Persian Campaign

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other military campaigns in Persia, see Persian War (disambiguation).
Persian Campaign
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Date December 1914 – October 30, 1918
Location Persia
Result Allied victory
Armistice of Mudros
Russian Empire Russian Empire

 British Empire

Armenia Armenian forces

Old Assyrian Flag.svg Assyrian forces
 Ottoman Empire
German Empire German Empire
Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Persian Empire

Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Jangal movement of Gilan

Qashqai Tribesmen
Tangistani Tribesmen
Laristani Tribesmen
Commanders and leaders
Russia Fyodor Chernozubov

Russia Nikolai Baratov
Armenia Tovmas Nazarbekian
Armenia Andranik Ozanian
Old Assyrian Flag.svg Agha Petros
United Kingdom Percy Sykes

United Kingdom Lionel Dunsterville
Ottoman Empire Halil Kut

German Empire Georg von Kaunitz
German Empire Wilhelm Wassmuss
German Empire Colonel Bup[1]
German Empire Captain Angman

German Empire Captain Folke
Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Mohammad Taqi-Khan Pessian

Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Mirza Kuchak Khan
Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Ismail Khan Sowlat-ad-dowla Qashqai[2]
Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Rais Ali Delvari
Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Mohammad Bagher Khan Tangestani

Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Ibrahim Khan Qavam-ul-Mulk
Russian Caucasus Army

Detachment Armenian volunteer units
Royal Persian Cossack Brigade
British Indian Army
South Persia Rifles

Khamseh Tribesmen
2nd Army
Detachment (German soldiers and agents)
Persian Gendarmerie

Qashqai Militants
Tangistani Forces
Laristani Militants

Dashti Volunteers

The Persian Campaign or Invasion of Persia (Persian: اشغال ایران در جنگ جهانی اول‎) was a series of engagements at northern Persian Azerbaijan and western Persia between the British Empire, Russian Empire and Armenian and Assyrian forces against the Ottoman Empire, beginning in December 1914 and ending with the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918 as part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. The Russian operations were halted by the Russian Revolution on February 23, 1917 when the Russian Caucasus Army was replaced with Armenian units and an Allied force named Dunsterforce.


Persia was formally neutral in World War I. In reality, Persian forces were affected by the rivalry between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers and took sides based on the conditions. Western interest in Persia was based on its significant oil reserve and its strategic situation between Afghanistan and the warring Ottoman, Russian, and British Empires. Persia was divided into northern and southern spheres of influence under the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907. The convention capped off several decades of the Great Game between the Russians and British. The treaty also defined their respective spheres of influence in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet and provided a counterweight to German influence.

Germany established their Intelligence Bureau for the East on the eve of World War I, dedicated to promoting and sustaining subversive and nationalist agitations in British India and the Persian and Egyptian satellite states. The bureau was involved in intelligence and subversive missions to Persia and Afghanistan to dismantle the Anglo-Russian Entente. The bureau's operations in Persia were led by Wilhelm Wassmuss.[3] The Germans hoped to free Persia from British and Russian influence and to further create a wedge between Russia and the British, eventually leading to an invasion of British India by locally organized armies.

The Ottoman Empire's — or rather German — military strategic goal was to cut off Russian access to the hydrocarbon resources around the Caspian Sea.[4] Aligned with the Germans, the Ottoman Empire wanted to wane the influence of the Entente in this region, but for a very different reason. The Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha, claimed that if the Russians could be beaten in the key cities of Persia, it could open the way to Azerbaijan, to Central Asia and to India. Enver Pasha visioned an extended cooperation between these newly establishing nationalistic states, if they were to be removed from western influence. This was his pan-Turanian project. Enver's project conflicted a major western project played out as struggles among several key imperial powers, known as Imperialism in Asia. His political position was based on the assumption that none of the colonial powers possessed the resources to withstand the strains of world war and maintain their direct rule in their Asian colonies. Although nationalist movements throughout the colonial world led to political upheaval in nearly all colonies in Asia during World War I and the interwar period, the decolonisation on the scale of Enver's ambitions was never achieved. However, Enver Pasha continued with his ambition after the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the victorious Entente Powers until his death on August 4, 1922.

