Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/782

 PERSIA

718

PERSIA

potamian territories more ami more boldly. In 650 KhSlid. one of the Arab generals, assuming the offen- sive, defeated the Persian troops on the border of the Euplirates valley. The Christians of this region soon submitted to him. Then the .\rabs invaded the coun- try about the Tigris. In lilU .\bu I'baid of Taif, to whom Khalid a.ssigned the task of annexing Persia, was utterly defeated and slain by the Persians, who, however, were routeil in 3.5-t)l'i by Caliph Omar at Bowaib. Towards the close of the year tiiio, or in 37, they were again defeated by the Arabs, under Sa'd, at kadisiyya. The victorious Arabs entered Baby- lonia and "took Seleucia after a lengt hy siege. Thence they crossed the Tigris and fell on Cfesiphnn, Yezde- gerd fleeing towards the Medo-Bab\lonian frontier. Meantime another army of Arabs had occupied Lower Irak and entered Susiana. The decisive and final victory took place in 640-42 at Nehavend, near Ecbatana, when the great Persian Empire and the Sassanian dynasty were completely destroyed.

During the reigns of Omar, Othnian, and Ali, the first caliphs and successors of Mohammed, as well as under the Omayyads (634-720), Persia was ruled by deputy governors; but on the accession of the Abba- sides (a. d. T.'JO), Bagdad became their capital, and Khorasan their favourite proWnce, and thus the very heart of the former territory of the Persian Empire became the centre of the cahphate. But their rule soon became merely a nominal one, and ambitious governors established independent principalities in various parts of Persia. Many of these dynasties were short-lived; others lasted for a considerable period and were powerful kingdoms. For the next two cen- turies Persia was subject to the caliphs. But in 868 an adventurer named SofTar, who had been a pewterer and afterwards a bandit, gathered a native force and expelled the viceroys of the caliph, founding a dynasty known as the Soffarides. In the beginning of the tenth century Persia was divided between the families of Samani and Dilami, the first of which reigned over eastern Persia and Afghanistan, and the second over the rest of the country. Under these dynasties Persia fell beneath the yoke of the Seljuks, and was ruled by Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan, and Maiek Shah, all of whom were conquerors greatly celebrated in oriental history. Their dynasty declined and perished in the twelfth century. After a long period of anarchy Persia was overrun and conquered by the Mongols led by Hulaku Khan, grandson of Yenghis (1258), who established the seat of his empire at Maragha in Azerbejan.

The next important event in the history of Persia was its conquest and devastation by Timur-Leng to- ward the end of the fourteenth century. Under his successors civil war prevailed almost continually, until in the beginning of the sixteenth century Ismail, a descendant of a famous saint. Sheik Suffi, founded the Suffavean dynasty. He died in 1523, and was suc- ceeded by his son Tamasp, whose reign of fifty-three years was very prosperous. Abbas, who ascended the throne about 1587, was a still greater sovereign, though to his family he proved a sanguinary tyrant. After hisdeath in 1628 the Suffavean dynasty gradually declined, and was at length overthrown by the Afghans, who conquered Persia in 1722, and ruled it for seven years with much tyranny, till they were expelled by the celebrated Nadir Shah, who ascended the throne in 1736. His reign was memorable for his success over foreign enemies and for his cruelty to his family and people. After his death in 1747 a series of revolutions occurred, and order was not fully restored till toward the close of the century, when Agha Mohammed, first of the reigning dynasty of Kadjars, became shah. His successors have been Feth-Ali (1797-18.34), Mo- hammed (183.5-48), and Nasr-ed-Din, who succeeded in 1848, being then 18 years old. Persia has been in- volved in three wars since the accession of this dynasty. Of these, two were with Russia, the first ending in 1813,

and the second in 1828, both of them having been disastrous to Persia, which lost Georgia, Mingrelia, Erivan, Nakhitchevan, and the greater jjart, of Talish, the Ru.ssian frontier being aat Britain, and was begun in lS5(i owing to a scries of disputes between otheials of the Persian Govern- ment and the British minister at Teheran. After re- peated victories of the Britisti troops in the .south of Persia under Generals Outram and Ilavelock, it was terminated on 4 March, 1.S57, by a treaty signed at Paris, favourable to the demands of the British. In 1860 pestilence and famine devastated parts of the country; and a still greater famine in 1870 and 1871 is believed to have caused the death of two million persons. In the summer of 1873 Nasr-ed-Din made a tour through Europe, visiting Vienna, Paris, and London, and in 1878 visited Russia. In 1889 he again made a tour of Europe. As a ruler he was energetic and severe. He was largely under the influence of the Russian Court, though for a time after the failure of his attempt to restore the Persian dominion over Herat he maintained a somewhat friendly attitude toward Great Britain. He sternly repressed revolts and conspiracies, but, through the sale of the tobacco monopoly to English speculators, he offended many of his subjects, and his unpopularity was increased by the scarcity of food in several of the provinces in sub- sequent years. In 1896 he was assassinated as he was entering a shrine near Teheran, and was suc- ceeded by his son, Muzaffer-ed-Din.

The new shah introduced several reforms in his kingdom, and, aided by twelve ministers, assumed personally the government of the emiiire. He visited Europe in 1900 and narrowly escaped assassination in Paris. He became very friendl3' with Russia, to whom his friendship proved beneficial. In 1905 a revolution took place in Persia in which royal princes and mullahs took part. They left the capital and took refuge at Khum, demanding reform and a parlia- mentary government. The shah hesitated at first, but finally decided to convoke a Majlis, 5 August, 1906. This was opposed by the court party, but Muzaffer- ed-Din succeeded in forcing upon the reactionaries the establishment of a parhament. On 4 January, 1907, he died and was succeeded by his son, Mo- hammed-Ali-Mirza (8 January, 1907), who from the very first day of his reign was involved in difficulties with the Parliament. He was unduly influenced by Russia, and was at times reluctant to conform with the demands of the Reform and Parliamentary party. Unrest and antagonism were everywhere visible, and the tension was such that a political revolution seemed impending. Meanwhile Parliament was several times suppressed and reconvoked; various provinces re- belled and Teheran was at one time in a state of siege. Finally Mohammed-Ali-Mirza was forced to abdicate (1909) and was succeeded by his son, Ahmed Mirza, a boy of twelve years.

Till 1906 the Government of Persia was an absolute monarchy. The shah was assisted by a grand vizier and several ministers. His will was absolute, and that of the imams, or priests, was paramount. To- day, however, it is divided into three departments, viz., the Court; the Ministerial Departments; and the National Assembly, or Parliament (Majlis). Theo- retically, however, the shah is still the "king of kings" and the supreme ruler, executive, and counsellor in every department. The country is divided into five great mamlikats, or large provinces, viz., Azerbedjan, Farsistan, Ghilan, Khorasan, and Kirman (their cor- responding capitals being: Tabriz, Shirza, Resht, Meshhed,and Kirman), and thirty vilayets, or smaller provinces. The present capital of the empire is Teheran. The Governorship of Azerbedjan is always given to the heir apparent, and the governors of the other provinces are appointed by the shah for a term