Persia

Persia, or Qajar Persia is a state in West Asia. One of the biggest states in the region, they're relatively isolated from the rest of the region, and its main rival continually is the Kingdom of Arabia.

## **Backround to Modern World**

Although Persia had power and influence, they were a very unstable country. Through the treaties of Gulistan and Turmenchay their Caucasus holdings were annex to Russia which was a huge blow to Persian morale. That combined with the Persian famine of the 70s greatly destabilized the nation, which only allowed Russia and Britain, both emerging Empire to eye the country for its land and resources. In 1894 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, plans were made to invade the failing Empire, to hopefully bring new morale to its people. But after the Russians began to intervene they dropped any plans for fear of the Russians.

## **Early 1900s and change**

In 1906, Persia underwent an anti-monarchist revolution which resulted in Persia becoming a constitutional convention. As new natural resources were being spotted by Britain in Persian land, the Empire began to look upon Persia once again. Yet in 1907 just 1 year after immense change came to Persia, both Russia and Great Britain secretly carved up spheres of influence in Persia.

## **1910s and the restoration of power**

During the Great War, although Persia was essentially neutral, Russian and British forces encroached upon the nation through their spheres of influence, which greatly angered many Persians and Persian nationalists. Growing movements and pressure wanted both Britain and France to withdraw from Persian territory, which both nations were unwilling to do. But during the abdication of the Russian Tsar, Persians quickly took back the Russian sphere in North Persia, which the Russian republicans had no choice but to allow. Once the Great War ended, Persia demanded an immediate withdrawal of British troops. Britain was unwilling to withdraw and instead tried to establish their own protectorate in the state, but this was unsuccessful. Once the Cairo War began, Britain, receiving heavy pressure withdrew from Persia if they guaranteed Persian neutrality. Although the gFovernment agreed this was nothing more than a bluff, as Persia knew they had much to gain from British territories. Once Arabia joined in the war, Persia quickly seized the strategic Strait of Hormuz by also quickly landing troops in British Oman. Britain soon after declared war, but on the front lines, it was Persia that led the war effort, slowly capturing British Balochistan. But Persia was still a fragile state, and also they planned for a capture of Karachi from the British Raj, the British and Persian war efforts were drained and no one could break the ensuing stalemate. After 2 months, Britain offered Persia all of their captured land in return for peace, which Persia accepted, causing a ceasefire between both states, but the annexation of Oman and Baluchistan wouldn't be official until the Treaty of Valletta.

## **1920s: Recovering from the past**

Finally Persia was able to fully halt the European empires, and even were able to annex the whole of the Strait of Hormuz and parts of the British Raj, but even that was not able to allow Persia to fully recover from its decades of instability. What resulted after 1919 and the Cairo War was a power vacuum, and nothing was balanced. In the end by 1925, Rheza Shah Pahlavi was the person who rose to the top. In 1921, due to a successful military coup Rheza seized power for himself, establishing the Pahlavi Dynasty. Rheza afterwards would slowly implement some land and social reforms, but the situation in Persia would be stagnant. In actuality, most of the reforms implemented were due to the public's pressure of the government. Reza also allowed local autonomy for the Kurds and Assyrians, considering that Persian terrain is very mountainous and it has historically been difficult to keep all the territory down. But one of the most unpopular policies of the Shah was the westernization of the country. Things like the discouragement of the Hijab, the requirement of western clothing etc. Through the 20s, intense backlash throughout the country was normal, especially in rural regions, but the more urbanized regions like Tehran and Tabriz were more liberal. In 1927, in order to "protect their eastern border" Persia moved troops into Afghanistan, resulting in Afghanistan declaring war. But, because of the mountainous terrain, it quickly became a month long stalemate. It was not until Turkmenistan, who was promised lands by Persia declared war as well that broke the stalemate. In a matter of weeks, the Turkic Communists also declared war, with the British doing the same, resulting in the total collapse of Afghanistan. In the Treaty of Herat, Afghanistan was disunited. The northern region that was comprised of Turkic people were given to the Turkic Union, while the region in and surrounding Herat became a satellite state of Turkmenistan. The region of Farah was annexed by Persia, while the Central South region became Barazkha and a Persian puppet. The land left over, including Kabul became known as "British Pashtunistan" and a British protectorate. This war became important, because the war resulted from Persian nationalism. And since it became a Persian victory, it showed many people that the dreams of Persian nationalism could be accomplished.

## **1930s: Isolation**

It was not until the establishment of the Defense Of West Asia, that Persia felt completely isolated. Due to the Kingdom of Arabia being a Sunni Muslim state, there was always a divide between both states. Although the autonomous regions of Lebanon and Araqa were to allow autonomous regions for Shia muslims, it didn't ease tensions. Especially after the Cairo War and the Strait of Hormuz came totally under control of Persia, it was always an issue between both states. After Assyria joined the DOWA relations between Arabia and Persia only soured further due to Assyria's pressure to the Persian Assyrians of Urmia. But by 1936, it is clear that at this time, war is coming. Their ethnic minorities are constantly demanding for independence, and it seems that trade rivals between Arabia and Persia will escalate. And the problems, like a possible famine and conservative backlash could be fatal for Persia itself.