In 1914, before the war, the British government had contracted with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company for the supply of oil for the navy.[4] The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was in the proposed path of Enver's project: the British had the exclusive rights to work petroleum deposits throughout the Persian Empire except in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazendaran, Astarabad and Khorasan.[4]


The Persian forces were established around certain districts, instead of one single force. Each district (like state forces) furnished battalions and each of the provinces had several battalions. Each district depending on the tribal grouping furnished one or sometimes two battalions usually under their own chiefs. The strength of battalions was from 600 to 800. They had batteries from 4 to 8 guns. The irregular troops amounted to about 50,000 in each district with ranks composed of tribal horsemen and an uncertain number of footmen all poorly armed. It was not uncommon of the chiefs, who controlled the battalions, to change sides. Some of these forces were Qashqai Tribesmen, Tangistani Tribesmen, Laristani Tribesmen, and Khamseh tribesmen. The Persian central government also had the Persian Central Government Gendarmerie under Swedish officers consisting of about 6,000 troops. Only 2,000 of the 6,000 were mounted. They were in 6 regiments of 9 battalions and armed with Mausers, 12 machine guns, and 4 mountain guns. The Persian forces were dispersed at Tehran, Kazvin (Ghazvin), and Hamadan with the objective of keeping the country's main roads, which covered an estimated distance of 930 miles, under Persian control.

In 1914, Enver Pasha ordered Lt. Col. Kâzım Bey, commander of the 1st Expeditionary Force (11 December) and Lt. Col. Halil Bey, commander of the 5th Expeditionary Force (25 December): "Your duty is to move with your division towards Persia and proceed through Tabriz to Dagestan, where you will ignite a general rebellion and repulse the Russians from the shores of the Caspian Sea."

The German operations were achieved by Wilhelm Wassmuss and Count Kaunitz. Wilhelm Wassmuss, known as the German Lawrence, was a German consular official in Persia who loved the desert, and wore the flowing robes of a desert tribesman. He persuaded his superiors in Constantinople that he could lead Persian tribes in a revolt against Britain.

In 1914, the British Indian Army had several units located in the southern influence zone. Britain had extensive experience in dealing with tribal forces because of the Indian experience. In 1917, a British force headed by Major-General Lionel Dunsterville was established. He arrived to take command in Baghdad on January 18, 1918. The British troops of Dunsterville numbered roughly 1,000. They were supported by a field artillery battery, machine gun section, three armoured cars, and also two airplanes. He was ordered to "proceed from Mesopotamia through Persia to the port of Anzali, then board ship to Baku and onwards." In 1916 the British formed the South Persian Rifles to protect their interests in Persia.[5]

Russia had since long established forces in the region. The Persian Cossack Brigade and a small Russian contingent of the Russian Caucasus Army under the Armenian General Tovmas Nazarbekian existed in the region. The Cossack Brigade consisted of 8 squadrons, 1 small battalion of infantry and a horse battery of 6 Krup guns, which the total strength did not exceed 2.000 of all ranks. Besides this force, in 1912, Russia obtained the formal consent of the Persian government to the formation of a similar Cossack Brigade at Tabriz under Russian officers. The consent of the government was given as a condition for the withdrawal of Russian troops in Persian Azerbaijan which, at the onset of the Great War, Russia did not. The Russians also moved one detachment of Armenian volunteer units under the command of Andranik Ozanian to this region.

Battle zone[edit]

The engagements were in the northern Persian Azerbaijan, compromising the provinces of East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan and Ardabil cities include Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Maragheh, Marand, Mahabad and Khoy.

The conflicts were distributed around major gateways in this mountainous geography. The Persian mountains have helped to shape both the political and the economic history. The mountains enclose several broad basins, or plateaus, on which major settlements were located. The principal areas were Tehran with 280,000 inhabitants; Tabriz with 200,000; Isfahan with 80,000; Meshed and Kerman with 60,000; Yazd with 45,000. Persia in this period had many nomads as the local economy was based on herding. The nomads of Persia comprised 260,000 Arabs; 720,000 Turks (Azeri origin); 675,000 Kurds and Leks; 20,700 Baluchis and Gypsies; 234,000 Lurs. The number of Europeans did not exceed 1,200. The religious breakdown of the population: about 8 millions Muslims, 10,000 Guebres, 40,000 Jews, 50,000 Armenians and 30,000 Assyrians.[6]



The central Persian government had difficulties in establishing order before the war. In a single year; the Qashqai Tribesmen, the most powerful in southern Persia, defied the governor-general and raided in Fars as did the Boyer Ahmad-i's Tribesmen; the Khamseh Tribesmen raided the caravan routes in the Kerman province; and other tribes raided in the Fars, Yazd or Kermān provinces from time to time. The government-controlled gendarmerie had gradually established themselves, although not wholly, and engaged a number of tribesmen. The authorities constructed posts along the routes which they held at the outbreak of war.

