributed around major gateways in this mountainous geography. Persian mountains have helped to shape both the political and the economic history. The mountains enclose several broad basins, or plateaus, on which major settlements were located. The principal areas were Tehran with 280,000 inhabitants; Tabriz with 200,000; Isfahan with 80,000; Meshed and Karmen with 60,000; Yezd with 45,000. The Persia in this period had many nomads as the local economy was based on herding. The nomads of Persia comprised 260,000 Arabs; 720,000 Turks (Azeri origin); 675,000 Kurds and Leks; 20,700 Baluchis and Gipsies; 234,000 Lurs. The number of Europeans did not exceed 1,200. The religious breakdown of the population: about 8 millions Muslims, 10,000 Guebres, 40,000 Jews, 50,000 Armenians and 30,000 Nestorians.

Operations

Prelude

The central Persian government had difficulties in establishing order before the War. In a single year; the Qashqai Tribesmen, the most powerful in southern Persia, defied the governor-general and raided in Fars as did the Boyer Ahmad-i's Tribesmen; the Khamseh Tribesmen raided the caravan routes in the Kerman province; and other tribes raided in the Fars, Yazd or Kermān provinces from time to time. The central-government controlled gendarmerie had gradually established themselves [not in the full sense] and engaged a number of tribesmen. Central-government constructed posts along the routes and these they held at the outbreak of war. There is not much to say about the nature of the order beyond these positions.

Russians maintained forces in northern Persia, so the British. The Russians, based on security reasons of the Christians (protectorate) in Persia, occupied a number of cities. Tabriz was occupied in 1909; Urmia and Khoi in 1910. This measure enabled the Russians not only to control Persia, but also to secure the road from their rail-head at Djoulfa to Van Province, Ottoman Empire through Khoi.

On June 28 1914, World War I began. First Ottoman Empire did not engage to conflicts. However, the security of the region began do decline even before the Russian-Ottoman conflicts. Disturbances began along the border. A notable attack was made on Urmia, ostensibly by Kurdish Tribesmen. About the same time the Russians closed the Ottoman Empire's Consulates at Urmia, Tabriz and Khoi, and expelled the Kurds and other Sunni Muslims from the villages near Urmia. Arms were given at the same time to some of the Christians. Russian authorities distributed 24,000 rifles to the some Kurdish Tribesmen that sided with them in Persia and the Van Province, Ottoman Empire. Russian-Ottoman conflicts began with the Bergmann Offensive on November 2 1914.

1914

In December 1914, General Myshlaevsky ordered withdrawal from Persia at the height of the Battle of Sarikamish. Only one brigade of Russian troops under the command of the Armenian General Nazarbekoff and one battalion of Armenian volunteers scattered throughout Salmast and Urmia. Contact was limited to skirmishes on the border of northern Persia. The presence of Russian cavalry units kept them quiet. Enver established [one division] troops from conscripted at Constantinople [December 25]. This unit was given under the command of Khalil Bey. While Halil Bey’s troops were preparing for the operation, a small group had already crossed the Persian frontier. After repulsing a Russian offensive toward Van, Van Gendarmerie Division [commanded by Major Ferid], a lightly equipped paramilitary formation, had chased the enemy into Persia.

On December 14, 1914, Van Jandarma Division occupied the city of Kotur. Later, proceeded towards Hoy. It was supposed to keep this passage open to Kazım Bey (5th Expeditionary Force) and Halil Bey units (1st Expeditionary Force) who were to move towards Tabriz from the bridgehead established at Kotur. However, the Battle of Sarıkamısh depleted the Ottoman forces and these forces to be deploy to Persia needed elsewhere. On January 10 the 5th Expeditionary Force, which was on the way to Persia, was rerouted north to the Third Army and soon it was followed by the 1st Expeditionary Force.

1915

In 1915, Wilhelm Wassmuss conferred with local chiefs and distributed pamphlets urging revolt. He was arrested by a local chief, but managed to escape from British custody. He hoped to incite a revolt through pro-German members of the Persian government in conjunction of invasion of Ottoman troops towards Kermanshah and Hamadan.

