Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Persian Cossacks Make History...
Like right now? Persian Cossacks? Was there such a thing?
Yes, there really was - and their story is quite interesting...:
On his second trip to Europe in 1878, which would also take him to Berlin, the Persian Shah Naser al-Din visited ...
...first St. Petersburg.
About the Cossacks of the so-called "Konvjy" (the bodyguards of the Romanovs!) who accompanied him from the Russian border...
...he is so taken with their elegant uniforms, their precisely executed orders and their modern armament that he askes Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich Romanov, who is accompanying him...
... to send him some Russian officers to set up a comparable force in Persia.
The tsarist government in St. Petersburg sees an opportunity to expand Russian influence in Persia and immediately agrees.
Podpolkovnik (Lieutenant Colonel) A. I. Domantowitsch...
...is appointed head of this mission and, with the help of other Russian officers, he begins to build up a Persian Cossack regiment in April 1879. Unfortunately, there is only this one - mirror-inverted - photo of him above.
The troop is commanded exclusively by Russians, the command language is Russian!
Domantowitsch must have done a great job, because the Persian Cossacks will soon serve as the Shah's bodyguards, like in Russia...
...and - no wonder - of the Russian ambassador in Tehran.
Here are some members of the unit - in 1909 - the little boy in officer's uniform is Reza Khan, to whom we shall return...:
What had originally started with 400 men was expanded over time to a small brigade with a staff of 1,500 Cossacks - with its own artillery unit, as was also common with the Kuban and Terek Cossacks in the Tsarist Empire.
Since there is nothing comparable in Persia, the Russians donate four cannons to the troops...:
In 1913 the Persian Cossacks had even grown into a small division with cavalry, infantry and artillery - just over 8,000 Cossacks and now also with Persian officers - but the command posts are still held by Russians!
The troop is financed through customs revenues from northern Persia, which are transferred annually to the commander of the brigade by the Russian "Banque d'Escompte".
In 1913 the annual budget of the Persian Cossack unit was 900,000 tomans (3.6 million gold marks).
Like the Russian tsars, the Persian Shah-in-Shah ("King of Kings," his official title) uses the Cossacks as a counterinsurgency force, as in 1901, when they bloodily put down a rebellion in the city of Kars.
In 1917, the Cossacks put down a socialist uprising in the city of Tabriz!
After the October Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Russian monarchy, the majority of Russian officers remained in Persian service.
From 1920 the British government finances the Persian Cossacks with 60,000 tomans per month and uses them against communist movements in northern Persia.
After the Russian Civil War was decided in favor of the communist movement, the British, who were in control of almost everything in Persia at this time, are interested in replacing the Russian officers with Persian officers for security reasons.
Then the Persian Cossacks have to do the dirty work for the British and, after the end of the Russian civil war in the northern Persian border area, cover the retreat of the British intervention troops (who had participated on the side of the "whites")...:
Now the hour has come for Reza Khan, who has meanwhile grown up, the (not entitled to the throne!) son of the reigning Ahmad Shah, who started out as a simple soldier in the Persian Cossack Brigade and rose to the rank of officer.
Reza Khan is appointed supreme commander of the Persian Cossacks in October 1920...:
The last remaining 120 Russian officers are dismissed and completely replaced by Persian officers.
Here the now purely Persian Cossack unit appears for the first time in front of its new commander...:
The unit's headquarters are moved from Tehran to Qazvin.
But the ruler's son has higher ambitions than just being a troop commander - he wants to do politics!
On February 21, 1921, the Persian Cossacks make history: under the command of Reza Khan...
... they take the capital Tehran and overthrow the elected government of Prime Minister Fathollah Akbar Sepahdar...:
The man supported by the British had become too independent for the Shah! Now you can use a more docile prime minister.
Putschist Rezah Khan is rewarded with the post of defense minister! And he immediately begins to transform the Persian armed forces, which previously consisted of tribal warriors, into a tightly controlled national army.
In 1925 there is the Persian national army - now 40,000 strong - and the Cossacks are no longer needed!
In the fall of 1925, the Persian Cossacks cease to exist as an independent unit.
In their place as the body guard of the Persian rulers, a purely Persian troop, sworn to the ruler, is called "Anauša" "The Immortals" in reference to the guard of the ancient great kings...:
The term "immortal" in this case means less of the individual man; rather, the unit as a whole is seen as immortal, as losses from member death, wounding, or illness are immediately offset by reinforcements.
And?
Wasn't it uninteresting, the story of the Persian Cossacks...?