Russia maintained forces in northern Persia. The Russians, based on security reasons of the situation of Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Persia, occupied a number of cities. Tabriz was occupied in 1909; Urmia and Khoi in 1910. This measure enabled the Russians not only to control Persia, but also to secure the road from their rail-head at Djoulfa to the Van Province of the Ottoman Empire through Khoi.

On June 28, 1914, World War I began. First the Ottoman Empire did not take any serious action. However, the security of the region began to decline even before the Russian-Ottoman conflicts. Disturbances began along the border. A notable attack was made on Urmia, ostensibly by Kurdish Tribesmen. About the same time the Russians closed the Ottoman consulates in Urmia, Tabriz and Khoi, and expelled the Kurds and other Sunni Muslims from the villages near Urmia. Arms were given at the same time to some of the Armenian and Assyrian Christians. Russian authorities distributed 24,000 rifles to the some Kurdish Tribesmen that sided with them in Persia and the Van Province.[7] Russian-Ottoman conflicts began with the Bergmann Offensive on November 2, 1914.


In December 1914, General Myshlaevsky ordered a withdrawal from Persia at the height of the Battle of Sarikamish.[8] Only one brigade of Russian troops under the command of the Armenian General Nazarbekoff and one battalion of Armenian volunteers scattered throughout Salmast and Urmia. Contact was limited to skirmishes on the border of northern Persia. The presence of Russian cavalry units kept them quiet.[8] Enver established [one division] troops from conscripted at Constantinople [December 25].[9] This unit was given under the command of Khalil Bey.[9] While Halil Bey's troops were preparing for the operation, a small group had already crossed the Persian frontier. After repulsing a Russian offensive toward Van, Van Gendarmerie Division [commanded by Major Ferid], a lightly equipped paramilitary formation, had chased the enemy into Persia.

On December 14, 1914, Van Jandarma Division occupied the city of Qotur. Later, proceeded towards Hoy. It was supposed to keep this passage open to Kâzım Bey (5th Expeditionary Force) and Halil Bey units (1st Expeditionary Force) who were to move towards Tabriz from the bridgehead established at Qotur. However, the Battle of Sarıkamısh depleted the Ottoman forces and these forces to be deploy to Persia needed elsewhere. On January 10 the 5th Expeditionary Force, which was on the way to Persia, was rerouted north to the Third Army and soon it was followed by the 1st Expeditionary Force.


In 1915, Wilhelm Wassmuss conferred with local chiefs and distributed pamphlets urging revolt. He was arrested by a local chief, but managed to escape from British custody. He hoped to incite a revolt through pro-German members of the Persian government in conjunction of invasion of Ottoman troops towards Kermanshah and Hamadan.[8]

On January 4, 1915, a volunteer detachment led by Omer Naci Bey, who was sent to Persia on a special mission by Talat Pasha, captured the city of Urmia. One week later, the "Mosul Group" commanded by Omer Fevzi Bey entered Tabriz, without facing much resistance. Apparently taking the Russian higher command completely by surprise. Though referred as Khalil Bey by Aram, Omer Fevzi with his [superior] forces captured the city of Urmia in a few hours and marched on Salmast.[9] At the end of 1914, Omer Fevzi who was identified as Khalil took nearly a thousand Russians prisoners.[9] On January 26–28, 1915, in Sufian area, General Chernozubov had a brief fighting. Russia sent a strong force which succeeded in recapturing the city. On January 30, Chernozubov entered Tabriz.

On February 3, 1915, General Nazarbekov launched a counter-offensive. This time, the Van Gendarmerie Division succeeded in holding its lines. In early March, Nazarbekov attacked with a stronger force. He had seven battalions in total. On 7 March, Van Gendarmerie Division evacuated Dilman and began to withdraw, reaching Qotur three days later and entrenching there.