On January 4, 1915, a volunteer detachment led by Omer Naci Bey, who was sent to Persia on a special mission by Talat Pasha, captured the city of Urmia. One week later, the “Mosul Group” commanded by Omer Fevzi Bey entered Tabriz, without facing much resistance. Apparently taking the Russian higher command completely by surprise. Though referred as Khalil Bey by Aram, Omer Fevzi with his [superior] forces captured the city of Urmia in a few hours and marched on Salmast. At the end of 1914, Omer Fevzi who was identified as Khalil took nearly a thousand Russians prisoners. On January 26–28, 1915, in Sufian area, General Chernozubov had a brief fighting. Russia sent a strong force which succeeded in recapturing the city. On January 30, Chernozubov entered Tabriz.

On February 3, 1915, General Nazarbekov launched a counter-offensive. This time, the Van Gendarmerie Division succeeded in holding its lines.

In early March, Nazarbekov attacked with a stronger force. He had seven battalions in total. On 7 March, Van Gendarmerie Division evacuated Dilman and began to withdraw, reaching Kotur three days later and entrenching there.

In April 1915, the 1st Expeditionary Force under the command of Halil Bey moved towards northern Persia. The objective was the city of Dilman, and to clean this region from Nazarbekov’s forces, which would provide a significant tactical advantage in the Caucasian Campaign. Diliman was place one of the fiercest battles between the Armenians and the Turks. The first battalion of the Armenian volunteers, under the command of the Andranik repulsed the attacks of Khalil Bey, until the Russian Chernozubov arrived The newly-arrived Russian forces from the Caucasus, they were able to put to flight Khalil Bey. A poorly executed night raid on April 14 cost Halil Bey around 2,000 casualties. He lost thirty-six hundred soldiers in the course of those three days. General Nazarbekov managed to push Halil Pasha regulars towards Başkale after the Battle of Diliman (April 15, 1915), securing the situation. Halil Bey received the following cable from Enver Paşa and leave this theater of war: “Van is silenced. Roads to Bitlis and Iraq are under danger. In order to avoid even greater threats, withdraw as soon as possible and join the Third Army which would take control of these gateways.”

On May 8, 1915, one of the twelve Armenian messengers from Van Resistance had got through to Persia An Armenian volunteer unit with Andranik, along with 1200 man, and commander Chernoroyal's division dispatched toward the Bashkaleh. On May 7, they captured Bashkaleh. This group from Persia reach the City of Van on May 18. They had expected to find Van still in a state of siege and were amazed at finding it in the hands of the Armenians. When word got to Yudenich, he sent a brigade of Trans-Baikal Cossacks under General Trukhin. With Van secure, fighting shifted farther west for the rest of the summer.

During July 1915, Russian forces at the Caucasus Campaign had a general retreat which one Russian column retreated up to Persian frontier. This retreat was the consequence of events at June 1915. Yudenich planned an attack to limit the Ottomans at Moush and Manzikert. He planned to outflank from Beyazit and Persian Azerbaijan towards Van. However, the Russian advance toward the Caucuses campaign did not last long. The Russian forces suffered reverses. The command of Khalil Bey Eleven divisions of regular troops attacked the very center of the Russian Caucasian advance. In a few days they with Battle of Malazgirt July 16, and later Battle of Kara Killisse the Russian army retreated.

In August 1915, as the British occupied Bushire, the gendarmes under Akhgar retreated to Burazjan.

In November 1915, Major Pesyan as commander of Gendarmerie in Hamedan launched an attack on the pro-Russian Persian Cossack Brigade at the Battle of Musalla. His gendarmes managed to disarm the Persian Cossacks and he managed to win some of the cossacks to join his forces in a patriotic speech he made to them after their defeat. After this victory, Russians advanced on the Persian Gendermerie, in Robat-i-Karim forces under Mohammad Hossein Jahanbani and in Hamedan-Kermanshah road forces under Major Pesyan and Azizollah Zarghami could not defend Hamedan against an advancing Russian Caucasus Army which was superior in numbers and weapons. In Soltanabad, gendarmerie force under Masoud Kayhan were also defeated by the Russians. The gendarmes then retreated to Kermanshah. On November 10, 1915, pro-Central powers Persian Gendarmerie under Ali Quli Khan Pasyan defeat pro-British Khamseh tribal forces of Ibrahim Khan Qavam-ul-Mulk and capture Shiraz. All British residents of Shiraz are arrested. Gendarms also capture Yazd and Kerman.

