By the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire's dominance became so pronounced that Tabriz, Qazvin, and a host of other cities were occupied by Russia, and the central government in Tehran was left with no power to even select its own ministers without the approval of the Anglo-Russian consulates. Morgan Shuster, for example, had to resign under tremendous British and Russian pressure on the royal court. Shuster's book ""The Strangling of Persia"" is an account of these times, and a harsh criticism of the Russian and British Empires. Northern Iran at this point was officially a sphere of influence of Imperial Russia, and many ethnic Russian settlements were established there.