1st battalion of the Armenian volunteer unit under the command of the Andranik[9]

In April 1915, the 1st Expeditionary Force under the command of Halil Bey moved towards northern Persia. The objective was the city of Dilman, and to clean this region from Nazarbekov's forces, which would provide a significant tactical advantage in the Caucasian Campaign. Diliman was place one of the fiercest battles between the Armenians and the Turks.[9] The first battalion of the Armenian volunteers, under the command of the Andranik repulsed the attacks of Khalil Bey, until the Russian Chernozubov arrived[9] The newly arrived Russian forces from the Caucasus, they were able to put to flight Khalil Bey.[9] A poorly executed night raid on April 14 cost Halil Bey around 2,000 casualties. He lost thirty-six hundred soldiers in the course of those three days.[9] General Nazarbekov managed to push Halil Pasha regulars towards Başkale after the Battle of Diliman (April 15, 1915), securing the situation.[8] Halil Bey received the following cable from Enver Pasha and leave this theater of war: "Van is silenced. Roads to Bitlis and Iraq are under danger. In order to avoid even greater threats, withdraw as soon as possible and join the Third Army which would take control of these gateways."

On May 8, 1915, one of the twelve Armenian messengers from the Siege of Van had got through to Persia[10] An Armenian volunteer unit with Andranik, along with 1200 man, and commander Chernoroyal's division dispatched toward the Bashkaleh. On May 7, they captured Bashkaleh. This group from Persia reach the City of Van on May 18.[10] They had expected to find Van still in a state of siege and were amazed at finding it in the hands of the Armenians.[10] When word got to Yudenich, he sent a brigade of Trans-Baikal Cossacks under General Trukhin. With Van secure, fighting shifted farther west for the rest of the summer.[8]

During July 1915, Russian forces at the Caucasus Campaign had a general retreat which one Russian column retreated up to Persian frontier. This retreat was the consequence of events at June 1915. Yudenich planned an attack to limit the Ottomans at Moush and Manzikert. He planned to outflank from Beyazit and Persian Azerbaijan towards Van.[8] However, the Russian advance toward the Caucuses campaign did not last long. The Russian forces suffered reverses. The command of Khalil Bey Eleven divisions of regular troops attacked the very center of the Russian Caucasian advance. In a few days they with Battle of Malazgirt July 16, and later Battle of Kara Killisse the Russian army retreated.

In August 1915, as the British occupied Bushire, the gendarmes under Akhgar retreated to Burazjan.

In November 1915, Major Pesyan as commander of Gendarmerie in Hamedan launched an attack on the pro-Russian Persian Cossack Brigade at the Battle of Musalla. His gendarmes managed to disarm the Persian Cossacks and he managed to win some of the cossacks to join his forces in a patriotic speech he made to them after their defeat. After this victory, Russians advanced on the Persian Gendermerie, in Robat-i-Karim forces under Mohammad Hossein Jahanbani and in Hamedan-Kermanshah road forces under Major Pesyan and Azizollah Zarghami could not defend Hamedan against an advancing Russian Caucasus Army which was superior in numbers and weapons. In Soltanabad, gendarmerie force under Masoud Kayhan were also defeated by the Russians. The gendarmes then retreated to Kermanshah. On November 10, 1915, pro-Central powers Persian Gendarmerie under Ali Quli Khan Pasyan defeat pro-British Khamseh tribal forces of Ibrahim Khan Qavam-ul-Mulk and capture Shiraz. All British residents of Shiraz are arrested. Gendarms also capture Yazd and Kerman.

In the middle of November 1915, General Yudenitch who was managing the Caucasian Campaign (the nearest to the spot), dispatched two columns into the Persian Azerbaijan; one, under General Nikolai Baratov, with the order to push southwestward through Hamadan to Kermanshah, on the way to Bagdad. The second column advanced through Kum and Kashan to Ispahan. A detachment of the Russian Caucasus Army marched on Tehran. On November 14, The Austro-Hungarian and German Ministers left the capital, but Ahmad Shah Qajar did not agree to leave his people behind, and the Prince of Reuss undertook to hold strategical points with a force of 6,000 of the Persian gendarmerie, about 3,000 Turkish irregulars, and the disaffected Persian tribesmen, about 15,000 in all. By the end of the month, Tehran was taken by the Russians Caucuses Army and Armenian volunteers.