Like right now? Persian Cossacks? Was there such a thing?
Yes, there really was - and their story is quite interesting...:
On his second trip to Europe in 1878, which would also take him to Berlin, the Persian Shah Naser al-Din visited ...
...first St. Petersburg.
About the Cossacks of the so-called "Konvjy" (the bodyguards of the Romanovs!) who accompanied him from the Russian border...
...he is so taken with their elegant uniforms, their precisely executed orders and their modern armament that he askes Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich Romanov, who is accompanying him...
... to send him some Russian officers to set up a comparable force in Persia.
The tsarist government in St. Petersburg sees an opportunity to expand Russian influence in Persia and immediately agrees.
Podpolkovnik (Lieutenant Colonel) A. I. Domantowitsch...
...is appointed head of this mission and, with the help of other Russian officers, he begins to build up a Persian Cossack regiment in April 1879. Unfortunately, there is only this one - mirror-inverted - photo of him above.
The troop is commanded exclusively by Russians, the command language is Russian!
Domantowitsch must have done a great job, because the Persian Cossacks will soon serve as the Shah's bodyguards, like in Russia...
...and - no wonder - of the Russian ambassador in Tehran.
Here are some members of the unit - in 1909 - the little boy in officer's uniform is Reza Khan, to whom we shall return...:
What had originally started with 400 men was expanded over time to a small brigade with a staff of 1,500 Cossacks - with its own artillery unit, as was also common with the Kuban and Terek Cossacks in the Tsarist Empire.
Since there is nothing comparable in Persia, the Russians donate four cannons to the troops...:
In 1913 the Persian Cossacks had even grown into a small division with cavalry, infantry and artillery - just over 8,000 Cossacks and now also with Persian officers - but the command posts are still held by Russians!
The troop is financed through customs revenues from northern Persia, which are transferred annually to the commander of the brigade by the Russian "Banque d'Escompte".
In 1913 the annual budget of the Persian Cossack unit was 900,000 tomans (3.6 million gold marks).
Like the Russian tsars, the Persian Shah-in-Shah ("King of Kings," his official title) uses the Cossacks as a counterinsurgency force, as in 1901, when they bloodily put down a rebellion in the city of Kars.
In 1917, the Cossacks put down a socialist uprising in the city of Tabriz!
After the October Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Russian monarchy, the majority of Russian officers remained in Persian service.
From 1920 the British government finances the Persian Cossacks with 60,000 tomans per month and uses them against communist movements in northern Persia.
After the Russian Civil War was decided in favor of the communist movement, the British, who were in control of almost everything in Persia at this time, are interested in replacing the Russian officers with Persian officers for security reasons.
Then the Persian Cossacks have to do the dirty work for the British and, after the end of the Russian civil war in the northern Persian border area, cover the retreat of the British intervention troops (who had participated on the side of the "whites")...:
Now the hour has come for Reza Khan, who has meanwhile grown up, the (not entitled to the throne!) son of the reigning Ahmad Shah, who started out as a simple soldier in the Persian Cossack Brigade and rose to the rank of officer.
Reza Khan is appointed supreme commander of the Persian Cossacks in October 1920...:
The last remaining 120 Russian officers are dismissed and completely replaced by Persian officers.
Here the now purely Persian Cossack unit appears for the first time in front of its new commander...:
The unit's headquarters are moved from Tehran to Qazvin.
But the ruler's son has higher ambitions than just being a troop commander - he wants to do politics!
On February 21, 1921, the Persian Cossacks make history: under the command of Reza Khan...
... they take the capital Tehran and overthrow the elected government of Prime Minister Fathollah Akbar Sepahdar...:
The man supported by the British had become too independent for the Shah! Now you can use a more docile prime minister.
Putschist Rezah Khan is rewarded with the post of defense minister! And he immediately begins to transform the Persian armed forces, which previously consisted of tribal warriors, into a tightly controlled national army.
In 1925 there is the Persian national army - now 40,000 strong - and the Cossacks are no longer needed!
In the fall of 1925, the Persian Cossacks cease to exist as an independent unit.
In their place as the body guard of the Persian rulers, a purely Persian troop, sworn to the ruler, is called "Anauša" "The Immortals" in reference to the guard of the ancient great kings...:
The term "immortal" in this case means less of the individual man; rather, the unit as a whole is seen as immortal, as losses from member death, wounding, or illness are immediately offset by reinforcements.
And?
Wasn't it uninteresting, the story of the Persian Cossacks...?
