Iran

THE MODERN HISTORY of Persia, as Iran was once called, began when it was recognized as one of the main oil sources in the Middle East. In May 1901, the British adventurer William D'Arcy Knox signed the first British oil concession, or agreement, with Persia's Shah Muzaffar al-Din. From the beginning, Great Britain guarded its oil supply with Iran jealously, realizing the critical importance of oil to its modernizing armed forces, especially its Royal Navy. Within seven years, the need for oil had ended one of the greatest power rivalries of the 19th century, the “Great Game” between England and the Russia of Tsar Nicholas II. In 1908, Great Britain signed an agreement with Tsarist Russia, basically dividing the country into Russian and British spheres of influence.

The mutual need for Iranian oil, in the face of the mounting power of imperial Germany, had forced them to come to an agreement. Knox had indeed found oil in Persia, in 1903 and 1904, but not in quantities to make it a successful commercial venture. In 1905, Knox traveled to France to try to sell his oil concessions to the wealthy Rothschild family. Realizing the desperate situation, the British Admiralty and British intelligence sent Sidney Reilly to France to stop the proposed negotiations. Reilly convinced him to sell out to the British. The British historian Robin Bruce Lockhart, whose father, Robert Bruce Lockhart, later worked with Reilly during the Russian Revolution, related what happened next: “D'Arcy came home [to England] and on May 5th, 1905, as a result of Admiralty initiative, a Concession Syndicate was formed with the necessary finance and with the assistance of the Burmah Oil Company to continue exploration for oil in Persia. D'Arcy's interests in the event of oil being found were protected.” In 1914, the Concession Syndicate would become known as the British Petroleum Company—the famous “BP.” Thus, from the beginning of the 20th century, the industrial need for oil made the Middle East the most strategic area of the world—and one that the world's powerful nations would permanently continue to attempt to dominate.

However, a casualty of the move to divide Persia into British and Russian spheres was the constitution of 1906, which had been promulgated under political pressure by Shah Mazaffar ad-Din on the December 30. The constitution had called for an elected parliament, or Majlis. Muzaffar ad-Din (who died only a few days after signing the constitution) was denounced by his successor, Mohammed Ali Shah. Mohammed Ali Shah used Russian support and his Russian-officered Persian Cossack Brigade to crush the democratic opposition.

During the First World War, Persia became part of the hostilities against its will. Although desiring neutrality, Tehran, the capital, became the scene of intrigue by all the warring Great Powers. The German agent Wilhelm Wassmuss did much to stir up tribesmen to harass the British. Soon, the British formed the colonial South Persia Rifles as a defense force and, as in Iraq, the Assyrian population joined the war as well. Russia was forced to withdraw as a result of its November 1917 Revolution, and Great Britain became the dominant power. After the war, however, the Russian communists under V.I. Lenin, using subversion, made an effort to regain influence in Persia.

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