In December 1915, the Shah was induced to appoint a new pro-Ally cabinet with Prince Firman Firma at its head. On December 15, 1915, Hamadan was captured by the Nikolai Baratov. Baratov's job was not difficult because, there was no significant resistance. During the last days of 1915, Sir Percy Sykes assigned a mission with a temporary rank of Brigadier-General to establish a force South Persia Rifles using the local Tribesmen which would render their service for a price. His mission was to counter the strong German influence in most of South Persia.


The commander of the XIII Corps Ali İhsan Bey and his men (Hamedan)

In January 1916, Baratov drove the Turks and Persian tribesman and occupied Hamedan. On February 26, Baratov's forces captured Kermanshah. On March 12, Baratov's forces captured Kharind. Baratov reached the Ottoman frontier, 150 miles from Baghdad in the Mesopotamia campaign, by the middle of May. It was expected that this unit would eventually effect a juncture with the British army in Mesopotamia. In fact, a Cossack company of five officers and 110 men left the Baratov's Russian division on May 8, rode southward a distance of about 180 miles through the territory of disaffected tribesmen, crossing several mountain passes at an altitude of 8,000 feet, and reached the British front on the Tigris on May 18.

On February 26, 1916, the Russians advanced and defeated the gendarmes who then retreated to Qasr-i-Shirin and managed to hold the region until May 1916, when Qasr-i-Shirin was captured by the Russians. This time, many gendarmes went to live in exile in Istanbul, Mosul and Baghdad. In the spring of 1916, Ibrahim Khan Qavam-ul-Mulk and his Khamseh tribesmen defeated the gendarmes under Ali Quli Khan Pesyan and Ghulam Riza Khan Pesyan who shot and killed each other. Other gendarmes, the German Consul Roever and the Swedish Captain Angman were arrested and tortured.

On May 7, 1916, the next objective of Baratov was Khanaqin. They had to retreat on a strong resistance by the unit led by Şevket Bey. This gave the Turks valuable time to strengthen their defenses. The 6th Division arrived as a reinforcement in northern Persia. Enver Pasha moved this freed unit to Persia. Enver Pasha thought that it was time to strike back.

In late May, facing Baratov was assigned to the XIII Corps commanded by colonel Ali İhsan Bey, who began his advance. Meanwhile, on the Russian side, Baratov was hoping to capture Khanaqin and move down to Baghdad, which could have been taken by the Russians as the Turks and the British were busy with fighting each other. On June 3, he forced Khanaqin once again, but this time the balance had changed. The Ottoman XIII Corps successful repulsed Baratov's forces, and did not leave it there; soon the counter-offensive that was planned launched. Ali İhsan Bey captured Kermanshah on 2 July and took Hamadan on 10 August. Having lost half of his men, Baratov was forced to retreat north. Baratov stopped at the Sultan Bulak range. On August 1916, the gendarmes return to Kermanshah.

On June 12, 1916, the British advance in southern Persia which was undertaken by Percy Sykes column under reached the Kerman. From this point, he supported the Russians operations against the Ottoman Empire until June 1917, when he was withdrawn with the new Persian government.

In 1916, General Chernozubov sent a Russo-Assyrian military exhibition into Hakkari. The squads within the expedition were led by the Assyrian Patriarch's brother David; Ismail, Malka of the Upper Tyari; and Andreus, the Jilu Malik.

In December 1916, Baratov began to move on Qoms and Hamadan for clearing Persian forces and Ottoman troops. Both cities fell in the same month.[8]

Count Kaunitz disappeared without a trace, either killing himself or being a victim of assassination by disenchanted coup members. The premature coup was crushed in Tehran as Ahmad Shah Qajar took refuge in the Russian legation, and a sizable Russian force arrived to Tehran under Baratov after they landed in Bandar-e Pahlavi in November of that year.[8] The pro-German coup members of the Majles fled to Kirmanshah and Qom without fighting.


In 1917, Mar Binyamin was invited to the Russian embassy by Basil Nikitin in Urmia for negotiations. Nikitin assured the Assyrians that after the War they will have a national community land in Russia. At the meeting, the Patriarch was accompanied by Agha Petros. The presence of the armed squads of Assyrians in Urmiya irritated Persians. Persians were afraid that Russians might come back and, united with the Assyrians, proclaim their power in the city.

