400 Years of Independence Are Over. The Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran
474The Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran was the last straw for major action in the Middle East during WW2. As was feared by Syria and Iraq, the threat of a German takeover of Iran was too serious a risk for the British and Soviets, and thus, the long-standing empire would finally fall.
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Iran was hit heavy during the First World War, even though the nation wasn't directly involved with either faction. Fighting in what was the Caucasus between Ottoman and Russian troops, bled into North-Western Iran, with Persian tribal and irregular forces, soon entering the fray. The Russians had also blockaded Khorsan, the main grain fields of Persia, and took possession of the animals of burden in the region, utterly destroying the food situation in the state. Made worse when the grain reserves in Sistan were given to the British, else they faced invasion. Iran would then see itself facing a massive famine in 1916 and 17, with the influenza epidemic hitting the nation in 1918. Between the famine and disease, Iran would lose 8-22% of it's total population from the war, even though the nation was not directly involved in the fighting. The nation as you could imagine, was political unstable during the time as well, and various states aimed to capitalize on this. The British occupied Northern Iran in 1919 to enforce their oil drilling rights in the state, and even attempted to establish a protectorate, but that failed due to the on-going chaos of the Russian Revolution and the massive flu epidemic.
However, the British did hold influence in another way. The Russians had a brigade of Persian Cossacks that had been established in the 1870's, made up of largely ethnic Persians, but Russian officers. This force was expanded to around 8000 men during WW1, and served as one of the main forces that fought against the Ottoman empire in the region. Once the Russian Revolution happened though, the British got command over the brigade, and purged it of all Russian influence, replacing the officers with British or Persian men. This force was still loyal in theory, to the shah of Iran, and as it was effectively the only standing army for the state at the time, it was used to curb various movements across the land, such as the Soviet state in Gilan, and the Azadistan movement in North-western Iran. From this time, a well-known individual would rise from retaliative obscurity.
We will be looking at this man, Reza Khan. Reza Khan had joined the Brigade when he was sixteen years old and became the first Persian to be appointed as Brigadier-General of the Brigade. He had risen rapidly through the ranks of the Brigade following the British purge. The current government in Iran was plagued with corruption and in-efficiency, made even harder, by the power play over the state that the British and Russians had been waging for decades prior to this. Effectually, the Iranian government had zero power over the state that it held. The British were worried about this weakness, in the advent that the Communist revolution continued to spread, and so, took matters into their own hands. On 14 January 1921, the British General William Ironside chose to promote Reza Khan, who had been leading the Tabriz battalion, to lead the entire brigade. About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan led 3,000-4,000 men to Tehran on February 21st, 1921 and seized the capital. Meeting virtually no resistance.