In the middle of November 1915, General Yudenitch who was managing the Caucasian Campaign (the nearest to the spot), dispatched two columns into the Persian Azerbaijan; one, under General Nikolai Baratov, with the order to push southwestward through Hamadan to Kermanshah, on the way to Bagdad. The second column advanced through Kum and Kashan to Ispahan. A detachment of the Russian Caucasus Army marched on Tehran. On November 14, The Austro-Hungarian and German Ministers left the capital, but Ahmad Shah Qajar did not agree to leave his people behind, and the Prince of Reuss undertook to hold strategical points with a force of 6,000 of the Persian gendarmerie, about 3,000 Turkish irregulars, and the disaffected Persian tribesmen, about 15,000 in all. By the end of the month, Tehran was taken by the Russians Caucuses Army and Armenian volunteers.

In December 1915, the Shah was induced to appoint a new pro-Ally cabinet with Prince Firman Firma at its head. On December 15, 1915, Hamadan was captured by the Nikolai Baratov. Baratov’s job was not difficult because, there was no significant resistance. During the last days of 1915, Sir Percy Sykes assigned a mission with a temporary rank of Brigadier-General to establish a force South Persia Rifles using the local Tribesmen which would render their service for a price. His mission was to counter the strong German influence in most of South Persia.

1916

In January 1916, Baratov drove the Turks and Persian tribesman and occupied Ramadan. On February 26, Baratov's forces captured Kermanshah. On March 12, Baratov's forces captured Kharind. Baratov reached the Ottoman frontier, 150 miles from Bagdad in the Mesopotamia campaign, by the middle of May. It was expected that this unit would eventually effect a juncture with the British army in Mesopotamia. In fact, a Cossack company of five officers and 110 men left the Baratov's Russian division on May 8, rode southward a distance of about 180 miles through the territory of disaffected tribesmen, crossing several mountain passes at an altitude of 8,000 feet, and reached the British front on the Tigris on May 18.

On February 26, 1916, Russians advanced and defeated the gendarmes who then retreated to Qasr-i-Shirin and managed to hold the region until May 1916, when Qasr-i-Shirin was captured by the Russians and this time many gendarmes went to live in exile in Istanbul, Mosul and Baghdad. In Spring 1916, Ibrahim Khan Qavam-ul-Mulk and his Khamseh tribesmen defeated the gendarmes under Ali Quli Khan Pesyan and Ghulam Riza Khan Pesyan who shot and killed each other. Other gendarmes, the German Consul Roever and the Swede Captain Angman got arrested and tortured.

On May 7, 1916, the next objective of Baratov was Khanaqin. They had to retreat on a strong resistance by the unit led by Şevket Bey. This gave the Turks valuable time to strengthen their defenses. The 6th Division arrived as a reinforcement in northern Persia. Enver moved this freed unit to Persia. Enver thought that it was time to strike back.

In late May, facing Baratov was assigned to the XIII Corps commanded by Col. Ali İhsan Bey, who began his advance. Meanwhile, on the Russian side, Baratov was hoping to capture Khanaqin and move down to Baghdad, which could have been taken by the Russians as the Turks and the British were busy with fighting each other. On June 3, he forced Khanaqin once again, but this time the balance had changed. The Turkish XIII Corps successful repulsed Baratov’s forces, and did not leave it there; soon the counter-offensive that was planned launched. Ali İhsan Bey captured Kermanshah on 2 July and took Hamadan on 10 August. Having lost half of his men, Baratov was forced to retreat north. Baratov stopped at the Sultan Bulak range. On August 1916, the gendarmes return to Kermanshah.

On June 12, 1916, the British advance in southern Persia which was undertaken by Percy Sykes column under reached the Kerman. From this point, he supported the Russians operations against the Ottoman Empire until June 1917, when he was withdrawn with the new Persian government.

In 1916, General Chernozubov sent a military exhibition in Hakkyari. The squads within the expedition were led by the Patriarch’s brother David; Ismail, Malik of the Upper Tyari; and Andreus, the Jilu Malik.

In December 1916, Baratov began to move on Qoms and Hamadan for clearing Persian forces and Turkish troops. Both cities fell in the same month.