The chaos caused by the Russian Revolution put a stop to all Russian military operations. In January 1917, the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich Romanov was sent to join Baratov. Baratov established a Cavalry Corps headquarters at Qazvin in northern Persia. Following months Baratov's forces began to suffer desertions. Baratov had barely an effective regiment in his hand at November 1917 as many of his cossacks to their Stanisa villages.

In April 1917, Baratov meet with a Colonel Rowlandson, who was the liaison to link Caucasian Cavalry Corps with the British Dunsterforce. The new government removed the Grand Duke from his command and reassigned General Yudenich to a meaningless position in Central Asia. He then retired from the army. The Russian army slowly disintegrated until there was no effective military force during the rest of 1917.

On December 16, The Armistice of Erzincan (Erzincan Cease-fire Agreement) was signed officially brought an end to the hostilities between Ottoman Empire and Russians Special Transcaucasian Committee. Ottomans and Germans began to dispute possession of the provinces along the border between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Enver Pasha believed that Germany had disregarded Turkish interests when the terms of the armistice were negotiated with Russia and moved on to disregard German interests, sending armed forces to the region. A newly established Ninth Army, consisting of the I Caucasian Corps and IV Corps was sent to Persia, under the command of Yakub Shevki Pasha. The task of this army was to "Stop the British advance in Persia, to prevent them from helping the Bolsheviks, to cover the area between the Lake of Urmia and the Caspian Sea, and, if necessary, to join the Sixth Army for the operation to capture Baghdad."

With the Russian armies began to disintegrate.[11] Van, which was located at the Caucasus Campaign war zone, was completely cut off from the Allies. At this time, the British Army did not move very far beyond Baghdad in the Mesopotamian campaign.[11] Armenians of the Van attempted to hold their own.[11]


During 1918, British invited Armenians to hold out and picked officers and non-commissioned officers organized them under the command of Lionel Dunsterville at Baghdad.[11] It was named the Dunsterforce.[11] The military goal of Dunsterforce was to reach Caucasus via Persia.[11] It was planned to organize an army to be recruited from the Armenians and other pro-Ally elements that still existed in the Caucuses.[11]

In February 1918, the Caucasian Cavalry Corps only consisted of Baratov, General Lastochkin, Colonel Bicherakov, Colonel Baron Meden and about 1000 loyal Kuban and Terek cossacks. Baratov and his men assisted, even though new Russian government had a peace agreement, the British in Persia until the end of World War I.

On 3 March 1918, The Grand vizier Talat Pasha signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Russian SFSR. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk stipulated that the border between Russia and Ottoman Empire to be pulled back to prewar levels and the cities Batum, Kars, and Ardahan to be transferred to Ottoman Empire.

In April 1918, Armenians of Van were eventually evacuated and withdrawn from the province of Van and retreated eastward toward the Persian Azerbaijan.[12] Early in 1918, Ottoman Third Army moved to offense. Retreating Armenians from Van, joined by the Assyrians in defense, made a stand near Dilman but continue to retreat southward around Lake Urmiah.[12] Third Army did not follow this unit.

On 8 June 1918, the IV Corps entered Tabriz. Yakub Shevki faced an Armenian volunteer force of 4,000 men coming from Van. They aimed to break through the Şahtahtı-Tabriz line and join with Ozanian's forces. On 15 June, the 12th Division of the IV Corps defeated this Armenian unit at a battle to the north of Dilman. The city of Dilman was captured on 18 June. On 24 June, Ozanian managed to defeat opposing units and to lay siege on the city of Hoy. The 12th Division came to rescue and repulsed Ozanian's forces. At the same time, the 5th Division of the IV Corps had to retreat against a 1,500-strong Armenian force. In the south, Urmia fall to the IV Corps on 31 July. By the end of July, there was an increasing British presence in the Persia and the Ninth Army's advance came to a halt.

