From: benf@mips.com (Ben Fathi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Kerman
Date: 17 Apr 1992 04:31:12 GMT
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: dish.mips.com

In article <1992Apr15.231301.9773@watserv1.waterloo.edu> arash@sunee.waterloo.edu (Arash Jahangir) writes:
>
>I am curious about a few things:
>
>In article <kunaf0INNr23@spim.mips.com> benf@mips.com (Ben Fathi) writes:
>>
>>"... The last two dynasties spilled a great deal of innocent blood in order
>>to win or keep the throne. Imagine the monarch Agha Mohammad Khan, who
>
>Could you tell us which two dynasties are refered to here?  There is nothing
>during the Pahlavies rule that can possibly compare to what is described here.
>And so long as I know, Zandieh too were among the most gentle dynesties we had.

The two dynasties are ghAjAr and pahlavi. Read the sentence again. The author is
not claiming that the Pahlavis committed crimes of the same magnitude, simply that
"both dynasties spilled a great deal of innocent blood to win or keep the throne".

>>orders the entire population of the city of Kerman murdered or blinded-no
>>exceptions. His praetorians set energetically to work. They line up the
>>inhabitants, slice off the heads of the adults, gouge out the eyes of the
>>children. In the end, despite taking regular breaks, the praetorians grow
>>too exhausted to lift their swords or knives anymore. Only thanks to this
>
>Here is a social/psychological question.  Assuming that it happened as the
>author claims (I really have little faith in him at the moment), why would 
>the people of the city not fight to the last breath?  There are other such
>historical claims too.  For example I heard that after their victory on 
>TurkamanestAn, the Mongholian invaders decided to kill entire (or close to
>entire) population of some cities and vilages.  They did so by putting few 
>soldiers in charge of the execution, who then proceeded by literally lining
>up the population and one by one chopping the heads.  Considering that there
>were only few soldiers, and many of the sentencees, and that the victims were
>facing certain death, why did they not revolt?  What did they have to loose?

Thanks to other readers of SCI, I have already received three independent
confirmations of the historical truth of the above incident.

>>[...some deletions]
>> 
>>and tumbling heads. They ask what crime Kerman committed to earn such a
>>cruel punishment. At that question, the children break into a song about
>>the offense, which was this: Because their fathers had sheltered the
>>previous Shah, the new ruler could not forgive them."
>>
>
>I had heard a such a story before.  But the reason for exacting such a 
>vengence (I was told) was that during the city's siege, a few of the city
>men dressed as women and wore chAdor and rediculed him for being a eunich.
>
>>				From:		Shah of Shahs
>>				By:		Ryszard Kapuscinski
>>				Published By:	Vintage International
>>
>>I have no reason to question the accuracy of the above statements. I
>>was simply shocked to see them. Did this really happen? I don't
>
>Does the author provide references or other credintials?  If not I would take
>his words with a grain of salt.  Also does he say what his motivations for
>writting the book is?  When reading history books, far too often the author's
>own personal openions affect the book as the actual events that occured.
>Unfortunately so many people believe what they read in books and newspapers
>just because it is printed there.  Whereas if someone they meet on the bus
>would tell them the same things, they would not have believed it as easily.
>Just because it is printed, doesn't mean it is sinciere.
>
>Cheers,
> Arash

I simply quoted a paragraph from a book I had recently read. I did not provide
any personal comments, but simply asked whether others could provide more
detailed information.

FYI, the book does not claim to be an accurate history of modern Iran, but is
rather a collection of biographical sketches based around some historical
photographs of the Pahlavi dynasty and the author's personal observations of
the demonstrations while he covered the Iranian revolution in 1978-1979 in
Tehran.

	ben
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ben Fathi			MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
benf@mips.com		 928 Arques Ave, Sunnyvale CA 94086