HISTORICAL STUDY OF WAR
Year:2018 | Volume:2 | Issue:2 (4) |Papers Count:8

Iran was put exposed on the politics and intervention of the European countries on the eve of the nineteenth century, when Iranian politicians were not enough primed to face such a situation because of the undeveloped state of the country along with their own ignorance. The first round of Russo-Persian Wars was one of the most important instances of the involvement of Europeans in Iran, which ended with the imposition of the Treaty of Gulistan with the mediation of the UK ambassador to Iran, Sir Gore Ouseley. This study tried to analyze the role of Sir Gore Ouseley in the events leading to the end of the first period of the Russo-Persian Wars especially the aforementioned treaty. The results indicate that Sir Gore Ouseley acted as a mediator in the negotiations between Iran and Russia since 1227 AH /1812. However, he had an important role in defeating Abbas Mirza's forces in Aslanduz, with his tendency toward Russia and his removal of British officers from the Iranian troops. Promising the reclaim of the Iranian lands by the Russian emperor, and using other promises and threats, he also forced other people to accept the unequal conditions of peace with Russia.

Jizyah is one of the pre-Islamic taxes authorized in the Islamic era in accordance with the goals and aspirations of the Islamic society. Non-Muslims living in the Islamic realm (ahl ul-ḏ immah) paid Jizyah to the Islamic ruler in order to benefit from military immunity and be free to have their own religion. The main question of the present research is that how has the payment of this kind of tax influenced the life of Iranian Zoroastrians? Apparently, Jizyah was enforced to make the ahl ul-ḏ immah accept Islam. An examination of the early historical texts, however, shows that the enforcement of the Jizyah not only did not lead Zoroastrians to Islam and did not cause any special difficulty in their lives, but also made them stay immune from military and security threats while presenting them the freedom to keep their religion. It was also shown that the gradual tendency of Zoroastrians to Islam was not a liberation from the tax pressure, but a means to obtain better social status and to be absorbed into the dominant Islamic society.

Cannons were strategic weapons and the most important tool for supporting cavalry and infantry forces coming into use from the middle of the Safavid dynasty to the end of the Qajar era. The use of cannons during the Qajar rule played an important role in the success or failure of the Qajar army. In the present study, with the use of and reference to the main library resources, travel literature and documents, and using a descriptive-analytical method, the artillery of the Qajar era was discussed. The main purpose of the study was to answer the question that how important was the artillery in the Qajar ruling system? By examining the resources, this hypothesis was suggested that Qajar agents sought to create a modern system of artillery and modern infantry similar to those of European armies, but there were major barriers to artillery formation, and such efforts failed in the socio-political culture of Iran. The research findings indicate that in the social structure of Iran, the heads and tribal cavalry enjoyed special importance and prevented the formation of infantry and artillery battery as rivals of the cavalry. Therefore, throughout the Qajar era and in the foreign wars, the cavalry, both in terms of number and structure of the system, was more important than artillery and infantry. Such a construction was one of the main reasons for the Qajar army's failure to confront Russia and English armies.

The modern army as one of the most essential institutions of the modern government was first formed in Europe, and played an important role in the domination and imperialism of European powers. The attacks by the colonizing states of Russia and England on Iran, and in particular Iran’ s heavy defeats from Russia, made governors and elites of Qajar realize the traditional and insufficient structure of Qajar's army. Accordingly, the idea of military reformations and the formation of a modern army incited governors to try various actions and attempt at reformations in the first half of this dynasty, namely from its beginning to constitutionalism. However, these attempts were faced with many impediments and, finally, that significant goal was not achieved. The present study aimed to provide some response to the question of which obstacles impeded the formation of the modern army in this historical period? Our response to this question is multi-dimensional and comprises numerous agency-structure factors which were addressed using Anthony Giddens's structuration theory, based on which, both structures and agents contribute to the formation of phenomena and none of them outweighs the other. The findings of the study show that despite the attempts by reformist governors, the opposition of domestic agents and the obstruction on the part of foreign agents on the one hand, and the weakness and inefficiency of the military and economic structures on the other hand were the most pivotal impediments that failed the military reformations and establishment of a modern army in the first half of Qajar dynasty.

The evolution in the structure and methods of warfare of the Achaemenid army during the Xerxes rule brought his distinct military performance in wars against Greek nation-states. This has stressed the importance of inquiring into the effective military benchmarks of the Achaemenid army. Against this backdrop, the present study, taking a descriptive-analytical approach, analyzed distinctive specifications of the army during the Xerxes rule. Multi-national army, becoming equipped with new military tools and means, and finally the fortification of the navy force to continue conquests were some of the most important characteristics of the army during the Xerxes rule that influenced the military performance of the Achaemniand. Nevertheless, the differences in the methods of warfare of the multinational army of the Xerxes was a downside leading to the inefficacity of the Achaemenid army in their fighting the Greeks.

Since the Safavid era, Kermanshahan was considered one of the border regions of Iran, and because it was on the border with the Ottomans, it was of great importance to the central government. As a result, the central government took measures in order to keep order in this region. The government's main players in making such attempts were the military associated with tribes and nomads. Meanwhile, the main factor in the discipline and efficiency of the military forces was the timely payment of wages. Because a large part of the Iranian army consisted of tribes and nomads, in politically stable conditions, delay in the wage payment did not present a challenge for the central and state governments, owing to the fact that the heads of the military corps were the chiefs of the tribes and clans, and the social structure of the nomads did not allow them to protest. However, in periods of unstable political conditions, the issue was totally different, and regular and timely payment of wages to the troops only made them complied. It is against this background that the present research defined the challenges to the payment of wages to the troops in Kermanshah and the resulting outcomes as a pivotal issue. The results show that there were no systematic and uniform principles and rules in paying wages and that there was a significant difference between the wages paid to the soldiers and the commanders. Nevertheless, since the commanders were the same as the tribal chiefs, suspended, delayed and partial payment of wages during the periods of stability did not allow the troops to protest. However, this presented itself in various forms in unstable political situations.