During July 1918, the British Army occupied the greater portion of Mesopotamia with the Mesopotamian Campaign, as well as a large part of Persian Azerbaijan. Preparations were made for the establishment of a large camp for Assyrian and Armenian refugees near Bakubah, Iraq.[13] Towards the end of September it was decided to raise four battalions from the Assyrians and Armenians refugee at Bakubah on the lines of an Indian Infantry battalion.[14] 2nd Battalion was established by Van Armenians. 3rd Battalion was established by Armenians from other regions. The G.O.C. North Persian Force decided to locate 2nd Battalion to Senna. 3rd Battalion moved to Bijar.[14]

By September 1918, the Ottomans consolidated their control over northern Persia, between Tabriz and the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. But they lost the rest of the region to British. They would hold this territory until the armistice.

On 30 October 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros and the military operations ended.


After the Ottoman Empire lost World War I, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire soon followed. Enver Pasha's political vision which stated as "If Russians beaten in the key cities of Persia, they could be forced to out from the region", failed as Russian and Bakhtiari troops landed in 1920 and forced majles to temporarily cease. The immediate outcome of the Campaign was the Anglo-Persian Agreement, which gave drilling rights to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The "agreement" was issued by British Foreign Secretary Earl Curzon to the Persian government in August 1919. It guaranteed British access to Iranian oil fields. In 1919, northern Persia was occupied by the British General William Edmund Ironside to enforce the Armistice of Mudros' terms and help General Dunsterville and Colonel Bicherakhov to contain the Bolshevik influence (of Mirza Kuchak Khan) in the north. Britain attempted to establish a protectorate in Iran. Britain also tightened military control over the increasingly lucrative oil fields.

After the Russians left Persia in 1917 (for a short period—later to come back) following the Russian revolution, Mar Shimmun understood the difficult situation of the Assyrians. His messages in 1918 were persuading Agha Putrus not to fight against Persians, but to make peace with them. Nonetheless, the Assyrians did not put down their weapons, as the Patriarch advised; they chose to attack. After the defeat, Major Pesyan went to live in exile in Berlin. During his time in Berlin, he was trained as a pilot in the German air force, and was rewarded with the Iron Cross for shooting down more than 25 enemy aircraft during World War I.

In late 1920, the Soviet Socialist Republic in Rasht was preparing to march on Tehran with "a guerrilla force of 1500 Jangalis, Armenians, and interestingly this time Kurds, and Azerbaijanis were on their side", reinforced by the Soviet Red Army. Britain attempted to establish a protectorate in Iran following 1919, which this goal aided by the Soviet Union's withdrawal in 1921. In that year, a military coup established Reza Khan, a Persian officer of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as dictator and then hereditary Shah of the new Pahlavi dynasty (1925). Reza Shah curtailed the power of the majles. He effectively turned it into a rubber stamp organization. While Reza Khan and his Cossack brigade were securing Tehran, the Persian envoy was in Moscow negotiating a treaty with the Bolsheviks for the removal of Soviet troops from Persia. The coup d'état of 1921 and the emergence of Reza Khan were assisted by the British government that wished to halt the Bolshevik's penetration of Iran, particularly because of the threat it posed to the British colonial possession of India. It is thought that British provided "ammunition, supplies and pay" for Reza's troops.[15][16][17]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "مؤسسه مطالعات تاريخ معاصر ايران IICHS". Retrieved 10 November 2014. 
  2. ^ "QAŠQĀʾI TRIBAL CONFEDERACY i. HISTORY". Retrieved 10 November 2014. 
  3. ^ Popplewell, Richard J (1995), Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire 1904–1924., Routledge, ISBN 0-7146-4580-X 
  5. ^ David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace; The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1989), 209.
  6. ^ The Statesman's Year-book By John Scott Keltie
  7. ^ (Pasdermadjian 1918, pp. 20)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Hinterhoff, Eugene (1984). Persia: The Stepping Stone To India. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, vol iv. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. pp. 1153–1157. ISBN 0-86307-181-3. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Aram, "Why Armenia Should be Free", page 22
  10. ^ a b c Ussher, An American Physician, 286.
  12. ^ a b (Northcote 1922, pp. 789)
  13. ^ (Northcote 1922, pp. 790)
  14. ^ a b (Austin 1920, pp. 13)
  15. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions, (1982), p.117
  16. ^ see also: Zirinsky M.P. Imperial Power and dictatorship: Britain and the rise of Reza Shah 1921–1926. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 24, 1992. p.646
  17. ^ see also FO 371 16077 E2844 dated 8 June 1932. A British Embassy report that stated that the British put Reza Shah "on the throne".