Count Kaunitz disappeared without a trace, either killing himself or being a victim of assassination by disenchanted coup members. The premature coup was crushed in Tehran as Ahmad Shah Qajar took refuge in the Russian legation, and a sizable Russian force arrived to Tehran under Baratov after they landed in Bandar-e Pahlavi in November of that year. The pro-German coup members of the Majles fled to Kirmanshah and Qom without fighting.

1917

In 1917, Mar Binyamin was invited to the Russian embassy by Vasily Nikitin in Urmia for negotiations. Nikitin assured the Assyrians that after the War they will have a national community land in Russia. At the meeting, the Patriarch was accompanied by Agha Putrus. The presence of the armed squads of Assyrians in Urmiya irritated Persians. Persians were afraid that Russians might come back and, united with the Assyrians, proclaim their power in the city.

The chaos caused by the Russian Revolution put a stop to all Russian military operations. In January 1917, the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich Romanov was sent to join Baratov. Baratov established a Cavalry Corps headquarters at Kasvin in northern Persia. Following months Baratov's forces began to suffer desertions. Baratov had barely an effective regiment in his hand at November 1917 as many of his cossacks to their Stanisa villages.

In April 1917, Baratov meet with a Colonel Rowlandson, who was the liaison to link Caucasian Cavalry Corps with the British Dunsterforce. The new government removed the Grand Duke from his command and reassigned General Yudenich to a meaningless position in Central Asia. He then retired from the army. The Russian army slowly disintegrated until there was no effective military force during the rest of 1917.

On December 16, The Armistice of Erzincan (Erzincan Cease-fire Agreement) was signed officially brought an end to the hostilities between Ottoman Empire and Russians Special Transcaucasian Committee. Ottomans and Germans began to dispute possession of the provinces along the border between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Enver Paşa believed that Germany had disregarded Turkish interests when the terms of the armistice were negotiated with Russia and moved on to disregard German interests, sending armed forces to the region. A newly established Ninth Army , consisting of the I Caucasian Corps and IV Corps was sent to Persia, under the command of Yakup Sevki Paşa. The task of this army was to “Stop the British advance in Persia, to prevent them from helping the Bolsheviks, to cover the area between the Lake of Urmia and the Caspian Sea, and, if necessary, to join the Sixth Army for the operation to capture Baghdad.”

With the Russian armies began to disintegrate. Van, which was located at the Caucasus Campaign war zone, was completely cut off from the Allies. At this time, the British Army did not move very far beyond Baghdad in the Mesopotamian campaign. Armenians of the Van attempted to hold their own.

1918

During 1918, British invited Armenians to hold out and picked officers and non-commissioned officers organized them under the command of Lionel Dunsterville at Baghdad. It was named the Dunsterforce. The military goal of Dunsterforce was to reach Caucasus via Persia. It was planned to organize an army to be recruited from the Armenians and other pro-Ally elements that still existed in the Caucuses.

In February 1918, the Caucasian Cavalry Corps only consisted of Baratov, General Lastochkin, Colonel Bicherakov, Colonel Baron Meden and about 1000 loyal Kuban and Terek cossacks. Baratov and his men assisted, even though new Russian government had a peace agreement, the British in Persia until the end of World War I.

On 3 March 1918, The Grand vizier Talat Pasha signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Russian SFSR. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk stipulated that the border between Russia and Ottoman Empire to be pulled back to prewar levels and the cities Batum, Kars, and Ardahan to be transferred to Ottoman Empire.

In April 1918, Armenians of Van were eventually evacuate and withdraw from the province of Van and retreated eastward toward the Persian Azerbaijan. Early in 1918, Ottoman 3rd Army moved to offense. Retreating Armenians from Van, joined by the Assyrians in defense, made a stand near Dilman but continue to retreat southward around Lake Urmiah. 3rd Army did not follow this unit.

On 8 June 1918, the IV Corps entered Tabriz. Yakup Sevki faced an Armenian volunteer force of 4,000 men coming from Van. They aimed to break through the Şahtahtı-Tabriz line and join with Ozanian’s forces. On 15 June, the 12th Division of the IV Corps defeated this Armenian unit at a battle to the north of Dilman. The city of Dilman was captured on 18 June. On 24 June, Ozanian managed to defeat opposing units and to lay siege on the city of Hoy. The 12th Division came to rescue and repulsed Ozanian’s forces. At the same time, the 5th Division of the IV Corps had to retreat against a 1,500-strong Armenian force. In the south, Urmia fall to the IV Corps on 31 July. By the end of July, there was an increasing British presence in the Persia and the Ninth Army’s advance came to a halt.

During July 1918, the British Army occupied the greater portion of Mesopotamia with the Mesopotamian Campaign, as well as a large part of Persian Azerbaijan. Preparations were made for the establishment of a large camp for Armenians refugees near Bakubah, Iraq. Towards the end of September it was decided to raise four battalions from the Armenians refugee at Bakubah on the lines of an Indian Infantry battalion. 2nd Battalion was established by Van Armenians. 3rd Battalion was established by Armenians from other regions. The G.O.C. North Persian Force decided to locate 2nd Battalion to Senna. 3rd Battalion moved to Bijar.

By September 1918, the Ottomans consolidated their control over northern Persia, between Tabriz and the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. But they lost the rest of the region to British. They would hold this territory until the armistice.

On 30 October 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros and the military operations ended.

Aftermath

After the Ottoman Empire lost World War I, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire soon followed. Enver Pasha's political vision which stated as "If Russians beaten in the key cities of Persia, they could be forced to out from the region," failed as Russian and Bakhtiari troops landed in 1920 and forced majles to temporarily cease. The immediate outcome of the Campaign was the Anglo-Persian Agreement, which gave the drilling rights of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The "agreement" was issued by British Foreign Secretary Earl Curzon to the Persian government in August 1919. It stated a guarantee of British access to Iranian oil fields. In 1919, northern Persia was occupied by the British General William Edmund Ironside to enforce the Armistice of Mudros conditions and help General Dunsterville and Colonel Bicherakhov to contain Bolshevik influence (of Mirza Kuchak Khan) in the north. Britain attempted to establish a protectorate in Iran. Britain also took tighter military control over the increasingly lucrative oil fields.

After the Russian left the Persia in 1917 (for a short period—later to come back) following the Russian revolution, Mar Shimmun wholly understood the difficult situation the Assyrians. In 1918, he was convincing Agha Putrus not to fight against Persians but to make peace with them in his messages. We can see that Assyrians did not put down their weapons as the Patriarch advised but on the contrary chose to attack. After the defeat Major Pesyan went to live in exile in Berlin. During his time in Berlin, he was trained as a pilot in the German Airforce and was rewarded with the Eisernes Kreuz Medal for shooting down more than 25 enemy aircraft during World War I.

In late 1920, the Soviet Socialist Republic in Rasht was preparing to march on Tehran with "a guerrilla force of 1500 Jangalis, Armenians, and interestingly this time Kurds, and Azerbaijanis were on their side", reinforced by the Soviet Red Army. Britain attempted to establish a protectorate in Iran following 1919, which this goal aided by the Soviet Union's withdrawal in 1921. In that year, a military coup established Reza Khan, a Persian officer of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as dictator and then hereditary Shah of the new Pahlavi dynasty (1925). Reza Shah curtailed the power of the majles. He effectively turned it into a rubber stamp organization. While Reza Khan and his Cossack brigade were securing Tehran, the Persian envoy was in Moscow negotiating a treaty with the Bolsheviks for the removal of Soviet troops from Persia. The coup d'état of 1921 and the emergence of Reza Khan were assisted by the British government that wished to halt the Bolshevik's penetration of Iran, particularly because of the threat it posed to the British colonial possession of India. It is thought that British provided "ammunition, supplies and pay" for Reza's troops.

Casualties

Notes

1. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1920, v.28, p.403
2. David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace; The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1989), 209.
3. The Statesman's Year-book By John Scott Keltie
4. Aram, "Why Armenia Should be Free," page 22
5. Ussher, An American Physician, 286.
6. Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions, (1982), p.117
7. see also: Zirinsky M.P. Imperial Power and dictatorship: Britain and the rise of Reza Shah 1921-1926. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 24, 1992. p.646
8. see also FO 371 16077 E2844 dated 8 June 1932. A British Embassy report that stated that the British put Reza Shah "on the throne".

See also

• Military history of Iran
• Russo-Persian Wars
• Turko-Persian War

Bibliography

• Operations in Persia 1914-1919 by Brigadier-General F J Moberly (Printed 1929 but classed 'Confidential'; 1987 reprint, HMSO) ISBN 0 11 290453 X
• [437677]